Born and raised in Aberdeen, Deborah Masson began writing short stories and flash fiction at the same time as she became a mother, then (as she had another child) turned to a genre she had always read and enjoyed - crime fiction – taking online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue (2019) won the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the year prize. The novel introduced DI Eve Hunter and began a sometimes shocking, sometimes gruesome, but always compelling series of crime thrillers set in the Granite City, of which From the Ashes (2022) is the most recent. Scottish-based Vikki Patis has written several psychological thrillers, most recently Return to Blackwater House (2022).

 

Praised for their atmosphere of menace and mystery, twists and shocking conclusions, Vikki Patis’s novels draw readers in and keep them guessing. She also writes historical suspense under the name Victoria Hawthorne and The Darkest Night is due to be published in 2024. After being diagnosed with Perthes disease as a child, and fibromyalgia and coeliac disease as an adult, she tries to raise awareness of living with a chronic illness through her writing, and includes a diverse range of characters in her fiction. She lives in Scotland with her wife, two wild golden retrievers, and an even wilder cat.