David M Thorpe

I was born in London but grew up in Hertfordshire and on the East Coast. Although I always loved the huge skies of East Anglia and its often wild and windy coasts it was a visit to the Lake District, in my early twenties, that changed everything for me: with its mysterious towering fells and deep jewel like lakes, I fell in love with the place instantly.

My companion on that first, and many subsequent visits, was an unfeasibly young woman who seemed slightly baffled when I said we should come and live here - now, this minute. Several minutes, a number of career changes, two relocations and two grown up children later, the pair of us finally retired to the Lakes during one of the many Covid lockdowns. We have not looked back since.

As well as being constantly drawn towards the summits of the fells, I have also always had a desire to write but, with a full-time career, two children and no real idea about what I wanted to write, I found myself with an ever growing collection of unfinished novels - once upon a time on floppy disks (some of you may need to ask your grandparents!) and more latterly, on memory sticks. It wasn't until I came to Cumbria that I found both the time and the inspiration to make my latent ambition a reality. Throughout the DI Wayland mysteries, the lakes, fells and people of Cumbria are a constant feature. I am lucky in that the unfeasibly young woman who did me the honour of not just introducing me to the Lakes, but also marrying me, is born of Cumbrian stock, giving me an incite into the hardy but gentle folk who inhabit this wonderful part of the World - I may never understand everything they say, but I've come to love them nonetheless.

I hope you enjoy reading my DI Wayland novels as much as I enjoyed writing them. But here's a spoiler: If you ever find a passage or a character in one novel that doesn't seem to fit with the narrative, just make a mental note - it may prove to be a crucial detail in one of the later novels. But fear not, although the novels follow a sequence, each is a stand alone story and can easily be enjoyed without having to read all of them - my publishers just hope that you find time to enjoy them all!

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David