Huge apologies to anyone subscribed to this blog who lives in Nottingham, Liverpool or Stockport but, in the madness leading up to the publication of It’s Always the Husband last week, I completely forgot to update this blog and tell you all a) that the paperback was being published and b) that I was off on tour.

The photo above is of Claire Douglas, me, Chris Ewan and Rob Parker at our sold out event at Serenity Books, Romily near Stockport. It was a lovely event, made even better by a surprise – my old school friend Tracey and her daughter Loren turned up to listen to our chat. Tracey and I worked out we last saw each other twenty years ago!

My mini tour started in Waterstones Nottingham where Chris Ewan, TM (Tim) Logan and I were interviewed by bookseller Kibrina. It was a lovely evening and, thanks to Nottingham resident Tim we had a few drinks in a local pub afterwards. No photos of that but here’s one of our event.

After Nottingham came Liverpool where Claire Douglas, Sarah Vaughan and I were interviewed by editor turned debut author Leodora Darlington. We had a great turnout and signed lots of books. Huge thanks to all the readers who came to one of my events.

After Stockport I travelled to London to take part in something that’s currently top secret involving me, Clare Douglas, Vaseem Khan and book blogger Francesca Pavis . All will be revealed on 23rd April so watch this space…

When I haven’t been travelling around the country I’ve been hard at work on my next book, Notes on an Obsession. It’s not out until 25th February 2027. I know it’s disappointing that I don’t have a new book out this year but I recently moved publisher, saying goodbye to Avon HarperCollins and hello to Headline Hachette and, in order to give me time to write the book and give it the best launch possible, we jointly decided not to publish it until February 2027.

I achieved some incredible things with Avon, not least nine Sunday Times bestsellers, three Richard and Judy picks, a Capital Crime award for Sleep and over two million sales but I felt the need to stretch my wings creatively. I’d had an idea that was a little different to anything I’ve written before, but still a psychological thriller and, to do that, I needed a new start.

Notes on an Obsession is that book! There are two threads to the book – one set in 1988/1989 that’s about first love and tragedy, and one set in 1995 that’s about a 24 year old psychology PhD student called Ned. It’s set in a college at Oxford University and… well… you can read the official blurb on Amazon. If you fancied pre-ordering it I’d be very grateful indeed.

It’s partly based on an idea I had thirty years ago when I completed my degree in psychology but I didn’t have the skills to write it back then. As well as being a gripping mystery it’s also the most emotional book that I’ve written. I’m incredibly proud of it and can’t wait to hear what readers think.

This week I completed the final proof read so, other than a cover, it’s actually a finished book! The cover on Amazon is just a holding cover and I look forward to sharing the final cover with you very soon.

I’ve got an idea for the 2028 book but there are still several huge plot holes that I need to fill before I can start writing it. It’s frustrating, as the idea for Notes on an Obsession came to me pretty much fully formed, but the worst thing I can do is stress about it so I’m waiting for a thunderbolt to strike!

So that’s me pretty much caught up on my news. All that’s left to tell you is that the paperback of It’s Always the Husband is currently in Asda (above is a photo of me and Claire Douglas tracking down our books), Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

You should also be able to track down copies in Waterstones or ask your local independent bookshop to order it in. And of course it’s on Amazon too.

If you haven’t already read it I hope you enjoy it and I’ll aim to post another blog post at the end of April to tell all about the secret project I mentioned above…