LOCAL author Christina Courtenay will publish her seventh novel this week.

Entitled The Secret Kiss of Darkness, it is the writer’s most mysterious to date. Christina lives in Hereford, and the surrounding countryside, which she describes as “teeming with history,” provided rich inspiration for a story about a woman who forms a powerful connection to the spirits of people long dead.

Kayla Sinclair knows she’s in big trouble when she almost bankrupts herself to buy a life-size portrait of a mysterious 18th century man at an auction. Two centuries earlier, Jago Kerswell, innkeeper and smuggler, knows there is danger in those stolen moments with Lady Eliza Marcombe, but he’ll take any risk to be with her.

When Kayla’s jealous fiancé presents her with an ultimatum, and Jago and Eliza’s affair is tragically discovered, a gypsy's spell sees their lives become inextricably linked.

Kayla finds herself on a quest that could heal the past, but what she cannot foresee is the danger in her own future. Will she find happiness or heartache?

Although the book is set in rural Devon, it was largely written in Hereford. Christina also spends part of her life in London where she is kept busy as the Chair of the Romantic Novelists Association.

“If it weren’t for the peace and sanctuary I find in Hereford, I don’t know where I’d find the mental or physical space required to sit down and write books,” says Christina.

The Secret Kiss of Darkness is pubished by Choc Lit as an ebook, and in paperback on February 7.