About Me

I wrote my first story – a two-page hamster epic – when I was four and haven’t stopped since. Though I write both historical novels and crime fiction all my books are designed to be absorbing page-turners. I have published short stories and articles on a variety of topics from dialogue in historical fiction to my experiences in Florence after the flood of 1966. My first six titles were published by Hodder & Stoughton and I am currently with Simon & Schuster. My books have been translated into ten languages.

My tenth novel, The Murder Bird is published March 2006. It is a psychological thriller depicting the conflicts that result from the death of a well known writer. The official verdict is suicide, but her daughter cannot believe she would have taken her own life and sets out to find the truth about her death - with life-threatening consequences.

Angels of the Flood was published in hardback in 2004, paperback edition June 2005. It has been described by the Good Book Guide as ‘a convincing, atmospheric tale, with enough intensity to pull readers towards the final, chilling plot twists’.

‘Plot twists’ were mentioned again in some of the reviews of the dramatisiation of Improvising Carla which was televised by ITV1 in September 2003: ‘Plot twists and turns that keep viewers guessing right up to the climax’. One reviewer said of the production: ‘a cracking plot deftly realised by a trio of fine actors’. It starred Helen McCrory as Carla, with Lesley Sharp as Helen, and Iain Glenn as Carla’s husband, Richard.

I am currently working as a Fellow with The Royal Literary Fund at St Mary’s College, Twickenham, which is part of the University of Surrey; the opportunity to work with students on their writing style is challenging and always interesting. I am on the committee of the Crime Writer’s Association and also a member of Mystery Women, a group of readers and writers dedicated to excellence in crime fiction.

I have taken part in many literary events, including the Daphne Du Maurier Festival in Cornwall, Crime Scene at the South Bank in London and Dead on Deansgate in Manchester.

I live in London, where I was born, with a wonderful view of the Thames. I have a stepdaughter, a daughter and a son. During my marriage to the writer Derrek Hines I lived on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall where we set up a small publishing house, Cargo Press.

As always, I have a couple of ideas for future novels, as well as screenplays and short stories waiting to be written, all of which I’m hugely excited about, but right now...not a hamster in sight.

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