About Me

 
I was born and brought up in the West Midlands. After training as a primary school teacher I moved to North Devon in 1980 to teach in a small rural school and then in a large town school some years later. I remained in teaching for 20 years before my husband, Brian, and I decided it was time for a change now that our three children were happily pursuing their independent lives and careers. We ‘down-sized’ to a cottage in the heart of Devon to (amongst other things) paint (him), write (me) and travel (both of us).

I was inspired to start writing seriously after seeing a copy of Writing Magazine in WH Smith’s and buying it on a whim. I started entering short story writing competitions and after a while I began to get short listed. Then in 2003 I was awarded first prize in the Summer Ghost Story Competition which gave me the confidence to tackle the arduous but exciting task of writing a novel.

Around this time Brian and I got bitten by the genealogy bug after discovering the time honoured ‘box of old documents’ amongst our belongings in the loft following our house move. The subsequent research into our families’ past and reading about the intriguing jewels other people had unearthed gave me the idea for Blood-tied.

And the next novel? Another 'contemporary mystery with an historical twist', inspiration this time from the dramatic North Devon coast and the horrors of convict transportation in the 19th century.

Watch this space...