A POLICEMAN-turned-author who went to school in Bolton has set part of his new crime novel here.

Paul Finch was a constable with Greater Manchester Police before switching careers to write for long-running police drama The Bill and eventually produced his own books.

The former Thornleigh Salesian College pupil has featured Bolton in his new crime thriller, Strangers, the first in a planned series starring PC Lucy Clayburn.

He said: "My previous novels were set up and down the country and rarely came to Greater Manchester, but the whole of this is set in Greater Manchester.

"It's in a fictional borough called Crowley which is positioned between Salford, Wigan and Bolton.

"It's essentially a run-down mill town. We have dark back streets and murky subways — we don't go anywhere nice, put it that way.

"I invented a borough because when you're dealing with poverty and social problems you want to nominate a real place when Greater Manchester is so up and coming nowadays."

In the book PC Clayburn gets involved in investigating an apparently deranged prostitute killing men and and goes undercover as a sex worker to infiltrate the conurbation's seedy underbelly.

Mr Finch, who lives in Wigan borough, said: "Crowley is fictional but there are several sequences, such as a car chase in Bolton, which weave in and out of Crowley and neighbouring boroughs, with real streets and geography because I know the area quite well.

"I have had a few comments from readers saying: 'This happened at the end of my road!'.

"One of the other comments people have said is that it feels authentic.

"The attitude, the relationship between ranks and the vocabulary comes from my own experience.

"This is just a constable doing her job on the streets, rubbing shoulders with dodgy characters and taking all the risks."

Strangers was published in paperback form in September by Avon Books and the follow-up PC Clayburn novel is due out this time next year.