Carole Mainstone has had a busy time of things since her retirement.

The former university registrar lost most of the vision in her left eye due to an infection called acanthamoeba keratitis, caused by water trapped underneath a contact lens, but has since recovered and is back to her favourite hobbies, playing tennis and flying aeroplanes.

Another hobby that Carole is fond of is writing novels, something she says she always wanted to do but never had the time.

“I lived in London for most of my life,” she explained. “I moved to Cheltenham when I retired and have since written a trilogy of novels.

“I’ve had the idea for the stories in my head for years, I probably had about 80% of the first book mapped out before I began writing.”

The books are based around another of Carole’s interests, national hunt racing, and Cheltenham is often a focal point.

She continued: "We’d visited Cheltenham many times to go to the races and it’s one of the reasons we decided to move here.

"The novels are crime thrillers, set in the world of horse racing. Cheltenham and the racecourse features a lot and characters include people such as jockeys and trainers."

Carole writes under her pen name, Harriet Redfern, and has so far released two of the 'Kat's Gift Thrillers’ trilogy, ‘Tabikat’ and ‘Katseye’, with the third and final book, ‘Katalyst’, set for release soon.

The art of writing a mystery novel is something many writers struggle with, and Carole admits that it has been a challenge.

"It’s hard work going from writing formal reports, which I did when I was working, to writing a novel," she added.

"It’s a big change but I've really enjoyed it. It’s a mix of having a clear plan and being prepared to adapt as the plot develops. You need to give the reader some clues but don't want to give it all away before the end."