Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong is a Marsal Lyon Literary Agency agent with a journalism background and eight years of prior agency experience who hunts dark, emotionally charged romance across its many subgenres alongside domestic suspense, horror, mystery, and select commercial fiction.
In brief
Her detailed wishlist reveals a clear lean toward indie-adjacent, reader-driven romance subgenres — dark romance, mafia, omegaverse, why-choose, stalker, and hockey romance — categories with massive self-publishing fan bases that traditional publishers are increasingly chasing.
Her agency page lists a broader adult fiction mandate (historical fiction, commercial fiction, women's fiction), but her wishlist is far more granular and romance-forward; writers in non-romance categories should note that romance is clearly her current priority.
She brings a writer's perspective to agenting — she published two novels herself before entering the industry — which shapes her stated emphasis on honest, direct communication as the foundation of every client relationship.
Her submission form was directly observed as CLOSED on 2026-05-31, which overrides a wishlist update from three days earlier indicating she had reopened; writers must verify live form status before querying.
She has a nonfiction template/proposal process distinct from her fiction query flow — but her agency page currently lists nonfiction as a category she is NOT accepting, so this pathway may be paused; verify directly before using it.
Lately
All queries to www.querymanager.com/querycathie #writingcommunity
It looks like it might be early May before I reopen to queries. While you wait, I've updated my Manuscript Wishlist & included tools I hope will help you as you polish off your projects for me or other agents. www.tinyurl.com/cathiesmswl
It looks like it might be early May before I reopen to queries. While you wait, I've updated my Manuscript Wishlist & included tools I hope will help you as you polish off your projects for me or other agents. www.tinyurl.com/cathiesmswl
She updated her wishlist in late May 2026 to announce she was reopening to queries, specifying a narrowed list of genres — romance subgenres and select suspense/horror — while closing the door on nonfiction and children's fiction.
What Cathie is looking for
This is her most emphasized category. She wants romance that leans hard into darkness and emotional intensity — trauma-healing arcs, obsession, morally complex dynamics. Specific subgenres she calls out include mafia romance, stalker romance, vigilante romance, horror romance, motorcycle club romance, and omegaverse. She is not interested in non-consensual scenarios or rape fantasies and is explicit that these tropes should not be submitted.
Explicitly named as a distinct area of interest within her romance focus. She welcomes the full range of why-choose and reverse harem setups, particularly when paired with dark or dramatic emotional stakes.
Hockey romance and sports romance broadly are called out by name, as is college and new adult romance. These subgenres skew commercial and reader-driven, consistent with her overall taste for market-aware romance.
Paranormal and supernatural romance are on her list, with cozy romantasy also named as a target. Writers in this space should lean into the romantic core rather than the fantasy worldbuilding.
She welcomes romance that blends dark tonal elements with comedic beats (dark RomCom), as well as dystopian romance. These feel like natural extensions of her broader dark-romance appetite.
She has a distinct cozy corner on her wishlist: cozy horror, cozy fantasy, and cozy romantasy are all named. This is a separate track from her dark romance interest and suggests she has range across tonal registers — just no middle ground.
She is looking for domestic and psychological suspense in the tradition of propulsive, twisty thrillers driven by unreliable narrators, marital or family tension, and atmosphere. Her touchstone authors point toward commercially successful, plot-driven works rather than literary slow-burns.
Horror is listed on both her agency page and her detailed wishlist, and the standalone-mystery slot cites an author known for high-concept, twisty suspense-adjacent fiction. She appears open to horror that blurs into thriller or psychological territory.
Standalone mysteries with high-concept hooks are welcome. Her comp author for this category points toward commercially successful, plot-driven fiction with a broad readership.
Her agency page lists these as accepted adult categories, and her own background includes a historical novel. However, her detailed wishlist makes no specific mention of them and is heavily romance-forward. Writers in these categories should proceed with caution and ensure their project has a clear commercial hook — literary or quiet character-driven work is unlikely to be the right fit.
Not the right fit
On Cathie's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Cathie
Her submission form was closed as of May 31, 2026 — check the live form status and her wishlist before doing anything else, as her open/closed status can shift within days.
She is explicit: do not send anything outside her listed genres unless you have a direct referral from another agent or one of her current clients. Submitting outside her list is likely to result in an immediate pass.
Within dark romance, signal your subgenre clearly in the first line of your query — she lists a dozen subgenres and wants to know immediately which one you're in. Don't make her guess.
If your dark romance contains non-consensual or rape fantasy content, do not query her — she calls this out specifically and emphatically.
She uses a separate nonfiction proposal template, but her agency page currently lists nonfiction as a category she is not accepting. Verify this pathway is active before submitting any proposal.
She has a stated preference for open, direct communication and frames the agent-client relationship as a partnership — query letters that reflect a professional, forthright voice are likely to resonate with her working style.
She is active on multiple social platforms and hosts regular TikTok live sessions; watching a few of these before querying is an unusually direct way to calibrate your pitch to her current interests.
Her comp titles skew toward dark, reader-driven romance with strong market awareness — frame your comps in the same commercial register, not toward literary fiction.
Conference pitch is a viable alternative path: she attends numerous writing conferences and actively takes pitches at many of them. Check her current schedule for upcoming events.