When I was a teenager, there were so few books available of the kind that I wanted to read, that I ended up having to write them for myself. There just aren't enough bolshy, kickass, trouble-magnet heroines out there! Nor novels that delve deeply into the psyche and development of the characters without sacrificing plot, tension and action.

I've worked in forensic psychiatry in a secure unit, in a psycho-therapeutic community for emotionally disturbed children, in hospice care, in a further education college for learning disabled young adults, been involved in helping survivors of sexual abuse and helped to set up a trauma counselling centre for Chechnyan refugees. So although I always aim to keep my stories light-hearted and entertaining, some of that experience is inevitably reflected in the subject matter that I tackle.

 

When I'm not working or writing, I may be found pounding the fells of northern Britain, rock climbing, cycling, canoeing, winter mountaineering, ski-touring, or sailing off the west coast of Scotland.*

*Dependent on season, weather and energy levels!**

**Or if these factors aren't lining up, then I might be making ceramics or sitting curled up with a good book... ***

***Or if I really can't be bothered to do anything else at all, I may be staring contemplatively into my landscaped nano-aquariums at the tiny colourful tropical fish and blue and red cherry shrimp that I started to breed during covid lockdowns! ****

****Yep, I've officially gone a bit mad...