Jamie J. Laine

'The Mahjong Maramas: A Date with Death' is their first novel and the genre they chose to focus upon was as much a surprise to them as to their friends and family. Perhaps it reflects an unrequited desire to be detectives, for before they even knew each other, both had considered joining the police force. Elaine discovered she was not tall enough - surely that would be discrimination these days and James, or Jim as he is more popularly known, discovered he'd have to take a backward step career wise and decided that was not what he wanted to do.

The careers they eventually chose were in academia and skills developed in that field and in life definitely helped. Jim's forte as a professor is research and Elaine can touch type so there was a division of labour in those aspects. However, when it came to developing the storyline, well that was truly a joint effort although it must be said that Elaine is the one with a passion for playing Mahjong, which like Ruth, a character in the book, she learnt to play in Hong Kong, so paragraphs related to the game were all Elaine's. Jim is now learning to play.