Hi

As you may have already guessed, Milly Reynolds is not my real name. Like my 'hero' Detective Inspector Mike Malone, I also hide my real identity.

I live in Lincolnshire and love the flat, endless landscapes and I want these to be seen in my books. Mike Malone has moved from the city to Lincolnshire - unlike me, I was born here and haven't moved.

In my full-time, job I teach in a secondary school. I teach 11-16 year-olds and as you might imagine, sometimes it is a real pleasure to come home and murder someone on paper. It certainly releases the tension after a stressful day in the classroom.

So why Mike Malone? I love all things detective and wanted to create my own series. However, I have decided not to go for the deep, dark thriller - how can I compete with the masters of that genre? I adore the books by Jo Nesbo - a real genius. Therefore I came to the decision that Mike Malone would be off-beat. I like to think that there is humour in my books. I don't want to scare people, I want to make them chuckle - there is not enough laughter in the world at the moment.

However, although Mike was my first creation, he is not the only one. I have also recently created Jack Sallt, another DI. Jack is grittier than Mike and there is not the humour in his stories that there is in the Mike Malone stories. I wanted to write a more 'grown-up' detective story. The first Jack Sallt should be released Oct/Nov 2011.

Not content with crime, I also decided to try my hand at a romantic novel and my first stand-alone novel 'The Unseen Sky' was published August 2011.

I'm lucky, I enjoy writing and find it just as relaxing to sit and create as it is to read. I hope you like my books.