Acclaimed author Iain Maitland has had a great 2020 but he is man enough to admit he should try something new.

AbbottVision, the makers of Shameless and Cracker, optioned his novel, Mr Todd's Reckoning, for a TV series. He had a thriller, The Scribbler, published in May.

Now, for 2021, Iain is going to become a woman.

"I had a clear diary in November so, just for fun, I wrote 10,000 words of a family saga and sent it out with a female pen name to agents and publishers," Iain explained. "If I used my own name, I knew my track record of guts and gore thrillers would stand against me.

"They would not think I could write something warm and lovely.

"I didn't really expect any replies as the genre is completely new to me. But I had both agents and publishers wanting to read more and chasing me - well, my nom de plume - when I didn't send anything to them."

It was like something Iain had not experienced before as a thriller writer so he has now decided to see how far he, and his new agent, can go with the new identity.

Iain added: "I've now decided to write the book – book title and author name to be announced – and have signed up with the legendary literary agent Annette Crossland at the A For Authors Agency.

"We're going to have fun with this and see if we can get a best-seller before we reveal that the author is really me."

Read about the real Iain Maitland Up Close here.