It was Christmas 2016, and I was having a meal one evening with a friend who is a cyber-crime expert.

A Good Mother explores the power of maternal love from the point of view of Nicci, a young woman who lost her own mother as a young child and was brought up in care.

People always assume that I am solely a women's fiction writer and that my recent foray into crime thriller is a real departure.

Authors are often asked where we get the ideas for plots. There is no formula. I’ve written twenty novels and there’s never been two occasions when the idea came to me in the identical way.

There’s a trope in cosy mysteries whereby the hero(ine)’s special skills and experience - crossword puzzle setter, antique Chinese furniture restorer, exotic animal vet, what have you - while seemingly unrelated to crime-solving, come into play in surprising ways, enabling her to solve the mystery.