Cotswold Essence meets journalist-turned-fiction writer Martin O'Brien

With paperback sales alone of his debut crime novel Jacquot and the Waterman already exceeding 21,000 copies, author Martin O'Brien could easily be mistaken as an overnight sensation.

Since the book was published by Headline last February it has been critically acclaimed all over the world, and a second story, Jacquot and the Angel - centred on the exploits of the eponymous French chief inspector, Daniel Jacquot - hit the shops on September 26.

However, as Martin works on his third Jacqout novel from a shed in the garden of his tranquil home in Calmsden, near Cirencester, he tells of a struggle for acceptance and years of rejection from publishers.

The 54-year-old began a 25-year career in journalism in 1974 as a copy editor with Vogue, where he soon became travel editor, a job he held for six years.

Over the next two decades he worked extensively in freelance travel journalism, as a film scriptwriter and also wrote All the Girls, an expose of the world of prostitution.

Shortly after the arrival of their first daughter, Martin and his wife Fiona moved from London to Calmsden eight years ago.

He decided parenthood and demands of travel writing, with its time away from home, didn't mix, and so took up the combined role of house- husband and novelist as Fiona bought the money in.

After four years, three manuscripts and many rejection letters from publishers Fiona fell pregnant with their second child and Martin had to return to travel journalism.

The results were shocking, as he failed to get back into the industry, pocketing just £250 in six months.

Then one night in August 2003 the publishing house Headline left a message on the answer phone saying it was interested in his work. Martin said: "It was getting to be a worry because the baby was due in November and by the end of the summer Fiona knew she had to start winding down and there was no income stream on the horizon, so it was frightening for a while."

Although his first book, a whodunit, but not a Jacquot story, remains unpublished, Headline snapped up and published his remaining manuscripts.

The stories are all set in Marseille or Provence, an area Martin knows and loves from his years of travel writing.

He considers the stories classic whodunits, and steers away from the dark serial killer worlds depicted by many contemporary crime writers like Ian Rankin and Patricia Cornwell.

Martin said: "It struck me that all of those cops are stereotypes. They are drunks; they live alone and don't fit in. It works but I don't want Jacquot to be that way."

Martin wants to complete a series of ten to 12 Jacquot novels, and looks forward to the public taking the detective to their hearts even more in the future.

He said: "We are on the way but it's a hard business and you are only as good as your last piece of work. If sales dip and Jacquot doesn't hit the spot Headline, or any other publisher, will say 'We've loved doing business with you but it's over'."

"I want people to say 'When's that next Jacqout coming out? I can't wait!' - that's what I want."