Martin O'Brien was educated at the Oratory School and Hertford College Oxford. He started his career as a copy-sub, going on to become travel editor of Vogue. Having travelled all over the world, he left Vogue to write All the Girls - a traveller's tale of hookers and whorehouses around the world and then began writing travel/lifestyle features for US publications. He left journalism for a few years to co-write screenplays and start a film production company. After 20 years of living in London, Martin, his wife and two daughters moved to the countryside. He is the creator of 'Daniel Jacquot', a Chief Inspector in the South of France. He also writes under the pseudonym 'Jack Drummond'.