LAST week I looked at the life and work of Robert Westall, who lived for a number of years at Lymm.

During his time teaching at Sir John Deane’s Grammar School at Northwich, Westall taught a pupil called Martin Edwards.

Martin went on to become a lawyer in Liverpool.

He also became a tremendous crime fiction writer, author of the Harry Devlin mysteries and the Lake District crime series.

As a fan of Martin’s, I was thrilled to meet him for a pint at the Church Green pub in Lymm a few years back and talk about crime fiction.

Mandasue Heller is another crime author who hails from Warrington. She was born here but now lives in Manchester and has been called the Mancunian Martina Cole, thanks to her novels about northern gangland crime.

From an early age she had a love of acting and performing and began her career as an actress, appearing on TV in Coronation Street, Brookside and Boys From The Blackstuff.

Music has always been a passion, too.

From the age of 18 she sang on the local music scenes and worked as a session singer in jazz, rock and blues bands.

She had always loved writing, but what drew her to the crime genre? Perhaps the clue is in the subject matter of an early piece.

A man broke into her house one night and attacked her as she lay sleeping. Her 10-week-old son was in her arms. She suffered a fractured skull and a five-inch gash after the man hit her on the head with a claw hammer.

Happily, these days, Mandasue’s time is taken up with her writing, her family and recording music with her musician partner Wingrove Ward.

Liverpool-born Robin Jarvis is a well-known author of young adult fantasy novels who grew up in Warrington.

I first encountered his work via the Whitby Witches series, but he is also famous for The Deptford Mice, The Hagwood Trilogy and Tales from the Wyrd Museum.

Robin went to Penketh High School before studying graphic design at Newcastle Polytechnic and going on to a career first as a model maker in television and then as a writer.

Helen Walsh was born in Warrington in 1977 and has become an exciting talent on the literary scene in recent years with novels such as Brass, Once Upon A Time In England, and Go To Sleep. She was vocal recently in the fight to keep open libraries in her home town.

And last but certainly not least, the late great Anthony Burgess. The author of A Clockwork Orange was stationed at Warrington Peninsular Barracks in 1943, years before he made it as a writer, composer and all-round clever clogs.