Paula Nicolson

Most of my working life has been as an academic psychologist - a career that I thoroughly enjoyed. Working at a university involves writing books and articles as well as teaching students but I now love the challenge of writing fiction s well.

The books based on my research feature domestic abuse, women's sexuality, motherhood, depression, leadership in the NHS and gender and power conflicts at work.

The 2nd edition of my book Genealogy, Psychology and Therapy: Uncovering Trauma was published by Taylor and Francis in 2022. It explores how trauma is transmitted across generations influencing who you really are.

My four novels:

In 'Containment' featuring Dr. Wilson Coffey, psychiatrist and reluctant spy, Wilson becomes unwittingly, and at first unwillingly, part of a team uncovering members of Werwolf - a neo-Nazi spy ring in West Germany.

This reluctant spy re-appears in 'The Broken Couch' as he uncovers the truth about the murder of a British agent before the Nuremberg trial begins. Fascinated by deception, envy and evil along with their psychological consequences, 'The Broken Couch' features psychoanalyst Erika, a former pupil of Freud's, who develops her practice at the newly founded Tavistock Clinic in London. After World War 2 she assists in the investigation of senior war criminals at the first Nuremberg trial. But Erika's motivation is not all it seems. She shares a secret with one of the main protagonists which she needs to unravel before his death sentence is carried out.

'Believe Me' and 'Bystander', the first two in a campus noir crime series, feature Dr. Nancy Strong a psychological profiler. The dark sides of university life are revealed -I nitially through the everyday competitive relationships among academics and then by more sinister crimes.

I am currently finishing 'The Man in the Tunnel' a thriller set on a cruise liner - and there might be evidence of spies lurking in the Canaries as the ship and its passengers enjoy their holiday.