M.L Rio author page

M. L. Rio biography

M. L. Rio is an American novelist whose fiction includes literary mysteries, gothic fiction and psychological thrillers. Before becoming a published novelist, she worked as an actor, bookseller, academic and music writer. She holds an MA in Shakespeare Studies from King’s College London and Shakespeare’s Globe, and a PhD in English literature from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her academic research has examined representations of madness and mood disorders in early modern theatre.

Her debut novel, If We Were Villains, was published by Flatiron Books in 2017, with a UK edition released by Titan Books in June that year. The novel follows Oliver Marks, a former student at an elite Shakespearean conservatory, as he revisits the events surrounding the death of a fellow actor ten years earlier. The book became an international bestseller and has been published in twenty countries and eighteen languages.

In October 2022, Titan Books published a fifth-anniversary illustrated edition of If We Were Villains, featuring artwork by Angie Hoffmeister. Rio also contributed to In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology, published by Titan Books in September 2023.

Her second standalone publication, Graveyard Shift, appeared in September 2024. Published in the UK by Headline, the gothic mystery novella follows five people who regularly encounter one another in a college cemetery during their night shifts. Their discovery of a newly dug grave leads them to investigate a series of unusual events. The novella became a USA Today bestseller and was selected as an Indie Next pick for October 2024.

Rio’s next novel, Hot Wax, follows Suzanne, whose childhood experiences travelling with her father’s rock band in 1989 are connected to a violent incident that continues to shape her adult life. The novel was published by Simon & Schuster in the United States and by Headline’s Wildfire imprint in the UK on 9 September 2025.