Jane Isaac lives with her husband and daughter in rural Northamptonshire, UK, where she trudges over the fields with her dog, Bollo, mulling over storylines for her murder mysteries.

A victim of an overactive imagination and a curious nature, Jane is a great people watcher and fascinated by how people react when they are taken out of the realms of normality. She becomes very close to her characters to make them real (they could just as easily be you or I), so that we feel their journey. A perennial student, Jane enjoys studying police procedure and tactics, believing good research forms the basis of great crime fiction. 

Formerly a student with the London School of Journalism and freelance writer, two of Jane’s short stories will appear in crime fiction anthologies this year. An Unfamiliar Murder is her first novel.

When she is not writing Jane trains her wayward black Labrador, loves to read and is passionate about travel. She believes life should be an adventure.

So, how did Jane get into writing?

Some people have a fixed idea of their calling from a young age. Jane never did. Eleven years ago she and her husband took a year out to travel the world and a close friend bought her a diary which she kept every day, recording exciting locations, interesting people, unusual events they undertook. It was only years later, when she read this back that she realised the true power of words. The copious photos they took drew on memories, but in the diary she could smell the spices in Kuala Lumpur, hear the street music of Bangkok, feel the thick heat that pervades the wonderfully clean Singapore, see the red earth of Australia.    

She signed up for a creative writing course soon after, did a little freelance non-fiction writing, played with a few short stories, then set out to write a novel that she would like to read herself. The rest, as they say, is history.

An Unfamiliar Murder is a psychological thriller that tells the story of two women, Anna Cottrell and DCI Helen Lavery

Anna is a secondary school teacher, Anna comes home from work to find the dead body of a stranger in her flat, becomes the main suspect in a murder enquiry and, just as she believes she has convinced police of her innocence, new evidence comes to light that links her directly to the victim - evidence that changes her life irrevocably.

Anna is a strong, independent woman that has never felt like she fitted in. She has always known that something in her life was awry, but was never able to put her finger on it; until now. The revelations in An Unfamiliar Murder highlight this angst and force her to deal with its consequences.

DCI Helen Lavery manages her first murder enquiry whilst juggling the responsibilities of single parenting teenage sons. She is trying to make her mark amongst the senior echelons in the police force; an organization dominated by strong personalities, and faces many obstacles along the way. The case initially seems straightforward but, as people close to Anna start to disappear, it increasingly becomes complex, plunging her into a race against time – can she catch the killer before he executes his ultimate victim?

Helen is passionate about leading a murder investigation, catching the bad guy, and making a real difference to public safety in the town of Hampton. She isn’t an alcoholic, divorcee, who lives on her own – this has all been done brilliantly over the years by other authors. Helen is a regular person, like you or I, and quite representative of modern day policing in this respect. What gives her the edge is that she has little interest in the statistics, politics and resourcing issues that dominate the senior ranks – she raced through the ranks to follow in her late father’s footsteps into this ‘hands on’ role. Leading the murder squad is her ultimate ambition, forcing her to occasionally adopt unorthodox methods in pursuit of the killer.

An avid reader of crime fiction for many years, Isaac decided right from the beginning that she wanted to tell the story through two points of view: the police investigation through the eyes of Helen; and the other storyline through Anna’s eyes. Switching perspective allows the opportunity to layer the story and adds to the excitement and ‘page turning’ element. Both women face their own challenges and crisis’ as the story unfolds.

So, what does Isaac like to read?

She reads travel books, biographies and real crime, alongside a little fantasy (she loves Terry Pratchett), but crime fiction is her greatest love. She grew up reading Agatha Christie and P D James by torchlight under the covers and, in recent years, her greatest inspirations have been Jeffery Deaver, James Patterson and Simon Kernick.

Reviews of An Unfamiliar Murder:

“Isaac evokes the gritty realism that a murder investigation entails. She has produced a page turner where a lifetime of secrets and mysteries are unravelled, and builds the story to a suitably dramatic climax with the reader wondering not only who did it, but why they did it.... It is like being fixated by a compelling and chilling crime drama on TV.”

Umbreen Ali, Fusion Lifestyle Magazine

“As an action packed and thrilling read I found this difficult to put down until I had devoured it completely.”

Theresa Hamilton, The Sussex Newspaper

“Move over La Plante, we have a new DCI on the case. Her name is Helen Lavery and the author is Jane Isaac.”

Susan May, Suspense Magazine

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