Jolene Haley is a Marsal Lyon Literary Agency agent who specializes in spooky, voice-driven fiction for young readers and adults alike — hunting for horror, mystery, and witchy magic across MG, YA, and adult commercial fiction, with a secondary focus on feel-good romance and true crime.
In brief
Her wishlist is unusually consistent top to bottom: horror, witches, mysteries, and true crime recur at every age level — a writer with a dark, atmospheric project should feel encouraged across all her categories.
The breadth of her YA wishlist is striking — she names more than a dozen specific scenarios, from dark academia to heists to pirate adventures — signaling genuine openness rather than polite gatekeeping.
Her adult wishlist skews commercial: cozy mystery, romantic suspense, and rom-com sit alongside horror and psychological thriller, suggesting she is building a commercially versatile adult list, not just a literary one.
She explicitly wants nonfiction on witchcraft, spiritualism, and true crime — a rarer combination that sets her apart from most MG/YA-primary agents and opens a second lane for querying writers.
Queries must be sent by email with 'query' in the subject line — this is a hard filter she has flagged as essential; missing it likely means your submission never reaches her inbox.
Lately
Her agency submission page was directly observed as closed to new queries in early November 2024. Writers should check the live form before submitting.
What Jolene is looking for
She wants character-driven MG with authentic voice and genuine humor. Her priorities include contemporary stories about family and first love; horror with a Goosebumps-style chill factor (haunted dolls, summer camp scares, ghosts); group-of-friends mysteries with a diverse cast; magical tales — especially boarding school settings; and wide-ranging adventure stories spanning any era or geography. She has explicitly flagged interest in a modern series in the spirit of classic episodic girl-led franchises.
She is broadly open to YA across adventure, contemporary, horror, magical realism, mystery, romance, thriller, true crime, and light fantasy — but her energy is loudest around dark and atmospheric work. She wants ghost stories, witchy narratives, dark academia aesthetics, heist plots, and ocean/pirate adventures. She is equally enthusiastic about ensemble mystery (a more diverse Clue or Hardy Boys energy), girl-gang friendship stories, and romance across every subgenre and heat level. Myths and legends rooted in non-Western traditions are explicitly invited. She is NOT seeking epic or high fantasy.
She is actively seeking adult horror that can scare and entertain simultaneously — humor blended with dread is a particular sweet spot. Psychological thrillers with an unreliable narrator and strong twist architecture are welcome. She gravitates toward dark, gritty narratives and stories with layered surprises.
She wants cozy mysteries with a lovable, memorable detective (a Murder, She Wrote sensibility is the benchmark she named), as well as broader mystery and narrative true crime. A YA novel that reads like a true crime podcast is also on her wishlist, bridging her YA and adult interests.
Feel-good romance — particularly small-town romantic comedies that balance laughs and swoons — is a clear want. She also named romantic suspense with a strong female lead and a compelling love interest partnering to solve a crime. Specific high-concept rom-com pitches she flagged: a ghost-hunter rom-com and a tarot reader / psychic rom-com. Chick lit and commercial women's fiction round out this lane.
She seeks well-researched, focused nonfiction across lifestyle (health and wellness), self-help and self-improvement, true crime, spiritualism, witchcraft, and magic. The witchcraft and spiritualism angle is a distinctive niche that aligns directly with her fiction taste.
Not the right fit
On Jolene's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Jolene
Include the word 'query' in your email subject line — she has flagged this as a hard requirement; submissions missing it reportedly do not reach her inbox.
Verify that her submissions are currently open before querying; they were closed as of November 2024 and the live status must be re-checked.
Lead your query letter with genre, age category, and word count upfront — she handles a wide range of categories and needs to sort quickly.
If your project is spooky, lean into it: she is not just open to dark and atmospheric work, she actively prioritizes it. Name the specific horror or witchy elements in your pitch rather than burying them.
Humor is a genuine asset for her — if your horror, mystery, or romance has comic energy, call that out explicitly in your query.
For YA and MG mysteries, emphasize the ensemble and the diversity of your cast; she has repeatedly named diverse friend groups as a specific want.
Nonfiction writers should signal their platform and the depth of their research early; her nonfiction interest skews toward well-documented, focused books rather than broad overview works.
Do not query her with high fantasy, science fiction, short story collections, or picture books — these are hard passes regardless of how strong the writing is.