On July 18 I was invited by my publisher at Severn House to submit the synopsis for a new novel. They'd previously published The Memory of Trees and The Lucifer Chord so were familiar with my style and themes.

I don't really do synopses, because I make them up as I go along. Often I don't know what's going to happen in the next line, let alone the next chapter. So I sent her a premise, which she must have liked, because she commissioned the book on the strength of it.

I write quite fast. By August 29 I was ready to send her the completed novel, 72, 000 words divided into 47 chapters. She emailed me on Friday saying she was delighted with the finished result and giving me a publication date of February 28 2019.

The Auguries is full-blown apocalyptic and the darkest thing I've written. Ordinarily I wouldn't describe my books as in the horror genre, I'd say they're more thrillers with a paranormal element. But this one is as close to horror as I've ever got. My 16th century alchemist from the Waiting Room, Gunter Keller, appears in this in sections set in Europe in the 1520s. But most of the contemporary action takes place in London and apart from him, the cast of characters is completely new.

My character Ruthie Gillespie got the stand-alone novel I thought she deserved in The Lucifer Chord. I'll definitely feature her again in the future, she's resting rather than retired. But Juliet Harrington, the main female protagonist of The Auguries, has ample charms of her own, as I hope at least some of you will discover early next year.