A NORTH Berwick author is providing people with another source of entertainment during lockdown with the release of her new book.

Crime writer Emma Salisbury’s new book Sticks and Stones is the sixth and latest instalment in her series about Detective Sergeant Kevin Coupland.

The book is set in Salford, Greater Manchester, where Emma was born. Sticks and Stones continues from where the last book in the series, Flesh and Blood, ended.

Emma told the Courier: “Flesh and Blood finished on a bit of a cliff-hanger, and I knew that readers would be impatient to find out what happens next. This was the reason I pushed on with Sticks and Stones, writing all hours to get it ready for the Easter break so that I could put Coupland’s fans out of their misery.”

In the book, Coupland has to fight to keep his job after an allegation made at the end of the previous book; at the same time there is an increase in seemingly unrelated incidents throughout the city.

The book was released on April 10.

As with all Emma’s books, it is available on Amazon and can be purchased in paperback, Kindle or audiobook form.

Emma signed an audiobook deal with WF Howes and saw Flesh and Blood released in audiobook form at the start of the year.

She also writes a series of gangland thrillers set in Edinburgh, featuring main character and ex-convict Davie Johnson.

On how the current lockdown is affecting her work, Emma said: “At first I thought, OK, no change for me then, as I work from home already and tend to cut myself off from friends when I’m working on a project.

“However, the reality is very different. Like most people, I’ve had to learn to do things differently. Traditional author events such as library talks and speaking at literary festivals aren’t possible. Instead, I’ve made a video clip of me reading the first chapter of Sticks & Stones which I put onto my Facebook author page on publication day. I’ve also set up an Instagram page and plan to run some interactive events via Zoom.

“People are finding alternative ways of keeping in touch and it’s important to tap into that.”