In my last blog, I reviewed Alison Morton's exciting new novel, Julia Prima . (You can read the review here .) I'm delighted that Alison was able to join us today to let us know more about her work.  Tell us a bit about yourself and your books.     The writing bug bit me in late 2009 when I was watching a beautiful film spoilt by badly chopped up dialogue and clumsy continuity. I thought I could do better. It took me three years to learn through classes, mentors, courses and manuscript assessments that it wasn’t that easy. Being a voracious reader able to string sentences together grammatically wasn’t enough; structure, characterisation, plot layering and dialogue were essential crafts to master. Inceptio , the first Roma Nova thriller came out in March 2013. The setting is south central Europe where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived through the centuries and today is governed mostly by women. Now there are ten books in the series – three novels and a no...

Alison Morton, author of the stunning alternative history Roma Nova series, and Helen Hollick, whose historical fiction ranges across the centuries from King Arthur to pirates of the Caribbean, have both taken exciting steps into new genres. I recently eavesdropped on them in conversation during their current Blog Tour, talking about the challenges and rewards of moving in new directions...   Thank you, Lucienne, for hosting a stop on our joint tour for our new released mystery/thriller novels Double Identity by Alison Morton and A Mirror Murder by Helen Hollick. Helen: It was quite coincidental that we both decided to branch out from our usual genres into mystery/thrillers at more or less the same time, wasn’t it Alison? My A Mirror Murder is a novella ‘cosy mystery’, while your, Double Identity is a fast-paced thriller. What they have in common is the theme of investigating a murder. Alison: I wanted to write a character with strong roots in France, which is where I live...