I studied English at Oxford, and started out in advertising. It wasn’t for me, and I soon escaped to train as a teacher.

I turned to crime writing when I stopped teaching. The Final Round, the first DI Garibaldi novel, came out in 2021, and the series has grown from there.

If I had to describe the books, I’d call them cosy procedurals—books with dark elements but not hard-boiled, gritty or violent.

As The Times put it:
“Bernard O’Keeffe’s series is as genteel as the suburb (SW13) in which it is set. Swearing, graphic sex and gore are, for once, off the menu. The gentle humour, oodles of clues and happyish ending create perfect comfort reading.”

Like DI Garibaldi, I live in Barnes. When I’m not writing, I’m usually reading, listening to music, playing Elizabethan Bowls, or watching football—or at least the version of it that QPR play.