In looking back over my books, it occurred to me that there’s a lot of me in there. Hopefully, the reader won’t notice but I have found it valuable to include many of my own experiences as being those of my hero, Mac Maguire. Besides giving him my disability, I’ve also shared my memories.

I didn’t really plan it this way but it seems that each new book sheds just a little more light on Mac and how he got to where he is. For instance, in my last book, Mac’s Christmas Present, he remembers a long ago Christmas when, for the first time, he was allowed to join the menfolk of his family in going to midnight mass. He remembers going down the dark empty streets of Small Heath on his way to church, his new boots clicking as he went, warm in the knowledge that he was now grown up. Of course, best of all, he got to open his presents as soon as he got home. Certain events just stick in your mind and this was one of them. I remember the route we took, the cold foggy air making our breath turn to smoke and, most of all, the glow I felt at being allowed to walk with the men in my family.