Brighton on a Wednesday morning in June is distinctly random in the best way. Seagulls circle beneath low-hanging clouds and there is open air yoga taking place along the seafront with an instructor calling out poses over a squawking speaker system.

A man on roller skates passes by filming himself with a smartphone on a selfie stick, while someone else jogs up and down the beachfront wearing denim shorts and carrying a small speaker blasting Latin music. Are they exercising, late for a meeting or what?

“They’re just…enjoying their life,” Dorothy Koomson says with a shrug and a smile.

I’ve come to Brighton to meet Dorothy to talk about her twenty year career as a bestselling author. Known as the Queen of the Big Reveal for the narrative twists and turns that have become her hallmark, many of Dorothy’s novels are set in the seaside city and take you on a decidedly darker and more suspenseful tour through the tourist hotspot.