Why Eastbourne is the perfect setting for a crime novel

The book is Sheila’ fourth Eastbourne-based crime novel featuring journalist Dee Doran, following on from I Could Be You (book 1), When the Dead Speak (book 2) and Before You Were Gone (book 3).

“Dee is my continuing character. She is in her early 50s, menopausal and drinks too much. She had a high-flying career in London as an investigative journalist but her marriage fell apart and her parents became ill so she came back and got rather stuck in a rut. Through the course of the first book, she tries to get herself out of the rut by unintentionally solving a crime and by book four she is freelancing for some of the broadsheets and appearing on lunchtime TV and chatting about the issues of the day.”

And still solving crime.

In the latest book, Cassie McNamara was found guilty of the murder of her husband, Paul Cavellini, but she has always protested her innocence. Upon her release, she is ready to start over and hires Dee to prove she was wrongfully convicted. Cassie and Paul's young daughter Grace was adopted by Paul's family. When 18-year-old Grace goes missing and her body is found, all eyes turn to Cassie as the prime suspect in her daughter's death…

“Eastbourne is a great place to set a book because you've got the beauty of the coast and the fact that you have also got the South Downs alongside it. You've got this beautiful mix of rolling coast that looks like it goes on for miles and you've got these hills that look like they go on forever.

“I think Eastbourne is so much more than its reputation as God's waiting room.

“I think one of the things that really struck me about Eastbourne is that you've got two halves... or in fact three parts. To the west of the pier you've got these big affluent houses, middle class and upwards, stereotypically Eastbourne society, the big houses and the slightly older population. And then you've got the old town in the middle which is the liberal part of the town where people move down from London and then to the east you've got this massive part of Eastbourne that is really, really deprived with high unemployment and a lot of people that have never ever left Eastbourne..”

It all adds up to a great setting for a crime novel: “In seaside towns you've always got this fantastic mix of people, these people that were drawn to the coast and also people that have never moved away. It is such a fascinating mix of people.” However this is almost certainly Dee’s last outing: “I think Dee’s journey has come to a good place in the series but really I just wanted to be able to write about other characters in other locations and you can do that better with other standalone books or maybe another series but I've left things open at the end for Dee, nice and open, and it is for the reader to decide what happens next…”