Author Millie turns to crime fiction

Author Millie Vigor, whose first three books were based on her experiences living in Shetland, has turned to crime for her latest venture.

In a departure from the relaxed style of her Catherine of Deepdale trilogy, her latest book, The Winding Stair, comes under the heading of crime fiction. It is not a story in which daggers are drawn or guns blaze, but is a psychological thriller.

Ginny Harvey, a 29-year-old single woman, is harassed by someone who leaves red roses on her doorstep. They are not wrapped and there is no greetings card or florist’s label.

Not only are there roses, but phone calls where no-one speaks and Ginny hears nothing but the sound of a soft breath.

Reduced to a state of nervousness, driven to desperation and seeking to escape, she locks up her house and, telling no-one where she is going, she runs away.

She thinks she is safe in the isolated hotel she has chosen as her hideaway, but on the second day a rose is delivered to her there.

Panic stricken, she packs up and leaves. Home again she tries to regain her normal life with her friends, only to find that some of them are not all they seem to be.

The Winding Stair, published by Robert Hale Ltd in hardback at £19.99, is due for release on 31st October.

Vigor will be in Shetland to launch the book at the Shetland Library on Friday 30th October and is due to sign copies at The Shetland Times Book Shop from 2pm to 4pm the following day.

One might be forgiven for thinking that now that Vigor is heading towards becoming a nonagenarian she might consider giving up the writing game. But not so.

The typescript of another novel, Death for Dessert, also crime fiction, has been submitted to the publisher.

Vigor has already started to write a sequel to this; she says she has no plans to stop writing and that ideas for at least two more novels are in the queue.

“I’m a writer,” she says. “So I write. What else am I going to do?”