After spending much of the last few years in the 1970s world of Bill Kemp, first bringing Desmond Bagley’s Domino Island to publication, then creating its original sequels Outback and Thin Ice, I’m currently heading for a new world.

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve signed a three-book deal with my publishers, HarperCollins, for a new series of novels in the cosy crime genre. Think Richard Osman or Rev Richard Coles, only with libraries.

The first in the series, Murder They Read, introduces the reading group of Norcester Central Library, who decide to use all the skills of the fictional detectives they love to solve the murder of their librarian.

Two further adventures will follow in quick succession, all scheduled to be published in the first few months of 2026 under the exciting new HC imprint One More Chapter, and if you’re really keen you can pre-order the first instalment right now over on Amazon. It would make me very happy, you know…