An events coordinator at St Francis Hospice is hoping to follow in the footsteps of famous authors like JK Rowling and Stieg Larsson with the publication of her first novel.

False Pretences is a thriller telling the story of Sarah Logan, a successful marketing executive at a London advertising agency, who feels happy at home with her partner, shopping and shoes until she witnesses a murder that throws her life into turmoil.

Heather, 22 from Chelmsford wrote the book when she was just 19.

She decided to try her hand at writing a novel after reading an article about someone submitting a book for publication.

Expecting the usual series of rejections Heather sent in the first three chapters of her book to Olympia Publishers in August 2011 and was amazed to be asked a couple of months later to submit the rest of her manuscript.

Just before Christmas Heather was told that her book had been selected for publication

False Pretences was launched on October 27 and is now available online from Amazon, WH Smith and Waterstones.

Heather, who writes under the name Heather Moore, describes herself as a shoeaholic, not unlike the key character in the novel, Sarah Logan.

At the last count Heather had 125 pairs of shoes making her a pretty good candidate to donate some of the pairs she no longer uses to the St Francis Hospice shoe amnesty that launches on Monday November 12.

Heather said: “Sales have been really good since the launch on Saturday, and if they continue in that way I may even be able to expand my shoe collection.”

For more information about the shoe amnesty visit www.sfh.org.uk.