A local author famed for his Sherlock Holmes novels has released a sequel to popular book A Twist of Lyme.

David Ruffle, who works at Quality Corner in Broad Street, is popular both locally and nationally for his series of five Sherlock Holmes adventures set in the town.

His quintuplet of Lyme Regis based Sherlock stories have flown off the shelves both in the town and across the county, with sales figures believed to be in the thousands.

A Twist of Lyme was released on March 3 this year and marked a new genre for the writer, who has previously focused on the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Now, his new book continues the story around a family of four, called the Hamiltons, who moved from London to Lyme Regis and takes a comedic look at how they adapt to living in Lyme Regis compared to the capital.

Mr Ruffle said: In the new sequel, the action has moved forward six years encompassing all the changes the amount of time means to the family.

“I used Lyme Regis as the setting because not only do I think it provides a good comedy base when mixed with the family moving into the town, but all the places used in the book are ones that I know.

“The family live in an old house near Colway Lane, but the exact address is never given.

“This is because when you are writing Sherlock Holmes you can use exact locations, but when writing in the present day you can’t use exact locations because it might offend people who are living there.”

And there’s even more good news for David as his first four Sherlock Holmes novels have been translated into Russian, with more languages to follow and audio versions. Also due for publication later in the year is ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Lyme Regis Trilogy’ which will be a hardback illustrated edition collecting the three Holmes/Lyme Regis novels together with glossaries and photographs. Another Twist of Lyme will be available locally at Serendip, at the tourist information centre and on all book-selling websites including Amazon.