Alison describes becoming an author and the birth of the Goodhew series :
'Over the years I've worked in all kinds of jobs, from admin to electro-plating and from DJ-ing to IT management. I didn't always plan to become a full time novelist but I can't remember a time in my adult life when I wasn't carrying a notebook and pen and jotting down my latest ideas.
When I'm writing I work on a story idea until I can visualise it clearly and replay it in my head until it feels more like a watching a movie than something I've created.
I've made up stories this way since childhood, in fact it was such a great way to combat boredom that it is still my favourite way to kill time in a queue!
Eventually my love for thrillers and murder mysteries dovetailed with my early plotlines and I realised that I was rarely coming up with a story premise that didn't involve crime and usually a body or two.
One day I hit on an idea that grabbed me so strongly that I decided to tackle a full length novel. It was whilst working on this first book that I realised I needed a police character and DC Gary Goodhew was born. Initially his role was relatively minor but from the very start I knew I wanted to him to be the kind of detective that I'd been wishing I could find in other people's books.
Goodhew had wanted to join the police since just before his 12th birthday and has achieved the rank of DC at the young age of twenty-five. This kind of quiet determination is typical of Goodhew and it is this, alongside his ability to empathise with people, which produces results.
As my interest in him grew so did his role in the story. By the time I reached the end of the book he was the one character that I couldn't bear to leave behind.
I moved to the Cambridge area in 1998 and decided to make it the backdrop for the books because of its unique mix of characteristics. It is a relatively small city but has a worldwide reputation for education and science. On its doorstep lie tiny and relatively primitive rural hamlets yet it has an airport and fast rail links into London. It is traditionally English but multi-ethnic, vastly wealthy in places but under privileged in others. Goodhew grew up here and the city is one of his great loves, researching through his eyes gave me a wonderful insight into the landmarks the tourists never visit.'
Alison Bruce has also written two non-fiction books, Cambridgeshire Murders and The Billington, Victorian Executioner, both published by the History Press.
