Welcome to my shiny new author website! Please bear with me as I polish the rough edges and hopefully come up with something you lovely people will enjoy reading. I plan to blog a bit, share news of my writing exploits and reviews of books I've loved. But — for now — feel free to read on, or skip straight to my books. Thank you for being here 🥰
So, I was born and bred on the West Coast of Scotland, where science was my kryptonite but English my superpower(ish). I initially dreamed of treading the boards as an actress. However, practicality (and lack of discernible talent) nudged me towards journalism, studying at Napier College in Edinburgh—the only place in Scotland offering such a course at the time.
My journalistic journey began as a junior reporter in Dumfriesshire, where I interviewed farmers about their prize-winning heifers and covered family tragedies. Not content with rural reporting, I persuaded my editor to let me launch an entertainment column, which meant rubbing shoulders with the odd celebrity—or just the downright odd. Promoted to senior reporter back home, I swapped farm animals for a higher crime rate, quipping, "As Taggart would say, 'There's been a murrrrder!'"—a nod to the iconic Scottish detective series.
My career took me to London, working on a video magazine, (yes, I am that old). Then, off to Singapore with my fiancé, where I battled stinking heat and humidity, landing a job on a magazine banned for its "artistic" use of naked men's bottoms—talk about a cheeky scandal! Next stop: Australia, where I focused on raising "Cost Centre One" (my firstborn) and preparing for "Number Two," loving the Aussie lifestyle of BBQs, beaches, and bring-your-own-booze restaurants. But the husband's decision to move back to the UK was a blow, especially with no jobs, a possible climate deal-breaker, and an Exorcist-style vomiting infant on the flight home— oh joy.
Back in the UK —ever the survivor — I sought out friends who were "slightly bonkers," got my children into a good school, and thought about writing again, though my efforts then mainly involved shopping lists. Then, another bombshell: Switzerland. In the land of cheese, chocolate, and scarily efficient trains, I tackled driving on the "wrong" side of the road, with a minor wall demolition in week two (we'll skip over that), and continue to battle French, providing endless amusement for the local workforce with my hopeful but often hilarious attempts.
It wasn't until 2016 that I rediscovered my writing mojo through an online Writing Fiction course. My first novel, A Clean Sweep, took longer than nine months to birth, followed by a darker prequel, A Clean Break. In November 2017, I published the first part of a novella trilogy, The Haunting of Hattie Hastings Part One, with Parts Two and Three later combined into a standalone novel that received incredible reviews. My third novel, A Wish For Jinnie, came out in June 2020, followed by Lost In Translation in January 2021. A sequel, A Wish For Jo, was published in June 2022, and the final part of the Cranley Wish trilogy — A Wish For Wilma — released in 2023, rounding out my work to date. Book 7 is expected some time in the next month (or six).
Welcome to my shiny new author website! Please bear with me as I polish the rough edges and hopefully come up with something you lovely people will enjoy reading. I plan to blog a bit, share news of my writing exploits and reviews of books I've loved. But — for now — feel free to read on, or skip straight to my books. Thank you for being here
So, I was born and bred on the West Coast of Scotland, where science was my kryptonite but English my...