For twenty-five years I ran my own anti-money laundering consultancy, which left me the legacy of an obsession with dodgy money. When it came time for me to turn my hand to fiction, financial crime was the obvious choice.

I spent ten years haunting the streets of Regency London, in the company of magistrates’ constable Sam Plank. He is the narrator of my series of seven historical financial crime novels set in consecutive years in the 1820s – just before Victoria came to the throne, and in the policing period after the Bow Street Runners and before the Metropolitan Police.

The fourth Sam Plank novel – Portraits of Pretence – was given the “Book of the Year 2017” award by influential book review website Discovering Diamonds. The fifth – Faith, Hope and Trickery – was shortlisted for the Selfies Award 2019.

I am now working on a five-book series set in my hometown of Cambridge, again in the 1820s, but this time narrated by university constable Gregory Hardiman. The first in the series – Ostler – was shortlisted for the Selfies Book Award 2024. The second – Sizar – was published in December 2024.