Avon Authors

In Search of Nelson’s Bar

I love sunshine, I love the sea and I love my job as an author. These three things came together beautifully when I took a research trip to the north Norfolk coast in a heatwave last summer to decide where to place the tiny village in A Summer to Remember. Read More

New Beginnings

New beginnings can be scary. The main reason being that it normally follows an ending. In my forty-something years, I have had a few new beginnings, and with each new beginning – whether it was when I moved to Singapore, or decided to concentrate all my efforts into becoming a… Read More

Motherhood, crime writing and hypocrisy

Most of the time, my career as a writer perfectly complements being a mother of three. I’m extremely fortunate. I take my children to school and pick them up. I never miss a parents’ evening or sports game, and I’m always around to help with homework or to run an… Read More

The Best World War Two Films and TV series for Complete Obsessives

For a World War Two obsessive there’s no greater event for me than finding a wonderful new novel set in this period or a history podcast I can devour. But if I want a real feast for the senses—a real visual indulgence in WW2 nostalgia, I delve into the wonder… Read More

Poison in life and literature

My fascination with poison began in the early nineteen eighties. Then, as a young woman fresh from university, I worked at the UK National Poison’s Information Service at Guy’s Hospital, London, as part of a team specially trained to provide information on the treatment of poisoning. A service for members… Read More

Ten tips to help you deal with writer’s block

In my new book, The Mini-Break, my main character Lulu is a successful, popular romance writer who has been published around the world. Suddenly she gets writer’s block. I could be wrong, but I think most writers experience this. I have done some exhaustive, in depth research (I asked my… Read More

How My First Trip to Morocco Changed Everything

It had begun like any last minute away break – booking a cheap Easyjet flight to Marrakech, a trip to Boots for travel stuff and the bank machine for some cash, last minute packing, and a 3am taxi to Gatwick with my friend Marilyn (the friend who’d strong-armed me to… Read More

When I met DS Josie Masters again

Hello, old friend! It’s been a while…’ Bringing back a main character in series fiction is an odd feeling. Life as writer has moved on, but the protagonist of one’s creation has remained in a sort of limbo world, needed no more after the final page of the previous book. Read More

Why we need role models for older generations

My mum used to love a good romance novel. I was brought up with books strewn everywhere around the house and my mum would always have her nose in one, whatever she was doing. She enjoyed Catherine Cookson, Rosamund Pilcher and Maeve Binchy, especially tales about the lives of working… Read More

Many Moons Ago…

I was born in 1943, during World War II, so I was a teenager in the 1950s, which was before teenagers or the term ‘youth culture’ had been invented. Of course, teenagers had always existed, there’d just never been a name for them before the Swinging Sixties. Read More

Why I love romantic fiction

I love romantic fiction and it’s all Jane Austen’s fault. Growing up, I was the typical bookworm child, with my nose always stuck in a book, racing through my full allowance of ten library books each week. I would read anywhere and everywhere – even in church… Read More

A Bookworm’s Guide to Social Media

It probably won’t come as a surprise to you that I’m an avid reader, and I get a lot of enjoyment with sharing the books I’ve loved on social media and building a community with other readers. As the social media coordinator for Britain’s biggest book retailer, I’m always interested… Read More

How to create a detective

The crime fiction market has never been more competitive, with so many brilliant books vying for attention. It’s a real challenge for authors to write something that stands out from the rest. We all strive to develop original concepts and riveting storylines, but one of the hardest parts to get… Read More

The Big Myth of Motherhood

When it comes to motherhood, women can be each other’s worst enemies. In fact, quite often, we can become our own worst enemies too as we launch ourselves into the world of procreation like a tribute in The Hunger Games. For there is nowhere in life where… Read More

5 tips on how to make the most of setting in your novel

Location always plays a pivotal role in all my novels, whether it be the ravished shores of Thailand during the 2004 tsunami in The Atlas of Us or the eerie underwater world of submerged forests in My Sister’s Secret. And it’s no different with my latest novel The Family Secret, which is set in… Read More

The Magic of a Good Book

Do you believe in magic? Or are you a more sceptical person who puts such frivolous notions down to coincidence and rational scientific explanation? I’m somewhere in between. I want to believe in magic and devour films and books that take me out of the real world and all its… Read More