Former Hartlepool police officer turned author publishes debut crime novel

Penned by former detective sergeant Sharon Birch, She’s Not There is full of twists and turns and “not for the faint of heart”.

It all starts when the skeletal remains of a woman who had allegedly been cremated two years ago are found buried under a tree.

The small town of Glendargie is then uprooted as DS Kat Dubois starts to unravel secrets and the intricate lives of the community.

"It’s a life’s passion to be able to have it published,” said Sharon.

"It’s not for the faint of heart. I don’t want anybody reading it to be thinking they’re getting cosy crime, because it’s certainly not cosy crime.”

Sharon, from Seaton Carew, added: "We lived in a Scotland for a time. My husband used to work in a crematorium. It just went from there. It was the atmosphere, living in Scotland.

"I wanted to write a mystery and about people’s lives and how we all have secrets and sometimes they all collide together.”

The novel is published on February 21 and will be part of a series of five books, with work on the next instalment already underway.

Grandmother-of-five Sharon is also preparing to publish a second collection of short stories at the end of April.

The acceleration of Sharon’s writing career comes after years of working as a police officer in child protection in Hartlepool and London.

Sharon, 57, left the police in 2005 and founded Footprints Learning for Life nursery, in Tees Street, the following year.

At the end of 2022, she made the “difficult decision” to hand over the nursery to the manager and she now works part time as a safeguarding consultant.

"I’ve always loved writing,” said Sharon.

Remembering her Saturday afternoons as a child in the library, she added: "We were told back then people like us read books, they don’t write books. It was always a dream and a passion, but it’s not something you get a careers talk, how to be a writer.

"When I handed the nursery over, it was time I could dedicate back to writing again.”

She added: “This is my dream.”

She’s Not There will be available in paperback, hardcover and e-book.