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In Cold Daylight was inspired by a conversation I overheard at the fire station where my husband a former fire-fighter worked.  The firemen were talking about how several fire-fighters from one watch had contracted cancer. Many of them believed their cancer was contracted from exposure to hazardous chemicals in the line of duty but this has never been fully investigated. I decided to blend the facts of this case within a dramatic fictional plot, creating a powerful novel unaware that a major International disaster on a massive scale 9/11 would be the catalyst to spark studies in the USA into this controversial area. Since writing In Cold Daylight , after a three year study prompted by 9/11, research from the University of Cincinnati has found that rates of testicular cancer were a hundred per cent higher and prostate cancer twenty-eight percent higher among fire-fighters. In addition, the researchers also discovered a fifty percent increase in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple ...

I have just received the Polish copy of my thriller, In Cold Daylight , renamed Fire and Water in Poland (Ogien i Woda) and it looks fantastic. The cover image is very impressive and the book is a cross between a hardback and paperback with a very unusual flap extending from the front and back cover which you can use as a handy bookmark - a brilliant idea. There is a lovely illustration of a lighthouse at the top of chapter one and an image of a boat at the top of the pages on the following chapters. Red Horse Poland have really embraced my concept of Marine Mysteries. On the back flap of the cover they have shown a picture of my thriller, In For the Kill (Uwiklany) with details about it. Fire and Water ( In Cold Daylight) is dedicated to my sister Chrissy - she'll be thrilled - and to my mum, to fire-fighters everywhere - the true heroes and especially for Bob (my husband) and Red Watch, Southsea (his former fire fighting colleagues). Thanks guys for all you do. So here is the de...

How would you describe In Cold Daylight? It’s a fast-paced thriller with a controversial story line that has you on the edge of your seat wondering if Adam Greene will be allowed to get to the truth behind the death of his friend, fire-fighter, Jack Bartholomew and the other fire fighters from the same watch who have died of cancer. What gave you the inspiration for the story? My husband is a former fire-fighter and he and the others on his watch were talking one day about the men who had died of cancer and how several of them were from the same watch. They wondered if it was as a result of an incident they attended some years previously. No more was said, but that planted the seed of an idea in my mind. I thought what if it was true? And is it true? There is research that shows fire fighters are at a far higher risk of developing certain cancers than people in many other professions. A University of Cincinnati research team looked at 110,000 fire-fighters and compared them to other oc...

Yes, it's the day when the short list will be announced for the TOP TEN books for World Book Day, Spread The Word 2008. Will In Cold Daylight be on that list? Have I got enough votes to take me through? All this waiting is agony, can't work for thinking of it. But I know so many of you have voted for In Cold Daylight for which I heartily thank you. And I've had e mails of support from American fire fighters who are raising money to research into fire fighter's cancer. I'll post more on that later but those of you who have read In Cold Daylight know that it is a thriller about Adam Green's quest to find out why his best friend Jack Bartholomew died. “Before fire-fighter Jack Bartholomew can reveal the cause of his own – and his colleagues cancer- he is murdered and silenced forever. But in a cryptic message he orchestrated before his untimely death, he has left a trail of clues that will lead his best friend into a labyrinth of lies, secrets and government conspi...

IN COLD DAYLIGHT -my thriller about fire-fighters -has been selected as one of the books for World Book Day/Spread The Word. www.worldbookday.com/spreadtheword Yippee! I've made the long list so now all I have to do is get into the Top Ten and that's where I need your help. I need as many votes as I can to make it through to that Top Ten and you can vote on-line for what will be "The Most Talked About Book 2008." The short list is to be announced at the end of January, with the ultimate winner being announced on World Book Day on 6 March 2008. Each person who votes gets the chance to win £100 of National Book Tokens in a weekly Free Prize draw, so there’s an incentive to enter. If you would like to vote for my book then you can read about IN COLD DAYLIGHT at: http://www.worldbookday.com/spreadtheword/books/book-detail.asp?BookID=65 . And to give you a taster, here is a preview of the book. You can also read the first chapter by clicking on the above bar. “IN COLD DAY...

Getting national publicity for authors and their books is nigh on impossible unless the author happens to be a celebrity, married or having an affair with someone famous, has good connections in the media or someone with an amazingly tortured background. I am none of these (though I do have some good connections with my local and regional media) and so the lovely features writer from the Southampton Daily Echo came to interview me today for a feature in their Saturday magazine, which will appear in about three weeks time. A photographer couldn't make it today because they're all a little busy with Children in Need, photographing people in baths of baked beans, all for a good cause, of course. And talking of good causes I've just read in Publishing News that in a Virgin Radio auction to raise money for the families of the Warwick Fire Brigade, who lost fire-fighters in a warehouse blaze, HarperCollins has successfully bid £22,000 to host the station's Breakfast Show, whi...