Aird was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire in England. She attended the Waverley School and Greenhead High School, both in Huddersfield. As a young adult, she was bedridden due to a serious illness. Upon recovery, she worked as practice manager and dispenser for her father's medical practice in Sturry. Her first novel, The Religious Body, was published in 1966.

Aird served as Chair of the Crime Writers' Association from 1990-91. She has been awarded an honorary M. A. from the University of Kent and the Crime Writers' Association 'Golden Handcuffs' Award for lifetime achievement. She also has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to the Girl Guides. She lives in the village of Sturry, near Canterbury, Kent and is active in village life.

Aird is best known for her successful Chronicles of Calleshire, a series of crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring Detective Chief Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Berebury CID Department, and his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby. She has also written and edited a series of village histories, and is an editor and contributing author on works regarding other writers and the art of writing.

Novels

• The Religious Body (1966)
• A Most Contagious Game (1967)
• Henrietta Who (1968)
• The Complete Steel (1969)
• A Late Phoenix (1970)
• His Burial Too (1973)
• Slight Mourning (1975)
• Parting Breath (1977)
• Some Die Eloquent (1979)
• Passing Strange (1980)
• Last Respects (1982)
• Harm's Way (1984)
• A Dead Liberty (1986)
• The Body Politic (1990)
• A Going Concern (1993)
• Injury Time (1994)
• After Effects (1996)
• Stiff News (1998)
• Little Knell (2001)
• Amendment of Life (2002)
• Chapter and Hearse (2003)
• A Hole in One (2005)
• Losing Ground (2007)
• Past Tense (2010)

Collections

• The Catherine Aird Collection (1993)
• The Second Catherine Aird Collection (1994)
• The Third Catherine Aird Collection (1997)

Short stories

• Grave Import (1996)
• Like To Die (1997)
• Handsel Monday (1998)
• The Man Who Rowed for the Shore (1998)
• Gold Frankincemse and Murder (2000)
• Cold Comfort (2001)

Non-fiction

• The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing (1999)
• Mystery Voices: Interviews with British Crime Writers (1991)