KIELDER’S dark skies are the inspiration behind a Northumberland author’s newest foray into crime fiction.

LJ Ross, who sets all of her books in the North-East, has located her latest murder in a ‘drowned village’, that was flooded when Kielder Dam was created in the early 1980s.

And in an astute marketing move, the Ponteland-born author has chosen the spookiest day of the year – Halloween – to launch her next spine tingling treat for fans of the fictional detective, DCI Ryan.

LJ – real name, Louise – said: “Dark Skies takes its name from Kielder’s international gold standard dark sky status, offering as it does an awe-inspiring cosmic panorama of millions of stars in an age when light pollution denies this magical spectacle to so many people.

“The area really starts to come into its own now the nights are getting darker and longer, and Halloween seemed the perfect time to pre-release Dark Skies as it not only deals with a particularly haunting murder that has lain hidden for decades, but it also throws the spotlight on what a magical and unique place Kielder is.

“All my DCI Ryan books have been deliberately set in picturesque locations across Northumberland and County Durham, as I love North-East England, and I want my readers to as well.”

This will be the seventh book in the best-selling DCI Ryan series and if past performance is anything to go by, it looks set to follow the success of her previous novels and race straight to the top of the Amazon eBook charts on pre-orders alone.

All but one of Louise’s back catalogue is currently sitting in the internet-based retailers best-selling crime, thriller and mystery chart, with the last outing for DCI Ryan, ‘Cragside’, still riding high on the main eBook list nearly four months after publication.

She added: “I know that many readers have been inspired to visit the North East by the DCI Ryan books, and I would love to think Dark Skies – the odd murder aside - would encourage them to discover Kielder for themselves and the breathtaking sight that awaits in the heavens above.”

The Ross family – that’s Louise, her barrister husband, James and their four-year-old son, Ethan, recently visited Kielder Water and Forest Park on a trip up to Northumberland from their home in Bath.

“What I like about Kielder is it’s such a big landscape - it’s almost slightly Canadian and has this feeling of isolation. It’s a thriller writer’s dream – there are so many acres of forest to get lost in, and the water as well – you can’t help but have that feeling of ‘what lies beneath?’.”

In this book, DCI Ryan is investigating a decades old death when the preserved body of a young man who went missing in the early 1980s as Kielder Valley was being flooded, is discovered by scuba divers.

Against the backdrop of the reservoir, Europe’s largest man-made forest, and the night sky shimmering with billions of stars and planets, DCI Ryan finds himself battling against a dangerous protagonist hovering between madness and sanity who will do anything to hide the truth as dark, long buried secrets are brought to light, old wounds reopened, and childhood friendships tested to breaking point.

DCI Ryan, who made his debut appearance in January 2015 in ‘Holy Island’, knocked Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train off the number one spot on the Amazon charts.

But despite the worldwide interest in her work, Louise says it is always a nervous time when she pushes the button to release another book.

Originally from Ponteland, Northumberland, she worked as a regulatory lawyer in London before turning her hand to writing in her late 20s.

She was offered a traditional publishing deal, but decided to take charge of her own career and go down the self-publishing route instead.

Her six DCI Ryan books to date have now sold more than one million copies worldwide.

‘Holy Island’ was followed by ‘Sycamore Gap’, ‘Heavenfield’, ‘Angel’, and ‘High Force’, which were all top five UK bestsellers and she recently hit the top of the charts again with her sixth book, ‘Cragside’, which was number one in the UK on pre-orders alone.

And the good news for Louise’s fans up here is that she is moving up to live near Corbridge in December – so there should be more opportunities to meet the author at writers’ events and book signings.

“I’m really looking forward to being nearer my family and it will be great for our son to be closer to his grandparents,” she said.

l Dark Skies will be available on pre-release in e-edition on Amazon from October 31, and will be published in both e-edition and paperback on December 10.