My father was a medical doctor, spending the final part of his working years in general practice in Kent (England). He did, however, have a very good knowledge of tropical medicine, having lived seven years in Assam, India, caring for the workforces on a number of different tea gardens during the 1950s. But he didn’t just treat his patients, he also researched into different methods of malaria control, documenting his findings in published papers, and commenting on them in a series of letters he wrote to his parents during his time in India.

When Dad died in 2004, Mum presented me with a pile of airmail correspondence, which turned out to be the letters to his parents, written between 1951 and 1958. As I read them, I quickly realised just how valuable they were, not only from a medical perspective, but from a geographic, economic and social one. Mum had never actually read the letters, so when I disclosed the contents to her, she made some very interesting comments. She also drew my attention to a photograph album she had compiled during their time in India, and as I went through it, I realised that not only did Dad’s letters provide an account of a bygone era, the photographs, together with Mum’s added observations and souvenirs, provided me with an additional resource, allowing me to restore a forgotten part of history, and compare it to the present.

The Assam Diaries gives a factual account of these letters and photographs, and will be on sale soon.

When my mother presented me with the pile of my father's letters, written between 1951 and 1958, she became very interested in his reference to the SS Batory – a Polish communist vessel – and made the following remark:

“Two men with long black coats and funny black hats, carrying attaché cases, were prancing around. I kept asking your dad who they were, and he kept telling me to keep quiet. I still don’t know who were the goodies and who were the baddies, but the captain went on to jump ship, never to be seen again!”

Well, that did it!

Not only did I have to publish the letters (The Assam Diaries: Medicine on a Tropical Tea Estate during the 1950s), I had to write a cold war thriller (A Tea Doctor in Assam).

I must point out that the real captain’s (Jan Cwiklinski) adventures totally differ from those of Fryderyk Kowalczyk’s (see: The Captain Leaves his Ship as told to Hawthorne Daniel). As well as that, there are numerous tea planters and their wives mentioned in the letters, so to avoid confusion, I have merged them into one fictitious couple: Dan and Katy Tyler.

The letters also often refer to three doctors, who supported Dad during his time in India: Professor George Macdonald of the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Medicine (later, President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene); Dr Alan Gilroy, Principal of the India Branch of the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Medicine; and Doctor Hay Arthur, Medical Officer on a tea garden in Dooars, West Bengal, India. In the letters, Dad expresses his gratitude for their encouragement, as he fought to overcome the ever-present obstacles facing him throughout his time in Assam. In the fictional story, these illustrious gentlemen become one: Dr Goodwin.

A Tea Doctor in Assam is a cold war thriller and will be on sale soon!

Now that you've met Bette Milligan in Enemy on the Other Side, you'll know that she won't be satisfied to stop - even with a war getting in the way.

Anticipate more adventures as she bumbles through the Second World War, fighting with her boss, Joe Bannerman, defying the whimsical behaviour of Dr Deborah Bellingham - and contending with familiar faces in the Afterlife.

Will Bette be able to handle the Nazis? Will she and WPC Jessie MacTaggart be able to solve a series of murders in Glasgow and Cairo?

Be patient and trust the future...