In 2022, Joel Hames and I decided, after lots of informal chats on the subject, that we wanted to write a series of books together.

So we started thinking about what it would look like.

It would definitely be a police procedural series, for starters. At that point I'd written and published 15 detective novels and Joel had also written mysteries and thrillers, so we knew it was a genre that was within both of our skill sets.

We didn't want to set the books in Birmingham or Dorset, because I'd already written series in those locations. Nor in Manchester, which Joel had already written about.

So where to set the books.

We both love Cumbria. Joel lives closer to the county than I do, and we've both been visiting regularly for all of our lives. I liked the idea of setting our books in Cumbria but outside the Lake District National Park. Because western Cumbria is very different to the lakes. It's one of the most deprived areas of England, with huge contrasts. On the one hand, there are nature reserves and beauty spots like St Bee’s, and valleys like Eskdale with its adorable ‘L’al Ratty’ miniature steam railway. And, of course, the sea.

But on the other hand, there are vast industrial sites like the Port of Workington and the Sellafield nuclear power station, along with abandoned mines, old mining villages that can feel like ghost towns, and stretches of beach that are occasionally bleaker than they are beautiful.

It all makes for a fascinating place to write about, and gives much more potential for showing crime scenes, and the hold that organised crime might have in a coastal area.

Both Joel and I were keen to write about western Cumbria. I have friends in the area, so I decided to take a scouting trip, sussing out potential book locations and getting insights from locals.

I spent a couple of days making my way around the Cumbria coast, coming off the M6 at Lancaster and weaving my way through Grange over Sands, Barrow in Furness and Whitehaven, passing Sellafield and the Solway coast and eventually finding myself back at the M6 just south of Carlisle.

As I drove, I stopped off whenever I saw anything interesting and took photos, as well as recording videos for Joel with my thoughts. Like this one of the Port of Workington, which features heavily in the books.

[video: CCI Port of Workington]

So, we had our location. Between us we identified a number of spots around Workington, Whitehaven, and the surrounding area, that we could use throughout the series. Some urban, some rural. Some industrial, some coastal. Some beautiful, some... not so much.

Now it was time to work on the stories, and build a cast of characters. We decided to start with the characters, as building an investigative team that readers can get behind is so important.

So we started passing documents back and forth. Plot suggestions, character outlines, location ideas. I was particularly focused on the characters, and Joel on the plotlines. (One of the beauties of co-writing is that you can each focus on the bits you enjoy and are good at.)

One Friday afternoon, I was at home with various notes and sheets spread around my living room floor. When I'm in the early stages of planning a book or a series, I like to work with post-it notes and huge sheets of paper-sometimes the back of wallpaper samples, sometimes flip chart paper. Add in some coloured pens, highlighters and plenty of cups of tea and I'm happy.

So I was in my living room, surrounded by stationery and thinking about the characters for our new Cumbria Crime series. Specifically, the lead character.

We'd already agreed we wanted a female lead for the new team. A Detective Inspector, with experience of running serious crime investigations and leading a team, but with some kind of back story that would put challenges in her way. Probably in her forties.

And then it hit me.

The woman I was thinking of... was just like DI Zoe Finch, from my ‘Deadly’ books.

What if we moved Zoe up to Cumbria, and gave her a new team?

Maybe her partner, Carl, would get a posting up there and persuade her to come with him. Maybe after all the things that had happened to her in Birmingham, a change of location could be just what she needed.

So I sent Joel a message.

His response? He loved the idea!

And so Zoe Finch's second series was born. I was working on a seventh book in the ‘Deadly’ series, which would come out before The Harbour, and I made sure to plant some seeds there.

Not long after that, it was time to start writing The Harbour. And it was so nice to return to writing Zoe. In the eighteen months since writing Zoe Finch book 6, Deadly Fallout, I'd been focusing on the Dorset Crime books, with DCI Lesley Clarke.

Now don't get me wrong. I love Lesley. She's a lot of fun to write. But it was lovely to return to Zoe's gentler style, especially her more empathetic and less grouchy management style.

So that's how Zoe Finch came to move up to Cumbria and feature as the lead character in The Harbour. I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.