So why did I start writing crime fiction when I have enjoyed writing historical novels for many years now? Well I suppose there are two reasons why I turned to crime. My husband, who died a few years ago, absolutely loved crime novels and each time he read a new one, he would say. 'You could do this. Why don't you write a detective series.' And my answer was always the same. 'I prefer doing what I'm doing. I love historical fiction.' Then a few years ago he became ill and died. It was all very sudden, but then I suppose it usually is; we never expect those we love to die and leave us. So when I had got used to the idea that I was now alone, I thought I would take his advice and write at least one detective novel in his memory.

We’ve all heard of the Mediterranean Diet, but what exactly is it and what has it got to do with Muslim Spain? In a world concerned with increasing obesity in people of all ages, and the subsequent health issues that follow, more and more attention has turned to the need for improving our life styles, particularly our diet. Probably one of the most popular, and certainly the easiest of the numerous diets on offer, is the Mediterranean Diet, so called because it is the traditional combination of foodstuffs that the people living in Mediterranean countries have followed for centuries.

When I first heard about the ruins of Madinat al-Zahra, I was intrigued by the idea that a palace-city of such magnificence should have lasted for such a short time. Civilisations come and go, as any reader of history knows but for it to last no more than seventy-five years seemed a tragedy. It was the summer of 2001.

I was delighted when the publisher Ybernia SL approached me to say they would like to publish a new edition of my book Daughters of Spain, a collection of first-hand interviews with a variety of Spanish women.

Traditionally, flamenco has always been associated with Spain and the Roma or gypsy way of life, but in fact there was a similar culture of music and dance in southern Spain a thousand years before the gypsies arrived in Andalusia. The city of Cádiz, known as Gades during the the time of the Phoenicians and the later Roman occupation of the country, was famous for its female dancers who were renowned all across the Mediterranean world for their beauty and sensual dancing.

There are two questions I am often asked; one is whether living in Spain has influenced my writing and the other is, how much of my own life is in my stories. I will attempt to answer both those questions in this blog.