I was born and brought up in York; cycled daily past the Minster and through Bootham Bar to school. 

I studied maths at Cambridge. Enjoyed various expeditions, one to the High Atlas in Morocco, another to the highest peaks in Norway.

Afterwards I taught maths to sixth formers in North Ghana. Took students to villages to visit Wycliffe Bible Translators. Later to Togo, Upper Volta and Ivory Coast in a battered minibus. Four very special years, till one of my first students replaced me.

After that I did what might be called industrial maths in health, coal mining and finally the water industry, culminating in a PhD on London's subtle patterns of water use from Lancaster. 

Once "retired", my wife and I bought a small cottage in Tintagel, North Cornwall. Bracing countryside, especially the rugged Coast Path. Over the years an old college photographer friend and I walked it all.

Although I'd written many management reports, I'd always hoped to write crime fiction; the county seemed bounding in possibilities.

It took three unpublished novels to move from management data to free-range fiction. (Might my reports have had more impact with dialogue, or a pen-sketch of recipients?) I showed them to friends and received cautious encouragement.

 I also joined a Writers' Circle. The old hands took early chapters and trimmed them by 20% without losing any substance. Finally, I started writing in earnest.