Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse is a good example of a crossword solving policeman, indicating his astute mind and ability to solve clues, however obtuse they might be. I sometimes manage to complete the cryptic crossword in my paper but recently I have been doing jigsaws in my spare time. It began with the traditional picture of a garden but soon I found Escher’s “Waterfall” tucked away. It is grayscale and very repetitive – so that took a while. But now I have...

No-one wants to have another year like the last one and we all hope that rolling out the vaccines will eventually get the virus under control. Meanwhile we all need to keep safe and carry on. So how did you keep going during 2020? Gardening seems to be a common theme and I certainly spent a lot of time in the summer weeding, pruning and generally keeping my garden in the best shape ever. Once autumn arrived it was back indoors to a combination of books and jigsaws. I have enjoyed reading a...

Something magical happens when the snow falls – everything goes very quiet.  Traffic slows down to a crawl and noises that normally echo across the Dale are muffled. We are suddenly able to see evidence in the tracks of the animals that are usually hidden from view: deer, stoats – or is that weasel? Children appear with sledges to spend the morning sliding down the hillsides and there is excitement when the snowplough arrives. My book “Frozen Ground” is set...

Last year I gave a talk at the bookshop in Grassington to launch my new book but this year it was very different. With the current restrictions due to Covid-19, I arranged to drop into the bookshop with my new crime novel to sign a few copies instead. The numbers of customers allowed in the shop at once is limited so I didn’t stay too long – Grassington was busy with visitors and I didn’t want to hold up business! Residents of Grassington are looking forward to the start of...

It is disappointing that so many events have been cancelled because of the virus, meaning that I have not been able to attend talks and signings at shows, festivals, libraries and bookshops this year. However, I have had some lovely messages from readers who are pre-ordering my new book through this website, bookshops and on Amazon. Let’s hope that things will return to a form of normality in due course and we can again meet face-to-face. Meanwhile, keep safe!