I live a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ existence. By day, I am headmaster of a Catholic comprehensive (11–18: 1700 students). By night, I write about horrid, cunning murder in Ancient Egypt, Rome or medieval England. Hopefully, neither of my incarnations suffers from this. Ofsted recently declared that our school is ‘Outstanding in all aspects’. Heaven keep it that way!

I do most of my writing at night, dictate onto a tape and give it to my secretary for the first draft. Carla, my wife of 34 years, is very supportive. She is as interested in my work as I am about her passion for horses! We have seven children, six of whom are supposed to have left home. My youngest, Paul, like his brothers and sisters, attends my school. This is important, what’s good for my child is good for everybody else’s. I try to run the school on that principle. I love my day job. I am still passionate about comprehensive education. It’s the government’s initiatives, which come down like rain. On the plus side there is a great deal of laughter, which simply confirms what my old mother said: ‘If you can’t take a joke, don’t be a Catholic’.

I am a ‘serial writer’. I love telling stories. The Ancient Egyptians referred to death as ‘The place where bad men bustle no more’ whilst medieval coroners ruled that a murder victim ‘Met his death other than his natural death’. I want to take my reader back in time to witness that murder is heinous, bloody and devious and certainly no respecter of age, sex, religion, culture or place.