Jane Jesmond on what she likes best about writing.

What bits do I love writing most? It's a question that crops up from time to time and it's pretty tricky to answer because I love everything about writing crime fiction: plotting the twists and turns; inventing perilous situations for my characters to escape from; exploring interesting places for settings. Or at least I love it when the words are flowing!

But if you put a gun to my head and told me I had to choose, I would say that it's writing the characters and their relationships with each other that I get the most pleasure from. There's nothing to beat that moment when I suddenly feel I know a character better than my friends and family. When I know what they'll say or do or react without having to think too much about it. 

I've always thought that moment arrives because I put a lot of background work into developing characters - coming up with life histories, asking them questions and searching for pictures that convey some aspect of them - all to ensure that their actions and reactions are true to themselves or making sure there's a consistency running through them.

So I was a bit disconcerted when an interviewer asked me the following about Phiney, the often-grumpy nurse whose grandad dies in mysterious circumstances at the start of my latest book A Quiet Contagion. 

Tell me about Phiney, the interviewer said, she's a bundle of contradictions isn't she? And she went on to list all the inconsistencies in Phiney's character. 

After I'd spent the obligatory 10 minutes panicking that I'd got it all wrong, I made myself think a bit more calmly. It is true Phiney is contradictory and conflicted. She obsesses about living a chemical-free life while administering toxic drugs as an oncology nurse. She is judgmental (internally anyway) about other people while giving in to her own worst failings. But aren't we all contradictory? Isn't that what makes Phiney so human? So relatable? 

There's often a conflict between what we'd like to do and what we actually do. We behave differently according to the situation we find ourselves in. I have 100 times more patience in a professional situation than I do with my family. And while we're thinking about family, how many parents have been pleasantly surprised when an acquaintance has described their sulky, stroppy teenager as charming or considerate?

Maybe I had got it right after all! The development work, the histories, the interviews and pictures were part of the process leading up to the point where I'd immersed myself in Phiney's character enough for instinct to take over. Because so much of writing is instinctive - or at least it is for me. I do the background work. I plan. I produce spread sheets and use post it notes. I write brain maps. But, in the end, it comes down to the words that come out of my head and appear on the page as I'm writing and I often don't quite know where they come from. 

The Quiet Contagion by Jane Jesmond. (Verve Books) Out Now

Six decades. Seven people. One unspeakable secret. 1957. A catastrophe occurs at the pharmaceutical lab in Coventry where sixteen-year-old Wilf is working for the summer. A catastrophe that needs to be covered up at all costs. 2017. Phiney is shocked by the death of her grandfather, Wilf, who has jumped from a railway bridge at a Coventry station. Journalist Mat Torrington is the only witness. Left with a swarm of unanswered questions, Phiney, Mat and Wilf's wife, Dora, begin their own enquiries into Wilf's death. It is soon clear that these two events, sixty years apart, are connected - and that Wilf is not the only casualty. But what is the link? And can they find out before any more lives are lost?

Jane Jesmond writes crime, thriller and mystery fiction. Her debut novel, On The Edge – the first in a series featuring dynamic, daredevil protagonist Jen Shaw – was a Sunday Times Best Crime Fiction of the Month pick. The sequel, Cut Adrift, was selected as a Times Thriller of the Month and a Sunday Times Book of the Year upon its publication. Jesmond also recently published Her, a speculative standalone novel, with Storm Publishers. A Quiet Contagion is a brand-new standalone and her third book with VERVE Books. 

In Memoriam - Nick Robinson

Constable & Robinson has announced the death of chairman Nick Robinson.

Robinson died last Friday (30th August) aged 58, following a longstanding illness.

Robinson began his career as assistant editor at arts magazine Apollo in the late 1970s, before moving to Chatto & Windus and then Breslich and Foss.

He founded Robinson Publishing in 1983 where among his achievements was the pioneering of cognitive behavioural therapy self-help books. Fifteen of the Robinson Psychology Overcoming books were this year adopted nationally as part of the Books on Prescription scheme under NICE guidelines.

In 1999 Robinson merged the company with Britain’s oldest independent publisher Constable & Co to create Constable & Robinson. C&R said Robinson "brought new life to the Constable name, then propelled it into the 21st century with a series of innovations."

Constable & Robinson was named both Independent Publisher of the Year at the Bookseller Industry Awards and IPG Independent Publisher of the Year in 2012.

After gradually stepping back from the running of C&R from 2009 onwards to become chairman, Robinson served on the Publishers Association Council.

C&R m.d. Pete Duncan said: "Nick possessed a truly brilliant combination of instinctive decision-making, entrepreneurial business sense, and ultimate devotion to his staff. Outwardly patrician but privately deeply warm and grounded, he inspired confidence and loyalty in people wherever he went. I will miss him  enormously."

Author and friend Nicholas Shakespeare added: "It will surprise none who knew him that Nick succeeded in creating one of Britain's leading independent publishing houses. He was someone who preferred not to fish in the main river. Constable & Robinson reflects his strengths and character, a marvellous mingling of the traditional and the modern. He was an unsnobbish gentleman in the best sense, yielding to no-one in his passion for art and field sports; he also had the beady eye of his Harris bawk for a business deal or new trend. I knew him for 50 years, and knew few people in the book world more alive."

Robinson is survived by wife Nova Jayne, who serves as a C&R director and now becomes chair of the board as part of a succession plan, as well as by his son and daughter.

Details of a memorial service will be given at a later date.

Death of "Rumpole" creator

Sir John Mortimer the creator of that curmudgeonly barrister Rumpole of the Bailey has died at the age of 85 after a long illness. Known mainly for the "Rumpole" series Sir John Mortimer was also a prodgious writer of books and screen plays. The character of Rumpole was played admirably by the late actor Leo McKern throughout its time on screen. His death is a great loss to those who have long admired his work.

Further information can be found here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7833156.stm