What is your book all about?
A Dangerous Fossil features ‘Jurassic Jemma Thorne and her dog Dino. Jemma is a fossil hunter and, together with Dino, she discovers a massive fossilized plesiosaur on a storm-tossed Dorset beach. She thinks that the find will help to save her local museum but some people have other ideas. The find leads to a trail of jealousy, greed, theft, and murder. Jemma has to fight to protect her family, her friends, and herself.
What inspired you to write the book?
I have wanted to write a full novel for a while and my wife successfully bid on a writing masterclass for me with author Wendy Holden in a museum auction. Wendy asked me to send her the first three chapters of my, at that time non-existent book, before the meeting. That gave me a kickstart to start the story.
My hero, ‘Jurassic’ Jemma is a modern-day version of the 19th Century fossil hunter Mary Anning. Mary discovered and identified many of the first plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs. I have been interested in fossils for many years and have had a number of holidays and research trips to Dorset and to the Natural History Museum in London.
What is your target audience for the book?
Anybody who likes mystery/thrillers. I have had a great response from all age groups and, although the vast majority of readers are female, I have had reviews from men who say that it has got them back into reading.
This book is quite unusual in that some people think it is a thriller, other people think it is a cozy mystery and it does sit nicely in a number of genres including crime as well.
What do you hope readers could get out of your book?
Hopefully, they find the book interesting and exciting. It has been described as well-researched and a good advert for Dorset. Although it is set in a fictional seaside town called Lulcombe, regular visitors to Lyne Regis and Charmouth may see some similarities.
What are your future goals/plans for the book?
To find new readers that will enjoy the story in whatever format they prefer. The book is available from Amazon as a paperback and hardback, an ebook from Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, and also an audiobook from Audible and Itunes. The interest shown by the Author’s Lounge will greatly help the process
Obviously, I would also like to keep selling plenty of copies.
I originally chose to publish A Dangerous Fossil independently as I didn’t want the pressure of deadlines for future books. However, I am now gently persuaded by readers who want a sequel to find out what happens next to Jurassic Jemma and Dino. I am in the early planning stages of a second book with a draft titled Jurassic Jemma and the Mysteries of Time, possibly set on the Isle of Wight, the dinosaur capital of England.
And something more about yourself.
As well as being a partner in a firm of Chartered Accountants, I combined that career with part-time writing. In 1999 I was lucky to be offered a publishing contract for my games which lead to over 100,000 sales. My games are still on sale as downloadable games from www.playmurdermystery.com
I have also written three musicals. One of these, Directions the Musical, had its world premiere at the Lichfield Garrick a few years ago and two more are in development. I have also written an opera called Tir na Nog which is still in development, although an aria from it was featured on an album by the composer which reached number 1 in England on the iTunes classical chart and number 18 on the USA Billboard classical chart.
I retired from accountancy in 2020 and was then able to concentrate on writing and publishing my debut novel.
A Dangerous Fossil is available from Amazon at
My main social media account is on Instagram at
