Brighton-based detective Roy Grace - 18th novel released in the multi-million selling series by Peter James

It comes from Peter James whose multi-million selling series has won even more fans with its hugely successful transfer to the TV screen. Episodes six, seven and eight are currently being filmed in Brighton. Meanwhile Picture You Dead hits the book shelves on September 29.

The swap to a September publication date, rather than the usual May, should work well, Peter believes: “In a way we were doing it the wrong way round, bringing out the hardback just when people were wanting a paperback to take on holiday and then bringing out the paperback just when people wanting a hardback to give as a gift. It means that I'll be coming up against heavier opposition but the feeling is that it will be good for sales.”

But probably the biggest pressure, as ever, comes from Peter himself: “When I was a kid and I thought about having any kind of success it was always a dream that I didn't think would happen but I've always thought that if I did ever succeed at anything then the most important thing was never to disappoint. You have always got to raise the bar every time. A lot of writers seem, as they get older, to get lazier, writing fatter books and almost just dialling them in. I've always tried not to write the same book over and over again, and what keeps it fresh and exciting for me is that with each book I can research an area that I'm really interested in and really want to find out more about.”

For this book that area is art fraud. Harry and Freya, an ordinary couple, dreamed for years of finding something priceless buried amongst the tat in a car boot sale. It was a dream they knew in their hearts would never come true – until the day it did… They buy a drab portrait for a few pounds, for its beautiful frame, planning to cut the painting out. Then when they are studying it back at home, there seems to be another picture beneath, of a stunning landscape. Could it be a long-lost masterpiece from 1770? If genuine, it could be worth millions. One collector is certain it is genuine. Someone who uses any method he can to get want he wants and will stop at nothing. .

A key part of the research for Peter was speaking to David Henty whose history as a copyist artist starts with a conviction for forgery in the mid-1990s: “David is absolutely 1,000 per cent behind the book, and the book includes a thinly veiled version of him.”

David started out forging car logs and then moved on to passports during the build-up to the Hong Kong hand-over in the late 1990s, a point at which he had orders for 3,000 passports. However a misspelling on the passports led to conviction and time in jail, at which point he turned his attention to art: “I wrote a non-fiction book Policing Roy Grace's Brighton with Graham Bartlett, and Graham told me about David. Graham said David Henty had agreed to meet me for lunch. We went, and I saw that he had a blue plaque on his wall ‘David Henty, number one art forger’. I said to him ‘I thought you only got a blue plaque after you had died?’ He said to me ‘Yes I forged it!’