1. People ask me how I write my books so quickly. All I can say is that I type very fast and once an idea takes hold of me, I run with it and trust that the characters will take me wherever they need to go. By and large this works. Sometimes I have to step in and take charge if my characters dart off in too many directions. Fortunately my detective, Geraldine Steel, generally knows what she is doing.
  2. Although my books are not extremely gruesome, they are far from cosies. Despite the fact that my books are murder stories, I am very squeamish and can't stand the sight of blood. I would have been a complete disaster in the medical professions. I can't even watch hospital programmes on the television.
  3. Most of my research is fascinating, but not all of it is fun. Investigating live maggots was too disgusting to put in a book. Watching a sheep's eye being dissected was interesting in a grotesque way. On the other hand, I did get to spend an entire afternoon at my local fire station with a team of firemen, and am off to do some research in the Seychelles for a couple of weeks, and then on to Paris for a week researching another book, so it's not all bad!
  4. My writing career began later than many authors. There was no grand plan to be a writer. I can't believe I discovered my passion for writing relatively late in life. Since I started, I have not been able to go a day without writing. It was like turning on a tap. There is no way to turn it off now. Before that, I was addicted to reading. They are two sides of the same coin.
  5. It is no secret that I only ever wear purple. People often ask me why.
  6. I was a vegetarian for many years, although I do now eat fish.
  7. My killers interest me more than my other characters. What is it that drives some people to kill? This is the question I explore in my books.
  8. My characters are never based on anyone I have ever met, and my plots are not based on anything I have ever heard or read about. I make it all up.
  9. I have no sense of direction. Am I the only person to have got lost in the toilets at an airport? Every door I opened was another cubicle. Only after watching other people was I finally able to find the exit. If no one else had been coming in and out I might still be there, opening the same doors again and again.
  10. I am fortunate to be able to support a fantastic lifestyle by writing fiction, but it is a highly risky source of income, so all I can say with any confidence is, so far so good.

Leigh Russell is the author of the internationally bestselling DI Geraldine Steel series and the DI Ian Peterson spin-off series which have sold over half a million copies worldwide. Her seventh Geraldine Steel novel, Killer Plan, explores how a chance meeting with an old school friend in the park can change a woman's life forever. Soon, Caroline's husband is dead and her child missing, but with the killer monitoring her every move, is there any way she can help Geraldine uncover the truth?

Leigh Russell

Leigh Russell

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killer-Plan-Geraldine-Steel-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00OFIBG7O/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1431427651&sr=1-1&keywords=killer+plan

Leigh Russell: http://leighrussell.co.uk/

No Exit Press: noexit.co.uk

by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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