Fog swirls through the darkened streets of Victorian London in Kate Griffin’s latest novel Kitty Peck and The Child of Ill Fortune, while criminals lurk in the gloom and danger awaits at every corner.

The second in a series of four, Kate’s new book is out this week and rejoins the spirited, yet vulnerable, 17-year-old heroine Kitty, who has been entrusted with a mysterious child by her brother.

“Kitty’s in charge of a criminal empire now which she has inherited,” says the St Albans writer.

“She is persuaded by her brother and some of his friends to take a child who is in danger back to London with her for a short time which she does but she realises very soon that she’s made a terrible mistake bringing this child back to the city with her and that’s where it all kicks off.”

Inspired by the themes of Victorian melodrama, Kate’s depiction of the capital and its colourful characters also draws on the stories her Limehouse-raised grandmother would tell her as a child.

“She told me amazing tales in a really great London voice,” remembers Kate, who was born in Islington and lived there for six years.

She continues: “I think to hear me speak I’m not a cockney, but I am actually genuinely a cockney, I was born in Barts Hospital, which had a maternity ward within the sound of the Bow Bells.

“All my aunts and uncles have that amazing London accent, a really lively, very vibrant and almost theatrical tone.

“They would tell me the most incredible stories about what they got up to when they were younger and I think all that sort of stuff percolated in.”

A former journalist and later columnist for the Watford Observer, Kate waited until her late 40s to write her first novel.

One rainy afternoon during the weekend of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations she started writing the first Kitty Peck story, which she entered into a Stylist magazine crime writing competition run in conjunction with publishers Faber & Faber.

She says: “Everyone who’s a journalist or a writer of some sort, there’s a part of their mind that thinks: ‘I’d love to write a book someday’. I actually got the chance to make it happen, which is lovely.”

Kate went on to win the competition, despite only having 12-weeks to complete her entry.

“I think I’m as surprised as everyone else really – I’m surprised, amazed and thrilled,” admits the author.

“I was absolutely certain that what they wanted was a contemporary crime writer. It had to be a strong female character but I really thought what they’d be looking for was something like Prime Suspect, or The Killing – the Scandi sort of thing.

“I started doing it and after about two hours I looked at the page and what I’d written was something in Victorian London in an opium lair. Be true to yourself I suppose,” she laughs.

Although the 52-year-old has a four-book deal with Faber & Faber she juggles writing with a part-time job as a press officer with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB).

However she has gleaned inspiration from her duties as a press officer and says a work trip to Wilton’s Music Hall was especially influential.

“It’s the last remaining proper East End music hall, all the rest were demolished years ago,” explains the writer, who moved to Watford when she was seven.

“A lot of the inspiration for the first book came from there. It’s just magical, it’s amazing.

“You step in there and you imagine all these people from Victorian London crammed in there together and the smell of cigarettes and gin spilt across the floor and some poor woman or man on the stage trying to make their voice heard in this wonderful old space. It just reeks atmosphere and history.”

Kitty Peck and The Child of Ill Fortune is out in shops and online on Thursday, July 2.