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There are few things more useful to a crime writer than a car. It can be a getaway vehicle, a murder weapon, a place to hide a body, a clue that cracks a case wide open... or simply the means by which someone gets themselves into a whole heap of trouble. And cars bring something else to a crime thriller: movement. A chase, a high-speed escape, a suspicious accident or even an ordinary journey can turn a perfectly normal scene into something much more dangerous. So, as I’ve re

Driven To Murder is book 2 in the Hampshire Crime series, and the idea for it was sparked off when I was researching potential locations in Hampshire. Driven To Murder book cover Aldershot has a racetrack which hosts stock-car racing. Immediately, that piqued my interest. I used to have a boyfriend who raced stock cars and I watched him race several times, so I picked up a fair bit of knowledge from that. Before I met him, he had won the national go-kart championships, so he

So, in the second half of the month, I read another three books. I bought this book at the beginning of this month. A few days later, I attended an author conference and I met the authors. MS Morris are a husband and wife writing team, and they're both lovely. Me with the author duo, MS Morris After meeting the authors, I thought I'd better read the book, so it went straight to the top of my TBR list. I had high expectations and I wasn't disappointed. It's a top class police

Last week, I spent two days at the SPS indie author conference in London. This is the fifth year I've been to this event. This year, the organisers had revamped it and moved venues, and they promised it would be better than ever. I knew it would be great when I came out of the station and was greeted by this inspiring sight. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament The conference was held in County Hall, former home of the Greater London Council. These days, it's used far more pr

We're halfway through the month and I've read three books so far. All three turned out to be really good. The Puppet Show is book 1 in MW Craven's Washington Poe series. I've already read most of the other books in this series (I don't know how I managed to miss the first book). The other books are fantastic so I had high expectations of this one and I wasn't disappointed. Poe and Tilly are two of the best characters anywhere in crime fiction, and I hope this series goes on f

Yesterday, I went to the Hertfordshire County show. Of course, as soon as I saw that Hertfordshire police had a stand there, I had to introduce myself and get a few photos. They let me sit on the police quad I think this makes me look like a real Action Girl. Maybe it's the sunglasses that do it. I sat in a police car This was my first time in a police car (honest!). And then they handcuffed me First time in handcuffs, too, I swear! Luckily, I escaped. Then we watched some st

Over a year ago, I was invited to a party as part of my day job. I work on the finance side of homelessness, helping to procure temporary accommodation for homeless people. One of the companies that was supplying us with properties decided to hold a small party for us in one of the houses, to celebrate the first house they provided for us. When the supplier company gave us a guided tour of the house, they made us wear blue plastic shoes covers to go upstairs. I was immediatel

When I was looking for ideas for this book, I met two people, in completely separate places, who were foster carers. If that's not a sign, I don't know what is! Foster carers frequently have to take on damaged children with all sorts of issues. That lends itself to plenty of dramatic possibilities. As Rose's son, Jack is doing a degree in sports science, this isn't the first time I've included a sport in the series and used Jack's growing expertise. Check out Fatal Substitut

I love chocolate, so I can never say no to an Easter egg. But, for authors and readers, Easter eggs can mean something completely different. Easter eggs in books refer to those hidden references, messages, jokes or clues that some authors love to put into their books. They aren't necessary to understand the plot, but they add an extra layer of meaning, or fun, to readers who spot them. Here's one of my own favourite Easter eggs from my book, INTO THE RED. He was still of an a

Sometimes, I take inspiration for my books from real life. Back in 2024, one of the big stories in the UK news was about a drive-by shooting in a Turkish restaurant in London. It was a botched job. The gunman was supposed to kill a Turkish gang leader but hit a child instead. You can read about it here. It was about the same time that I was looking for inspiration for the next book in the Murder Mile series so this news item piqued my interest. Of course, the drive-by shooti

Celebrating writing one million words This is a milestone that's well worth celebrating. I have now written over one million words. That's 14 full-length books plus a couple of novellas. If you want to know what one million words looks like, make a pile of 14 average length books. Or slightly less than two copies of War And Peace, which is the world's longest book ever at about 587 thousand words. Here's to the next million words. Cheers!

I love a plot twist, so here’s this week’s plot twist. Instead of telling you why you should read my books, I’m going to be brave (or maybe stupid) and explain why you shouldn’t! Don’t buy my books IF: 1) You can’t stand thrillers, mystery, or crime. If you’re looking for epic fantasy, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I’m all about the murders. 2) You love a cosy mystery, but anything with more realism than a cute chef baking cupcakes with a talking cat se

An abandoned car I saw near my house This is the scene that inspired me to write WHEEL SPIN. I came across it when I was out for a walk very close to my home. There was obviously a story behind it, but I would probably never be able to find out what it was, so I made up my own. Add in a new character, hapless but loveable ex-con, Birdie, and the story came together nicely. And Birdie is still one of my favourite characters. Check out the book here https://amzn.to/4s5KC5I

The Story Behind The Book - KNIFE EDGE This is book four in the Murder Mile series. I had this shocking idea in my head for some time before I wrote it. What if your daughter was arrested for murder? It's a killer idea (forgive the pun), with plenty of scope for a tense, edge-of-your-seat story, packed with drama. Of course, the basic idea of a child criminal has been done before (as has every idea ever thought of), the best known recent one being Lucinda Berry's Saving Noah

DARK SHADOW The Story Behind The Book This is book 3 in the Murder Mile series. The Rainham Volcano Is well-known waste site only a few miles from Romford, on which I based the town of Brackford in the Murder Mile series. The waste site, which is full of illegally dumped rubbish, has caught fire numerous times over the last several years. The fire brigade has attended the site one hundred and twenty-one times in the last six years, but it still keeps catching fire. A few yea

STONE COLD is book 2 in the Murder Mile series. The plot of this book revolves around an old statue of an historical figure of dubious repute. The kernel of the idea came from a real life event that happened in Bristol, in the West of England, nearly six years ago. In June 2020, a large group of anti-racist protestors watched and cheered as an old statue was pulled into Bristol harbour by a group of the protestors. This was a statue of seventeenth century slave trader, Edward

Going back to the beginning, Into The Red is book 1 in the Murder Mile series. I’d been reading about a real-life case where a vicious gang was finally rounded up after more than two years spent intimidating and extorting money from several local shopkeepers in a protection racket. I’d already decided the local convenience store would feature heavily in this series so the two ideas fitted together perfectly. I have plenty of experience working in a convenience store for my

I meant to do this feature at the end of last year, but it's crept into the new year. Never mind. A good book is still a good book at any time. I've lost count of how many books I read last year but it's between one and two books a week, so I'd guess I've read about 80. I've been reading a lot of police procedurals this year for market research as my 2026 releases will be in that genre, so that's reflected in the list below. Here are the ten best books I read last year, in n

Today is my three-year Author-versary since my first novel, Secrets Never Die, was published. When I first started this, I never dreamed...