Lionsheart Bookshop on Commercial Way is hosting a signing with author John Scot-Morton next Saturday, 18 April from noon to 4pm. All are welcome to come along and the event is free.

John will be signing his novel You're Gone, winner of the Bronze Award at the Readers' Favourite Awards.

“I’d describe You're Gone as a darkly comedic thriller,” says John, 38. “I came up with it after experiencing a loss of my own, my aunt died, and I was inspired to write about it.

“You're Gone is ostensibly the tale of a man, grieving the loss of his wife, who thinks he will never find love again because of his bad habits — his bad habit being that he's a serial killer, but one who only kills bad people, and he is looking to get back to his former self.

“I recently suffered an ischemic stroke, something which has really inspired me to push on with my writing.

“You're Gone also won a Red Ribbon Award at the Wishing Shelf Book Awards and was given a 'Get it' by Kirkus Reviews and featured in their magazine.

“It has been my most successful book, which is why it’s the one I’m signing.

“I was inspired by Jeff Lindsay, who wrote the Dexter series, and Caroline Kepnes, best known for her You novels. Both write the sort of dark comedy that I aspire to, and I also really admire Margaret Atwood because she is so amazing.

“I started writing while studying a PGCE at Chichester University. A local children's author came to my school and he inspired me to write. I began with children's books as I didn't think I would be able to write a novel, although as it turned out I could.

“I have eight books published but I’m constantly trying to build on my success, hence this signing.”

Lionsheart Bookshop and cafe manager Zoe said: “We try to have author signings every week or so but because we're a small shop we can only have one author at a time. They are usually set up right in front of our point of sale so that they have the chance to talk to our customers and sell their books.

“We have been open since 2021, right in the Covid days, but we managed to get a regular customer base going that kept us alive through those rough times.

“As the years have gone by we've always kept the goal of turning Lionsheart into the perfect place: a shop that can fulfil people's needs for good coffee at an affordable rate compared to the franchises around, have a very good selection of non-dairy alternatives, especially our local-baked cakes, books that are a refined selection that caters to a huge part of our community, but most of all a shop that is staffed with a team that accepts and cares for everyone.”

For more information, visit www.lionsheartbookshop.co.uk, contact [email protected] or call 01483 765 006 for any book, coffee or events enquiry.