“ I finished Out of The Depths at 2 AM. How do you do it, Cathy? I was hypnotized, my eyes glued to the pages.  I turned each page in anticipation wondering what would happen next.  Your books are never what they seem. Full of surprises. What an amazing character Tyler Lawless is.  I can’t wait for Secret of The Shadows. And find out what is going to happen next. I love how you include a touch of teenage romance in your books, and how multicultural they are too. Fingers crossed your books will turn into films I want to see these characters come to life.

If Out of The Depths doesn’t leave you with a shiver down your spine, I don’t know what will. I’m sure Tyler Lawless, detective of the dead, will return with an even more thrilling adventure. You have begun something amazing and original.”

Thank you so much Kamran, and believe me, this is the edited version of his e mail.

Secret of The Shadows will be published on the 1^st of March, and it is the scariest book I have ever written.  Tyler goes to her late grandmother’s isolated little bungalow by the sea to help her American aunt get it ready to sell. And from the first day strange things begin to happen.

But that night, she wakes up and sees a shadow in a chair in the corner, as if someone is sitting there.

And then the shadow moves.

Look out for a competition when the book comes out!

This has to be the most exciting month of this year for me. This is Tyler Lawless month. At last Out of The Depths is coming out, due to be published on the 21rst. And on Monday the 14th there is going to be a fantastic launch at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. Thank you to the wonderful Glasgow librarians who organised this for me. 400 pupils are coming. ( I hope some of them buy a book!) and guess what? The real Tyler Lawless is coming along. I hope she is as excited as I am. I hope I recognise her too. I’ve only met her once, and yet, she has become such a big part of my life! I feel I am with her every day. I’ve written Out Of The Depths, and then I wrote the second in the series, The Secret of the Shadows, and after that I wrote the third, where she solves the mystery of the dead teacher. It was originally going to be called Spirited Away, until I discovered that was the title of a Japanese animation film. So now, I am looking for a new title. And as soon as I finished The Dead Teacher(working title) you know what I did? I started writing the fourth. That’s how confident I am in Tyler Lawless. I don’t even have a contract for the fourth. But boy, it is turning out to be scary, and has what I think is a cracker twist in it. And I love twists.

The week after the launch at the Mitchell, I am down in England for the Northern Children’s Book Festival, and I’m only home for a day then I am away again down south for the Tyler Lawless tour with Bloomsbury!

And the good news hasn’t ended with Tyler Lawless and Out of The Depths. Another Me and Run Zan Run are going to be published in the US in March, Hide and Seek is coming out in the USA in hardback and the wonderful Frank Rodgers is going to illustrate the new edition of Granny Nothing.

You think that would be enough for anyone, wouldn’t you! But it doesn’t stop there!

The film of Another Me is going into production in March. It’s going to be called Panda Eyes. ( Don’t ask me why) and I am so excited about that too.

But this is Tyler’s month. And don’t forget the fantastic competition that gives you the chance to make the video trailer that could be the official trailer for Out Of The Depths! Check it out on

www.publishedworld.com/trailercomp