IRVINE's Doreen Hearshaw is a community staff nurse for Scotland's first Refugee Support Team by day - and a crime fiction author in her spare time.

And her first book, Dreams, Wishes and a Ticket to Hell, has just been published under her pen name D.G. Hills.

A qualified paediatric nurse, Doreen recently joined North Ayrshire’s Refugee Support Team and supports Ukrainian families who have recently arrived in Scotland to ensure that they have access to all the appropriate healthcare that they require.

Meeting people from many varied backgrounds is what inspires Doreen with her writing. She finds that using her imagination, developing characters and stories is a way of switching off from the sometimes truly harrowing aspect of her job, and she spends much of her free time writing.

Dreams, Wishes and A Ticket to Hell follows Clementine Fosdyke, an archetypal middle-aged village spinster who lives with and cares for her parents.

However, there’s more to Clementine than meets the eye. Beneath the calm surface of her quiet life there lies a turbulent, troubled and traumatised mind. As Clementine encounters abuse and betrayal so the cracks began to show…

Already an established author, having published two children’s books, Doreen said: “I have a very busy and demanding day job and so when I return home in the evening I switch off by delving in to a different world and bring the storylines and characters which I have been thinking about to life.

"Since childhood I have always been an innovative and imaginative thinker and I love meeting new people – they always inspire a scenario or short story and I love nothing better to do than get it down on paper.

“Due to my background in nursing I have always had a keen interest in the psychology of the human mind. This is my first adult psychological thriller and I’m thrilled to publish it.”

Dreams, Wishes and a Ticket to Hell is available to buy now from Olympia Publishers.