FOREST crime writer Andrew Taylor has just returned from Berlin where his name was blazoned on banners 20ft high which also proudly proclaimed his origins.

"What amused me most was that all the other writers came from big cities everyone knows, like London, Florence and Berlin. At last Coleford has gained its rightful place as a world class city!"

He said the invitation to attend the Berlin Crime Night, held at a multi-media and book megastore, had come from the city's biggest undertakers. They not only sponsored the event but helped dress up the venue in the most macabre way possible.

"I was thrilled to be there and thrilled when I saw that Coleford was up there with the other big centres," said Andrew, who was in for a night of interviews and talks about his work.

Most of the questions were about Andrew's recent Roth Trilogy, but he also has the seventh in his Lydmouth murders series, where definite Forest connections can be detected, on the bookshelves now – Death's Own Door.