Steven writes primarily in the historical fiction genre.

He grew up in Yorkshire, studied in Birmingham, and has lived in Oxford and Worcestershire most of his adult life, which, he states “has largely been fuelled by a passion for the countryside, history, music, and for the arts & crafts in all their wonderful manifestations”.

Steven’s early passion for Aubrey Beardsley and his fellow artists and writers set him on the road to collecting, to reading and to writing.

He writes the occasional article for journals, and has recently published his first novel “Stone Ties”, a historical mystery set in and around the beautiful city of Worcester in the 18th century.

Steven states that he “first developed my thoughts around “Stone Ties” in the winter of 2009. One day six words planted themselves in my mind, unannounced, one of those strange bathroom moments. Those six words teased and annoyed me; dared me to make sense of them”.

“He pressed his face against it.”

“Who was he? What was he pressing his face against? And not least, why?”

“This dislocated phrase compelled me to find out, and so the story was born. An old pebble in my pocket, picked up from a beach long ago, helped me on my way”.

The book’s main protagonist is Simeon Ireson, an Architectural Consultant, single and happy, wholly consumed by his search for the identity of an 18th century sculptor, the man he knows only as the Northern Master.

When he discovers a cryptic mark engraved on the cathedral memorial, it opens a door; a door to discovery and understanding; a door to an unexpected relationship; a door to another time.

In his search to understand its meaning he begins to understand the consequences of love and attraction, betrayal and loss.

But as his love for one woman grows, so the demands of another threaten to change his world.

As one hides her enigmatic secret, so another asserts her unwelcome claim.

As love and passion, pride and tradition collide across time, only one certainty remains; his life can never be the same.

With the lion’s share of the research completed, Steven says that his second novel is now well underway, but can’t say when it might be published.

Learn more about Steven and his books by clicking HERE.

Find Stone Ties in my Historical Fiction Bookcase