I used to write books for business, covering everything from the gambling industry to new developments in printing technology. Now I write about love and adventure in the 19th century, which is not nearly as well paid, but much more fun. It also allows me to pretend that travelling in the Far East and South America is research. My main interest is avoiding doing any honest work and this leaves me with time to ski, skate and dance tango.

There are now five books in my series about Napoleonic era spy, James Burke and a sixth is on the way.

The John Williamson Papers is a rather more serious trilogy about the realities of the Empire in the mid-19th century set in Borneo, India and London. The first two, The White Rajah and Cawnpore have just been republished, with Back Home due out this autumn..