10 Things I want my readers to know about me by Anna Mazzola

I live in Camberwell, South London, not far from where the murder at the heart of my novel The Unseeing took place. That was why I first started reading about the crime, although I didn't anticipate then that it would become a novel.

I've always loved books, perhaps too much. At the age of four, I was so entranced by Alice in Wonderland that I dressed as her for over two weeks and drank from small bottles labeled, 'Drink Me'. My parents drew the line when I drew the door to Wonderland on their wall in crayon.

It's not just wonderland: I am for some reason fascinated by things beneath ground: tunnels, passages, caves, crypts.

I started writing when my son was a baby, scribbling in cafes while he slept when I should probably have been emptying nappy bins.

My favourite author is Margaret Atwood. I met her at a signing event last year and told her she'd been a great inspiration to me. She looked suitably unimpressed.

I have over fifty pairs of shoes and very small feet - not quite a size 3.

I go running (not very fast) every couple of days. I find it helps my thinking. Particular tracks inspire particular books. While writing The Unseeing I listened to a lot of Nine Inch Nails. For my new one, it's mainly Daughter.

I love balloons.

My penchant for mystery fiction started early. As a child, I was obsessed with the Riders at Black Pony Inn series by Christine Pullein-Thompson, and then with supersleuth Nancy Drew. I in fact made my poor friends act out the stories, playing the parts of Bess, George and Ned Nickerson. I, of course, was always Nancy.