Mary, a long-term member of the Helensburgh Writers Workshop, published her most recent novel Death Goes To School this summer.

When a teenage pupil disappears after a school trip, Sarah Blane, her English teacher in Fruin High in the west of Scotland, is horribly reminded of the time many years before when her own sister, Ruth, disappeared in similar circumstances in Edinburgh.

The pupil is found murdered and Sarah is persuaded by investigative journalist Mark McKenzie to look into her sister’s disappearance.

The mysteries of what happened to the two women are explored simultaneously until they reach their dramatic conclusion.

Mary said readers will gain ‘a real sense of place’ from the novel, with recognisable features such as Loch Lomond, the Faslane Peace Camp, and even streets making a familiar appearance.

She told the Advertiser: “Everywhere is real, except the school. I used some of the real names as well. I was an English teacher myself and some times people I know lend aspect to the characters.

“In a sense the writer provides their own characters with some of their own moral stance, or at least how we might like to think we would act. Then I suppose that can be something you do intrinsically.

“I tried to get across a real sense of place, and because I’m from here I know the area well.

“Although I don’t go along with the idea that people should only write what they know – if everyone did that then the world would be a very boring place.” Mary’s novels combine fiction and history, particularly her 2013 novel A Spider’s Thread Across The Tay, for which she is now writing a sequel Broken Threads, due to be completed later this year.

The story is set at the time of the 1879 Tay Bridge disaster, in which 60 people are known to have died when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed whilst a train was passing from Wormit to Dundee.

In Mary’s book, much of the action takes place before the incident occurs. Andrew Mason, a jute mill owner and reluctant shareholder in the venture, had been sceptical and worried about the project to construct a single-track railway bridge over the yawning gap of the Tay Estuary – which seemed an almost impossible task.

The story is told showing a catalogue of mismanagement, poor workmanship, and use of inferior materials, leading to dramatic incidents and fatal accidents plaguing the workforce. As dreaded by Andrew, after only 18 months, the disaster occurs.

Mary said she often has to remind readers that her work is fiction.

The mother-of-three said history can provide a rich source of inspiration for a writer. She added: “Spider’s Thread is a work of fiction, but the story of the Tay bridge disaster is real. I like to think that people will take some away from my books that they never knew before and in relation to my crime novels I hope that readers enjoy them.” Mary’s full-length publications are available on Kindle and paperback from Amazon.