A PONTELAND-born author has hit number one in the Amazon charts with her sixth book, a month before its release.

LJ Ross has issued her latest DCI Ryan thriller, Cragside, on pre-release, shooting all six of her novels into the top 25 of the Amazon e-book charts.

Giving readers their latest fix of popular literary detective DCI Ryan, the novel is set within the grounds of a spectacular mansion, Cragside, in Northumberland.

When he and his fiancée are invited to attend the staff summer party, a Victorian murder mystery evening, it’s all a joke until the lights go out and an elderly man is found dead.

LJ, who now lives in Bath with her husband James and their three-year-old son Ethan, said: “Even though this is my sixth novel, it’s always nerve-racking when you push that button to release your book.

“It’s incredible to have had such a response from loyal readers who have been waiting for the next DCI Ryan instalment.

“It’s also fantastic that issuing Cragside has meant that so many new readers have discovered the DCI Ryan series and have been buying the first five titles so they can catch up on what has happened before reading my newest work.”

Cragside is available on pre-release now in e-edition and will be released in both e-edition and paperback on July 10, both available from Amazon.