A journalism lecturer who previously worked in the regional press has had her first novel published.

Barbara Henderson, a journalism lecturer at Northumbria University, has made the switch from reporting on crimes to writing crime fiction with her new book In Too Deep.

The book, which is published under her writing name Bea Davenport, features journalists as some of the main characters.

Barbara used to work at newspapers in the North East, including the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and The Journal before working as a broadcast journalist for BBC North for many years.

Her book tells the story of a woman called Maura who witnesses the murder of her friend, a journalist in a small town, and may also have played a part in it.

Maura runs away and takes on a new identity but is later tracked down by a journalist and pursuaded to tell her story, which puts her in new danger.

Barbara said: “It’s always been an ambition to write fiction but obviously I draw heavily on my experience as a journalist for material.

“In some ways it’s also a bit of a defence of the journalist, who is very much maligned these days. In this novel, the journalists are the good guys, which is quite unusual in the current climate.”

The novel is published by Legend Press who picked it up after it was shortlisted for a national writing competition called the Luke Bitmead Bursary.

Barbara is now working on her second novel.

The book is available from Amazon or Legend Press and will also be stocked by mainstream book stores.