This week I had the amazing privilege of appearing at Hay Festival. This is a place, and a festival, that means a lot to me. When I was little, my father used to take me to Hay village every year to buy second-hand books. It was one of my favourite things to do with him, and the very best bit of it was when we visited the specialist murder mystery shop, Murder and Mayhem.

Murder and Mayhem was the place where I bought most of the books that have inspired me as a crime writer – and so being able to go back there as a published author and say hi to the store was absolutely incredible.

I had another exciting moment when I arrived at the place I would be staying for the festival. You never quite know where you’re going to be put when you go to Hay – last year I was above a chip shop (which was delicious). But this year … I stayed at a place that could be Fallingford in a TV adaptation of my books.

Luckily, my host Shan was far kinder (and far less deadly) than the Wellses, and I had an incredible time staying with her.

When I arrived at the festival green room, it was full of authors and really alarmingly famous people. It is very important to remain calm at all times when at Hay, and not behave as though something unusual is happening when Germaine Greer breezes past you.

But I could not remain calm AT ALL when, during a conversation with illustrator extrordinaire Sarah McIntyre, we realised that we are from the same part of Utah and therefore COUSINS! This explains why people keep getting us mixed up.

My event was with my mystery pal Katherine Woodfine. I love working with her – not only do I love her books, but being up on stage can be scary, and it’s amazing to feel as though you’re part of a team.

We had a wonderful time talking mystery, detectives, friendship, bunbreak and what’s next for both of us, and it was great to meet everyone in the signing queue afterwards.

All in all, I had a marvellous time at Hay this year – I hope I get to do it again soon!