PJ Skinner, who also writes as Kate Foley, was born in Guildford, one of seven siblings. When she was six, the family moved to Ireland where she attended school. She went to Trinity College, Dublin University, graduating as a geologist. After graduation, PJ spent 35 years working in over thirty countries as an exploration geologist. PJ worked in many remote, strange, and often dangerous places, and loved every minute, despite encountering her fair share of misogyny and other perils. During this time, she collected the tall tales and real-life experiences which inspired her to write the The series chronicles the adventures of a pioneering female geologist in an almost exclusively male world.

After finishing the Sam Harris Adventure series, PJ's childhood in Ireland inspired her to write the , which follows the fortunes of an English family who move to Ireland just before the start of the Troubles, under the name of Kate Foley.

PJ moved to the south coast of England just before the Covid pandemic. There she wrote , a sci-fi mystery set on Mars, inspired by her fascination with all things celestial. It is a science-based murder mystery; think The Martian with fewer potatoes and more bodies.

The enjoyment of writing Mortal Mission encouraged her to try writing a mystery series. She has always been a massive fan of crime and mystery, so it was inevitable she would turn her hand to it eventually. She published Deadly Return, the first book in the in July 2023 to great success. The Seacastle Mystery Series is a contemporary cosy mystery series with an amateur female sleuth, her grumpy ex-husband, hacker stepson and ungrateful rescue cat. The ensemble cast adds banter and humour as the series follows their stories between the murder mysteries. Malign Fortune, book 9, was released on the 31st of August 2025.