Harriet Smart was born and brought up in Birmingham. She attended the University of St Andrews, where she read Art History, and then married a fellow student. She now lives with her family in Edinburgh, with a view of the Castle from her study window. Harriet has published four historical novels and one contemporary novel as well as co-designing the innovative creative writing software "Writer's Café". She is presently working on The Northminster Mysteries, a series of crime novels set in early Victorian England. Her research for the books included wearing stays and hand-sewing a man's shirt. Harriet is also writing a manual on the process of story development and an ongoing blog novel set in Edwardian Scotland, www.fictionwitch.wordpress.com. She also blogs at www.harrietsmart.com and can be found on Twitter@fictionwitch.