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Crime Pays for Rossendale Author

A Darker Side, the second in the crime fiction series by Lancashire-based author Shirley Wells, is already receiving rave reviews.

The Express described it as an "intensely atmospheric thriller" and went on to say, "Briskly paced, the book moves inexorably towards a highly satisfying climax."

The novel, published May 2008 by Constable & Robinson, features the crime fighting duo of Jill Kennedy, a forensic psychologist, and DCI Max Trentham, who first appeared in the highly successful Into the Shadows.

Having written romance and sagas for many years, it was Shirley's move to Rossendale in 2004 that inspired her to turn to crime (writing, that is). Brought up in the Cotswolds, she'd lived in places as diverse as Cyprus and the Orkney Islands before settling in Bacup. "I'd always devoured crime novels," she says, "and when I found myself surrounded by such spectacular scenery, and the disused mills and quarries, I thought it was the ideal setting for a good whodunnit." The result, Into the Shadows, published in May 2007, was a taut mystery that brought real menace to the idlyllic Pennine setting. "Although there are plenty of fictional crime fighters based in Yorkshire," Shirley adds, "I thought Lancashire, and especially Rossendale, was missing out."

While Into the Shadows featured on a close encounter with a serial killer, A Darker Side has Jill Kennedy and DCI Max Trentham investigating the disappearance of a 17-year-old schoolboy. It seems as though a killer with a yen for teenage boys is on the loose until another brutal slaying causes the team to rethink the case.

Visitors to Shirley's web site - http://www.shirleywells.com - regularly ask her if there are plans for another book. Fortunately, it seems that Rossendale provides more than enough inspiration as she's already written the third in the series, Where Petals Fall, due for publication in March 2009, and she's currently working on the fourth.

A Darker Side and Into the Shadows are available in libraries, and can be purchased online from Amazon or indeed via any good bookshop. Revival Books in Crawshawbooth also stocks Shirley's books.