Blackpool man's debut book The Cuckoo Howls is a real thriller

When Steve Lovatt used to tell pals he wanted to be a professional writer, they never took him seriously.

But Steve’s long cherished dream of getting a book published has come true – and he’s already started work on his second.

And 50-year-old Steve, of Cherry Tree Gardens, Marton, says: “I suppose the message is never give up on your dreams.

“When the publishing company told me they were going to publish my book I was elated, it was the best

feeling in the world.”

Steve took around nine months to complete The Cuckoo Howls, a crime mystery set in 1950s New York, a city he has never visited.

He had already discarded an earlier attempt at a novel but he says a strange twist of fate played a major role.

London-born Steve, a former kitchen porter who has lived in Blackpool for 12 years, said: “I had a nasty accident and I was laid up for months.

“My partner Jackie, who has been brilliant at encouraging me, told me this was my chance. She said I should just use that spare time and go for it, so I did.

“When I was very young I’d always written stories but the only encouragement I got was from my late dad, I was always told my writing was never any good.”

Writing under the pen name John Stevens, the book has been published by Austin Macauley.

The novel’s central hero is Jasper Rainey, a policeman with a troubled past and a marriage he can’t save.

Rainey is able to snare a serial killer and is promoted to detective, and finds himself on a mysterious case involving a woman in purple and faceless man known only as Toledo.

But scorned by fellow officers and facing the open

hatred of his commissioner, he finds himself alone – buoyed only by an astonishing talent which helps his

crime solving.

The novel, which is available on Amazon and can be ordered from Waterstones, has attracted favourable reviews.

Steve added: “If you really want to write, don’t give up, just go for it.”