THE story behind Threads of Deceit has been a long time coming, so it was a shock for author Neal James to find himself with writer's block a third of the way in.

Neal, who lives in Heanor, explains: "It's based on a tale related to me many, many years ago when I was in the textiles trade.

"It happened in a pub; someone said 'oi, I know you're in this trade, what if I put a carton in among the deliveries and we go from there?'

"On that occasion the guy was sent away with a flea in his ear but I thought I could bend that into a story... what if he'd said yes?"

That story began to bubble away in Neal's mind about five years ago when he first started writing so he expected the words to flow freely.

But, he says: "It's one I got stuck on, to be honest. I got to chapter 20 and I'd painted myself into a corner."

It was thanks to a friend in Boulogne that Neal found a way out.

"He got me out of a jam. We were talking one night and he just said something – I've no idea what he said now – but I said 'right I'm going to have to go, I'll call you back in an hour'. I just had to get that idea down on paper. And from that point on, the other 40 chapters flowed."

Set in the textiles industry, the story features several threads of deceit of the title, including drug trafficking, murder and embezzlement.

"A young man sees something he's not supposed to see and gets sacked," explains Neal. "He's set up for a crime he never committed and then he's out on the scrap heap. But he finds his way back into the trade with a competitor and swears revenge.

"There's deception all over the place; marital deception, fraud, embezzlement, lies, the whole shooting match. It's all quite nasty in the end."

Threads of Deceit is Neal's fourth book and follows A Ticket to Tewkesbury, a book of short stories and Two Little Dicky Birds, all written in his spare time at evenings and weekends.

By day, Neal is a full-time accountant known by his real name, Philip Neale.

"Lunchtimes I reserve for proofreading and correcting."

Most of his colleagues have no idea about Neal's second identity as an author.

"It's very difficult to talk about things like this at work because you don't want to push people into saying they'll buy a copy, that's not fair."

Neal even feels like a different person when he's writing "because you look at things from a different perspective".

But, more than that, he says: "Philip Neale's an accountant, always will be, always has been. He doesn't write books. Neal James does."

TITLE: Threads of Deceit

BY: Neal James

PUBLISHER: Pneuma Springs (due for publication at the end of July)

INFORMATION: For more information about Neal James, and his other works, visit www.nealjames.webs.com