Author Salie Thomas, 83, has recently brought out her second novel called Something’s Wrong in Paradise Cove which is set in Dartmouth where she spent many childhood holidays.

Salie was born in 1941 and studied English and History at Tunstall Hall College.

She worked with hunters and show jumpers before founding Helshaw Grange Stud for thoroughbred racehorces.

Salie describes her life: “We had one of the Queen Mother's mares.

Actually, we had a really good time but of course with all that going on I didn't really have time to write.”

Today Salie lives in Shropshire and she took up writing after catching long Covid.

Salie explained she is very familiar with Dartmouth: “We used to have a flat at the top of Captain Gatts' house, and Mrs. Gatts used to look after us and we've been to Dartmouth lots of times, you know.

“In fact, Phillips, you know, the dry dock people, they were my mother's friends years and years ago.”

The book has many descriptions including travelling up the River Dart from Dartmouth to Totnes.

Without giving too much away Salie gave us a flavour of the novel: “There's an old professor who used to live at the cove and didn't like seeing people or anything.

“There were these poisonous snakes and spiders and that sort of thing and then there was a a rock fall that covered the cave up and he wasn't found until he was virtually a skeleton so they think that he was bitten by one of his snakes.”

Salies first book was called High Vista where a couple sold up and bought a place by the sea at Fuengirola which was once used by drug smugglers signalling out to sea.

She is busy working on two new books Cat Tales which is in support of feline charities and a book about UFOs.