I am a retired Mechanical Engineer living in Arrowtown, New Zealand. Whilst New Zealand is my favorite country, France comes a close second. The idea for my debut book, The Heretics' Revenge, came from both reading various books on the Cathars and their treasure, and from visiting Montsegur itself. I find many, if not most, books I read are either overly descriptive and padded out as page fillers, or are highly implausible. Strking the right balance is what was always going to be important to me. Favourite authors are Peter James, Steve Berry, Stephen Leather.