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'My first novel is set near the lake, the second in Ayot St Lawrence and St Albans, and the third near the Roman theatre. Sculpted head on St Albans Cathedral, a witness to a deadly crime? - Credit: Alamy Stock Photo 'I sent a sample of my book to three agents and all of them asked for the full manuscript which was very exciting. Agents have different ideas and make different suggestions for changes but Eve White, the agent I went with, was on exactly the same page as me and didn't want to change anything.' The reason her thrillers, Under the Ice, The Scorched Earth, Into the Fire and new novel, The Fall - out on April 14 - are all set in St Albans is because 'it's the perfect place to set murders and hide crimes,' she says. 'The stunning city and Roman history make it such an interesting landscape for dark deeds.'
'It took about a year to find an agent and then a few months to get a book deal,' she explains.
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'It was an evening course, for two hours one night a week, and it really helped. It taught me how to edit and consider the book as a commercial piece of writing, rather than something I had written for myself.' Rachael's first novel, Under the Ice, was published in 2018.
I was writing in snatches, so it was slow going, and it took two or three years to write my first novel.' Rachael, who lives near St Albans with her husband and two young children, decided to invest in a creative writing course, which she says proved instrumental in her eventual success as a full-time writer. 'When I was on maternity leave with my son, I took the opportunity to write while he was sleeping.
Rachael Blok says of her protagonist: 'I liked the idea of a matter-of-fact Dutch outsider cutting through the St Albans niceties' - Credit: Rachael Blok