Abby Saul is the founder of The Lark Group and a seasoned editorial agent with 15+ years in publishing who specializes in adult commercial and literary fiction — particularly character-rich thrillers, women's fiction, historical fiction, and mysteries with a strong sense of place and atmosphere.
In brief
Abby Saul founded The Lark Group after working on both the publishing and agenting sides of the industry — a dual perspective that shows in their editorial eye and commercial instincts.
Their stated wishlist skews atmospheric and character-driven: closed-setting mysteries, dual-timeline historicals, dark female friendships, and upmarket women's fiction are the clearest throughlines.
Saul is emphatic and explicit about what they don't want — no SF/F, no YA, no killer POV, no FBI/legal/explosion-driven thrillers — making it easier than average to self-screen before querying.
Literary influences they've named range from Tana French and P.D. James to Agatha Christie and Hilary Mantel, signaling a taste that prizes psychological depth and prose craft over pure plot mechanics.
Query protocol is unusually specific: email only, no attachments, a precise subject-line format ('Query: [Title]'), and the book must be finished — writers who skip these steps are auto-filtered out.
Lately
Saul's publicly visible taste notes emphasize a passion for atmospheric, character-driven fiction — particularly mysteries, historical fiction, and women's fiction with dark edges — and signal ongoing enthusiasm for ownvoices stories and BIPOC-centered narratives within those categories.
What Abby is looking for
Saul gravitates toward suspense that lives in the mind rather than on the action sequence — think confined settings, unreliable domestic dynamics, and female-centered casts navigating secrets. Closed-setting or locked-room structures are a particular draw, as are dual timelines that deepen dread. Hard pass on anything FBI-procedural, legal-thriller, or explosion-adjacent.
Saul wants women's fiction with genuine emotional weight — the kind that earns its sentiment rather than coasting on it. Dark or complicated female friendships, ensemble casts, family drama in crumbling-mansion settings, and feminist underpinnings all resonate. Gothic romance as a flavor woven into women's fiction is welcome; purely saccharine or sappy-for-its-own-sake stories are not.
Saul is drawn to historical fiction set from the 1800s onward that carries a sense of the past's weight on the present. Dual timelines, ownvoices perspectives, and stories about families with layered secrets are especially welcome. The benchmark is fiction that feels both rigorously researched and emotionally urgent — not costume-drama escapism.
Saul is an avid mystery reader with a clear preference for wit and character over grit and gore. Whodunits, amateur-sleuth setups, BIPOC-led mysteries, and Golden Age–style plotting all appeal. Cozies are welcome if they have genuine charm rather than treacle; hardboiled, super-dark, or killer-POV mysteries are a firm no.
Saul is interested in accessible literary fiction — work that is formally accomplished but never obscure for its own sake. Book-club appeal, multiple POVs, climate fiction, and stories that connect individual lives to larger historical or cultural forces are welcome. Pure experimentalism without emotional grounding is less likely to land.
Crime as a broader canvas — including ensemble crime, family-driven crime drama, and psychologically complex detective fiction — fits within Saul's wheelhouse. The key differentiator from thrillers: character and atmosphere must drive the narrative, not set-pieces or procedural mechanics.
Not the right fit
On Abby's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Abby
Use the exact subject line format: 'Query: [Your Title]' — Saul specifies this explicitly and deviations likely trigger auto-filtering.
Send query text in the body of the email only — no attachments of any kind; Saul states they will not open them.
The query letter itself must clearly state the book's title, genre, word count, and a synopsis of the plot. Treat these as checklist items, not suggestions.
Your manuscript must be complete before querying — Saul explicitly does not want queries for unfinished books.
Self-screen rigorously against the 'not seeking' list before sending: Saul is unusually specific about dislikes (killer POV, FBI thrillers, magical realism, YA, SF/F), and pitching into those categories signals a failure to research.
If your thriller or mystery has a dark female friendship, a confined or closed setting, dual timelines, or ownvoices dimensions, lead with those elements — they map directly to Saul's stated priorities.
Gothic atmosphere within women's fiction is a welcome flavor, but frame it as women's fiction with gothic elements, not as a fantasy or horror pitch.
For historical fiction, anchoring your query in a specific era (1800s onward) and signaling whether the perspective is ownvoices will resonate with Saul's stated interests.
Verify current query status directly through The Lark Group's submission channels before sending — status can change without public notice.