I loved the writing cabin at my old house. It was the first time I’d had a dedicated place to work at home and I wrote five books there between 2019 and 2023: The Catch, Trust Me, The Curfew, The Mother and my latest, The Dream Home.

It was tough to leave it behind when we moved in January. So I’m very excited that the garden cabin at my new house is now up and running!

It’s a little bit smaller than the original but still has space for hundreds of books, novels that have inspired me, all my notebooks and files, a little collection of my own foreign translations and – most importantly – a kettle for those all-important tea breaks.

If you’d like to find out a bit more about my working process and my writing life, where my ideas come from, books that have inspired me and much more, check out this video created by my lovely publisher, Bonnier Books (filmed shortly before the new cabin was finished!).

I’m busy writing the next book at the moment but I’ve also been devouring some advance proofs of books coming out this summer, including the new one from Louise Candlish - Our Holiday – a fantastic family-based thriller which I absolutely loved. I’m currently enjoying The Wilds, the new one from Sarah Pearse coming in July, and looking forward to diving into Message Deleted by my fellow Nottinghamshire author, KL Slater.

On TV, I’ve been watching Passenger on ITVX, a thriller with a very quirky vibe and hints of Twin Peaks, Happy Valley and League of Gentlemen. And I’m getting into Red Eye this week, starring the multi-talented Richard Armitage (who narrated the audiobook of The Dream Home), Jing Lusi and Lesley Sharp.

We’ve also been to the finale of the ice hockey season – the Playoff finals weekend which is held in Nottingham every April. Our local team didn’t make it to the finals this year but it’s always nice to get together and enjoy the last games of the season with hockey fans from all around the UK.

I’ll be in Reading on 18th May, Capital Crime in London on 1st June and Boston (Lincs) on 8th June. More information on all my events here.

In the meantime, I’ll be heading back into the writing cabin to crack on with book number nine, which will be out early in 2025. Currently at 72,000 words and counting…

Where do story ideas come from?

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