KAREN Charlton, who lives in Stockton, was at Guisborough Bookshop recently to promote her first book, Catching the Eagle, the first in her Regency Reivers series, which is based on the true story of her family’s notorious ancestor.

Catching the Eagle is the first book in a historical family saga. Set in 1809, when £1,157 rent money is stolen from Kirkley Hall, it is the biggest robbery Northumberland has ever known. The owner sends for Stephen Lavender, a principal officer with Bow Street Magistrates’ Court in London, to investigate the crime. The book is a fictionalised account of a trial that devastated a family and divided a community.

Karen Charlton grew up in Sheffield and Leeds and completed an English degree at Hull University. After a few years of roaming between various jobs in Harrogate, Ripon and Scarborough, she finally settled on Teesside. She completed a postgraduate teaching certificate at Durham University and since then has had a teaching job at a Stockton secondary school. The book, published by Knox Robinson, costs £12.99 in paperback and £19.99 in hardback, available from Guisborough Bookshop and other retailers.