Stories on screen at last and reveals how time behind bars inspired her new book scenario? It’s not so bad: Bestseller success that took her two decades

“I didn’t mean it to be comedic,” explained Helen, who once enrolled in a stand-up comedy course to gain confidence to do author talks.

“It started in line with the others I’d previously written, but I was halfway through when I wrote a scene with a social worker, who has all of these complaints against her because she’s about to leave and so has lost her filter. When I read it back I dumped the rest of the book and started again with Mary.

“I liked Mary’s voice. She just so happened to be funny. I had just left social work, so felt I could talk about it more freely. I’m always very careful with confidentiality, but I thought I could be more objective looking at her job, how strung-out she is and how difficult the role is.”

The book has just been nominated for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year, the UK’S most prestigious crime-writing award and Helen is one of six Scottish authors on the 18-strong longlist.

“It’s not something I expected, so I’m really chuffed,” she said. “What a list to be part of – it’s incredible to be among them. Alongside Chris Brookmyre and Denise Mina, that’s three Glaswegian authors – if you can call me Glaswegian.”

A sense of geographical identity has been missing in Helen for most of her life. Ash Mountain is the first of her novels to be entirely set in Australia – in her home state of Victoria – after she was discouraged early in her career to set her writing in her homeland.

“My first publisher, who was Australian, told me not to set it in Australia because it wouldn’t sell. I wasn’t the only writer told that.

“That publisher wasn’t interested in me because I was Australian, but because I was in Glasgow and set my books here. She wanted the next Denise Mina.

“It’s only recently Australian thrillers and crime novels have gone international. It’s taken off because of authors like Liane Moriarty, who wrote Big Little Lies. And, thanks to the success

is vying to become the first author to complete a hat-trick of Theakston wins with the unsettling thriller, Conviction.

Jenna Coleman as Joanna in the TV adaptation of The Cry, based on the novel by Helen Fitzgerald, below of Nordic and Scandi series, people are eager to consume stories from different places.

“By the time I came to write The Cry, I thought I was going to try, so half is in Scotland and half in Australia, and it did well.

“It’s nice to feel like an Australian author for the first time in my life. I’ve never felt Scottish or Australian, but I’m feeling more and more Australian right now.”

Ash Mountain was due to be published in paperback this month, but has been pushed back to August. The ebook edition is out now, however. Set in a fictional town north of Melbourne, Helen describes it as domestic noir and it tells the stories of the townspeople as a bushfire comes raging towards the area.

“I was influenced by disaster movies, which I really love – or used to love. Now it’s no more of those, thank you, since it’s all become real,” she smiled.

While she believes the lockdown will inspire great creativity, Helen is surveying the changing landscape before returning to the blank page.

“I think it will inspire us, any sort of trauma does,” she added. “People say they don’t have time to write a book. Now everyone does.

“A lot of authors, particularly crime writers, are waiting to know what to make of the world. Because we write books commenting on the world, I feel I need some time to process, to know what the story will be that’s worth writing.

“It hasn’t inspired me yet, but I’m waiting for an idea to take hold.”

Voting in the crime novel of the year longlist is open at harrogatetheakston crimeaward.com. The shortlisted six books will be announced on June 8