I’m Lindsey Fitzharris, a New York Times bestselling author, television host, and medical historian with a PhD from the University of Oxford. I write about the strange, grisly, and deeply human history of medicine, and I’m a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, The Guardian, The Lancet, and New Scientist.

My first book, The Butchering Art (2017), dives into the brutal world of Victorian surgery. It won multiple literary awards, received international acclaim, and has been translated into 20 languages. In 2021, I also hosted the Smithsonian Channel series The Curious Life and Death of..., exploring some of history’s most mysterious deaths.

My second book, The Facemaker (2022), tells the extraordinary story of Harold Gillies, the pioneering surgeon who rebuilt soldiers' faces during the First World War and is credited for being the "Father of Modern Plastic Surgery."

I’ve been lucky to share this work with a wide audience across social media and through appearances on CNN, BBC, C-SPAN, and NPR’s Fresh Air.

I also have two childrens' books about medical history, which I co-wrote with my husband, Adrian Teal, who also illustrated them. Adrian is the lead caricaturist for the hit TV series, Spitting Image. We had great fun bringing medical history to life for young readers!

My forthcoming book, Sleuth-Hound (October 2026), is a whirlwind tour of Victorian forensics from the perspective of the medical detective, Joseph Bell, whose methods and razor-sharp logic inspired the creation of Baker Street’s famous resident: Sherlock Holmes.