A LARGS author’s debut novel has hit the bookshelves as she reveals plans to release a 'Tartan Noir' thriller which will be based on the Isle of Cumbrae.
This autumn has seen the publication of a book by Sue Burnside, who moved to Largs five years ago and says that she loves the local area so much that it has inspired her writing.
Her first novel - Dymphna Lynch – The Leyton Years - is based in part on her early life in East London in the 1970s and is billed as a comic account of growing up.
Since moving to Largs in 2016, Sue has quickly immersed herself in local life.
She is the chair of Largs Community Choir and also sings with the Largs Gaelic Choir, performing recently at the National Mod in Inverness.
Sue has also recently been appointed chair of the Scottish Federation of Writers.
She said: “Both Largs and Millport are wonderful, welcoming places which encourage creativity in all areas of life."
The wordsmith says she put the coronavirus lockdown to good to use by taking the chance to learn more about the literary industry.
She said: "Although scary and traumatic at times, the months living through the pandemic was a time for teaching myself about all sorts of things, including all the processes involved in self-publishing such as cover design, editing and formatting. 
"It feels lovely to have created something myself, and even nicer if other people enjoy it.”
She describes her first novel as 'a love letter to friends and family, and a time and place that is gone but was great fun to live through'.
The book is already attracting positive reviews, with fellow author Graeme Gibson praising it as a 'heart-warming' tale of an young girl growing up in an Irish Catholic family in London's East End in the 1970s which is 'moving, poignant and hilarious.'
The novel is available to buy in local bookshop Timber Books in West Kilbride and on Amazon as an ebook, and directly from New Harbour Press.
Sue, 58, has already begun work on a new title, a thriller which is expected to come out next year.
She said: "I have always wanted to write a thriller.
"It is a mystery about two sisters growing up on Cumbrae and one is quiet and plain and the other is vibrant and runs off with her sister's fiance on the last ferry on Friday night.
"He turns up years later and reveals that he never met her on the last ferry - so the mystery is what becomes of that missing sister."
Sue, who lives in Newhaven Grove with husband Iain and son Findlay, 21, says she was influenced in her next book by getting a job on the island a few years ago at the Field Studies Centre when she first moved to the area.
She said: "I always thought the island was such an atmospheric place and that it would be a great location for a thriller.
"I am hoping the book will be a real page turner."