HELLO
If you’re here, you must want to know more about me, that’s what these pages are for, right?
You want the tea. So let me tell you.
I work mainly in my home office in the Lake District, and I plot my novels whilst walking in the fells with my English Pointer dogs. You can see most of this on my Instagram, where I document the writing life rather too enthusiastically.
I’m a natural storyteller and always thinking ‘what if..?’ But mostly on the darker subjects, which I can only blame on the moody fells and dark skies often found here in the Lake District.
Walking my dog on a deserted hill can often turn into , ‘what if I found a dead body?’ Smiling at a passing tourist can often have me thinking, ‘what if they have a secret they’re running away from?’ and eavesdropping on a conversation can often turn into, ‘what if they ‘re planning a crime and talking in code?’
Actually, thinking about it, I can’t blame the weather here, as even on sunnier days I find myself wondering about the darker underbelly of life.
I love the juxtaposition of English cream teas in the sunshine with everyone pretending life is fine when actually, there is so much more going on that is hidden.
It’s what I love about the human existence and what I love exploring in my writing, why we do what we do, and why we hide what we hide.
My favourite director is David Lynch, and if you’re familiar with his films you’ll know that he combines the slightly surreal with hidden anxiety. I write about hidden anxiety and the duality of the false persona. I’m fascinated by the rot beneath the respectable surface.
If you know Lynch’s work, you’ll understand the territory, even if my books are considerably less likely to feature people talking backwards or a red room!
I keep a dedicated notebook for every novel, where I have character traits, plot ideas, things I overhear in cafés.
My books always start with what I call a vomit draft , I’ll start out with a plan and by chapter four I’ve already gone rogue. This is apparently how my brain works, and I’ve stopped arguing with it.
Twenty years of writing for businesses plus a few novels has taught me one thing though, the rules for good copy and the rules for good fiction are basically the same.
Start with a hook.
Make the reader care.
Don’t waste their time.
Leave them wanting the next line.
That’s what I bring to everything I write, whether it’s a thriller or a landing page.
You can find my books here and my next two novels, The Storrs Secret and The Windermere Wives, are both set here in the Lake District. Real villages, real landscape, and completely made-up crimes, coming in 2026.
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