However, there’s an intensity to her that her photograph conveys perfectly, and a care with the way she chooses her words and considers her answers that would not be out of place if exhibited by None Shall Sleep’s teenage protagonist Emma Lewis, who has been recruited by the FBI following her own escape from a serial killer to assist in establishing a psychological profiling unit, but is quickly pulled into an active hunt for a serial killer. She puts a self-conscious hand to her tied-back hair as we talk about chocolate (I’m quickly finishing off a mid-afternoon chocolate, she’s contemplating digging into her stash of chocolate biscuits), gives a laugh and exclaims, “I look like a complete dag!” The next, she’s quick to smile and quick to laugh – including at herself. We meet via Zoom and the first jarring difference between my expectation and reality is that she’s surrounded by light and colour (although the top she wears is dark-toned). It’s funny how the impression generated by a single photograph can be at once correct and misleading.

The black background conjures the sense of the vaguely sinister, while the shadows which fall on her face are emphasised by the white-blonde of her hair which practically glows against the darker tones.

Ellie Marney’s social media profile picture gives the impression that she is the sort of hard-bitten character such as the ones who populate her most recent novel, None Shall Sleep.

Every Move by Ellie Marney