Lily Thorne novels

Location scouting... Natural
History Museum, main hall...

The Art of Living Dangerously

I can remember the day that Art was born. It was March 2, 1998. I read a newspaper article about a beautiful woman who had allegedly cut a swathe through the Paris glitterati, conning gullible men out of money, jewellery and art. A mistress of deception and disguise, she'd led a life of danger and glamour - right up until the moment she was caught.

She was the inspiration for Helen Thorne, mother of Lily.

The story had a slow gestation. The half-finished treatment gathered dust on a bookshelf until 2005, when I finally got

...Elgin Marbles Room at the
British Museum... 

around to rereading it, chucking out everything except the core concept and main protagonists, and shaping it into a passable screenplay. I went through a couple of titles along the way - Petals and Thorns, and The Antiquities Retrieval Team (how rubbish is that?!).

Alas, Hollywood did not swoop, and once again life got in the way for a year or two. In 2008 I decided to try my hand at adapting my screenplay into a novel. Three years, seven drafts and one global publishing deal near-miss later, The Art of Living Dangerously was released to an unsuspecting public as a Kindle ebook.

... and my favourite: The Palm
Court at The Park Lane
Hotel, Piccadilly.

Researching and writing it while finding and developing my voice was hard work, but it was a fun ride; I'm looking forward to jumping back into Lily's world with book 2. For now, the fruits of my labours are yours for less than the price of a Starbucks Latte. Enjoy!


Lily Thorne 2 (title tba) 

Without giving too much away just yet, the second book in the series will reunite Lily with some of the team from The Art of Living Dangerously. With new faces, new locations, and a whole new level of nasty to contend with, our heroine will be pushed closer to the brink than ever before.