ABOUT ME
Born and bred in Scotland, I've made various kinds of living in various countries as an English teacher, a cartoonist, a lawyer, in finance and in international trade.
I started rummaging in the auction houses when I was eleven years old and I've been collecting old stuff ever since. I still find it hard to walk past a flea market or a junk shop and I get a particular thrill from finding and rescuing things unloved and long forgotten. Similarly, it is discovering the stories which never made it to the textbooks which makes the background research for historical fiction so much fun.
In The Ivory Grinder, I aimed to weave together real events and characters with fictional ones, in a fast-paced story which carries the reader into the dark back streets of eighteenth century Edinburgh. I set out to entertain, rather than to lecture, and I've tried not to put in any more historical detail than the story needs.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.