David Burnell

David is passionate about Cornwall – not just the wild, majestic cliffs but also the intricate history. His cottage there, and tramping the Cornish Coast Path, gave him links with many locals and settings for many stories. No surprise that his lifelong love of logic led on to a series of (so far) twelve Cornish Conundrums, each a tale of crime today but with a long backstory. Merging old and new is a special challenge, as are creating assorted links between his protagonist and the local police.

David writes: “I only started writing stories after years of front-line research in the water industry - what a joy to move to fiction. Laying down and processing logic comes easily but individual profiles are novel. My hero, George, is a fortyish female mathematician now based in Tintagel, who conducts projects around Cornwall. She and her friends come across all sorts of crime, even murder. Usually a real historical episode from the locality undergirds the present-day turmoil; occasionally the background grows an extension of its own. The vivid Cornish locations are as real as I can make them – not just the regular honey-pots – but the events and their resolution are all made up.”

David is now starting a new series, "Georgian Jeopardy", crime stories set in the 1700s. This was a turbulent period when there was no police force and the king, George 1st, spoke no English. 'The first is "Huntsman's Folly". The man protagonist is newly-widowed Abigail Armstrong, making her own way in a man's world. The book is set against the start of the South Sea Bubble.

More background on each "Cornish Conundrum" or "Georgian Jeopardy" can be found on the author's website.