1. What inspired you to pick Morocco for Dangerous Lies, and why?

Oh, that’s a complicated answer! Let’s see if I can simplify. You see, I always imagined Dangerous Lies as my “desert book.”I knew the Sahara would play a big part in the story. But I also knew that, for Marianne at least, the story would start as a simple holiday romance . . . and although deep down she was seeking adventure, for Marianne the desert would have been an adventure too far. Which brought me to Morocco, a popular but exotic holiday destination for Europeans, and hard against the shoulder of the vast Sahara. Why I wanted to write a desert book, and why it had to be the Sahara is another story—see below!

2. In Dangerous Lies, what helped you decide on both lead characters’ personalities and looks?

I’d already “met” Alan in my first book, Run Among Thorns. I’d imagined him then as the smooth-talking, charming, golden opposite of Run Among Thorns’ dark, driven, monosyllabic hero, but I gave Alan his own secrets, too, and his own sadness. Alan was part of a family (his sister, Jenny, was the heroine of Run Among Thorns), but he was also apart, separate, and, in spite of all his easy words, intensely secretive. So I needed to explore that in Dangerous Lies.

Of course, when Daniel Craig was chosen for Bond, I was ecstatic. But I swear to you my charming, ruthless, blond spy was written long before the delectable Daniel was even whispered of for Bond!

Marianne is a heroine close to my heart. A recent review called her “one of the most successful modern innocents I’ve read,” which pleased me to no end, as I sometimes worried how readers would respond to her. The thing is, you see, that owing to an isolated upbringing, caring for a dying father, Marianne is all too aware of her own inexperience. Actually, she’s strong, unbreakable, and capable of anything, but at the start of the story she doesn’t know that. For me, Marianne’s coming into her own is one of the most enjoyable parts of the book! Once Marianne’s background began to become clear to me (sometime around the second draft!), it was easy to see her as a classic, delicate English rose—with a touch of Eastern exotic!

Smart, sexy, charming, and drop-dead gorgeous, Alan is the type of man Marianne would never normally aspire to attain . . .

3. Do your family and friends play a big role in deciding the story (or theme) of your books?

There’s a lot of my dad in Dangerous Lies. Not as a person or a character, but as the source of all my love for the desert. It’s strange to admit I’ve never been to the Sahara, because it feels so familiar to me—because of Dad’s stories of spending time there. We grew up listening to those stories and handling bits of fossilized wood and seashells Dad brought home from the desert. Dangerous Lies isn’t all desert—it touches on the Mediterranean, York, the Lake District, and Cornwall in England—but the desert is there in the characters, too. Dad died before Dangerous Lies was published, so the book is dedicated to his memory.

The theme is always something I “discover” as I’m writing—I’m very much a non-plotting kind of a writer— and my closest writer friends (who are all goddesses and geniuses, I have to add) help me explore that.

And my husband, a man of infinite patience and ingenuity, is a great help with technical assistance and plotting. He helped me come up with how to, um, deal with the villain, of which is he is justly proud! I will admit, though, I vetoed his idea for mercenaries with jet packs and laser guns, which disappointed him a tad . . .

4. Is there a particular place or person you go to for inspiration?

Oh, yes. I’m a very, very lucky person to live on the edge of the English Lake District. Sometimes, if I’m stuck or just need an injection of creativity, I pack a drink and a notepad and take a short drive to the Borrowdale Valley. You can park where the two arched stone bridges cross the Derwent and walk down the track that winds through sleeping woodland, where ancient oak trees dream above emerald moss. Eventually the track reaches the river again beside a long, deep strait with crystal waters whispering over smooth, blue-green stones. There you can sit under the trees on the moss, with the mountains bracketing the sun behind you, and write to your heart’s content. I always find my writing gets richer for being outdoors, and that place is very special indeed.

Plus Grange Bridge Cottage, on the walk home, does a fabulous ice cream!

5. If you were a vegetable, what would you be?

A vegetable! *laughing* I think I’d be a potato. There’s all that lush, green, leafy growth, but the real gold’s underneath, hidden away in the fertile earth, and it lasts and lasts and lasts. Plus, the stems look really fragile when they germinate—but they’re stronger than they look!