DAVYHULME author Diane O’Toole has secured a book deal for her debut novel Rings of Smoke.

Previously issued as an e-book on the Amazon web site where it received many five-star reviews, Diane managed to reach her target of pre-orders through crowd funding to secure a contract with LiveIt Publishing.

The book, a crime thriller described by one reviewer as being “not one for the faint hearted”, tells the story of a 16 year old girl who goes in search of her runaway mother only to stumble into the arms of an evil psychopath, a killer of four innocent girls in as many years.

The Birthday Girls, as they became known, were all taken out for their birthdays never to be seen again.

Diane has had a passion for books from an early age, and would often skip school in order to catch up on her reading.

“My books took me all over the world and taught me all the history I needed,” she says. “I realised at a very early age the power of the written word, and knew that that was what I wanted to do, to write. To be able to shock, make people laugh or cry, raise hopes and dash them, take people to places they’d never been, some places they’d never ever want to go, all without leaving the comfort of their home.”

Despite holding down a full time job, Diane managed to find time to completely re-write the book.

“I hated the first edition; it was raw, and littered with mistakes, which resulted in a couple of bad reviews. But I took on board the criticism and with the skills that I’d honed in writing the sequel, I changed it completely, added new material and sent it off to BNBS. They liked it and took me under their wing. I’m over half way through the sequel and they’ve already made me an offer on that.”

The book will be officially launched on September 26 at the Blue Raj in Urmston, but will be on general sale from the September 24 on Amazon or in most good book stores.