BEST selling crime writer Matt (MJ) Arlidge’s latest Helen Grace novel Love Me Not is published on May 18 and he is coming to Southampton to celebrate.

Matt will be at Waterstones in West Quay on Tuesday May 23 at 7.15pm as part of the shop's 'Conversation in the Cafe' series.

Matt’s Southampton-based crime series has made him one of the UK’s most popular authors. Eeny Meeny was the biggest debut of 2014 and the subsequent books have all been bestsellers and are now published in 30 languages.

So popular has the series become that the city is now welcoming journalists and fans from across Europe visiting some of the novels’ key locations.

In the latest book 'Love Me Not' - the seventh in his Helen Grace series, Southampton is on lock down as a young couple go on a killing spree across the city.

M.J. Arlidge is an author, screenwriter and television producer. His Helen Grace novels have put Southampton on the crime fiction map and are fast becoming one of the UK’s biggest crime series, building an international reputation where they are published in over 30 countries.

This is a free event but spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested, please contact Nicky Gale at Waterstones West Quay.

'Love Me Not' is published by Michael Joseph. It begins with a woman's body lying on a quiet lane in the New Forest. At first it looks like a tragic accident until Helen Grace gets closer and it's clear she's looking at a cold blooded killing. But why would anyone target a much-loved wife and mother?

Across town, a local pharmacist is killed while his customers are left unharmed. What lies behind the decisions to kill and not to kill?

If Helen can't solve this deadly puzzle then more blood will be shed. But disgraced journalist Emilia Garanita is also trying to discern the killer’s pattern. But will her ruthless pursuit of a story have deadly consequences…

Who lives? Who dies? Who's next? The clock is ticking.

Matt lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two children. When he isn’t writing, he can be found playing tennis.He reads voraciously – crime thrillers, history and biographies – and has a weakness for Bond films, 90’s music and liquorice allsorts.

He began his career in television, producing a host of popular dramas, including Eastenders and Monarch of the Glen. Later he specialised in TV crime drama, particularly domestic thrillers, such as Torn, The Little House and Undeniable, before moving from producing to screenwriting. He writes regularly for hit BBC series Silent Witness and his first original piece for TV – Innocent – will broadcast on ITV in autumn 2017. Arlidge is currently working on a U.S. set, supernatural thriller, The Last Rites.