The Guardian reckoned it “an excellent noir thriller”.

To crime fiction website Tangled Web it was “stimulating, challenging and rewarding”, while the Yorkshire Evening Post said it was “a dark, fantastic quagmire of death and intrigue”.

Steve Mosby's new novel The Cutting Crew has been winning rave reviews for the University secretary whose day job is to provide support to the research group for the study of care, values and the future of welfare (CAVA) in the school of sociology and social policy.

“I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember,” said Steve - who admits to having received a stack of rejection letters before Orion published his horror-fantasy novel The Third Person two years ago.

He has since landed a three-book deal with the publishers - the first of which was The Cutting Crew, in which his leading character Martin probes the death of a young girl against the backdrop of a violent futuristic city.

And Steve, who lives in Rodley, is now working on his third novel, which is due to be delivered to the publishers in January - though he admits his ambition of becoming a full-time writer remains a distant dream.

For now though, dividing his time between the University and the novel works well: “I always wanted a nine-to-five job which I didn’t have to think about too much after I left work," he said. “When I get home, I can concentrate on the writing.”

The Cutting Crew is published by Orion and priced £9.99.

Photo: Steve Mosby