A CRIME-fighting police duo will visit Keighley next month to talk about their present careers as crime writers.

Husband-and-wife Bob and Carol Bridgestock will release their ninth Detective Inspector Jack Dylan novel, Poetic Justice, on March 28.

They will be at Keighley Library on April 4 and 27 for two separate talks about their real-life and fictional involvement in crime.

The pair once worked at Sowerby Bridge police station, location for popular BBC crime drama Happy Valley, and they served as storyline and procedural advisers for the series.

Carol attended Sowerby Bridge Grammar School in the 1970s with series creator Sally Wainwright, who also wrote the BBC’s Bronte biopic To Walk Invisible that was filmed in Haworth.

Carol and Bob are also storyline consultants on ITV’s cop drama Scott & Bailey starring Suranne Jones and Leslie Sharp.

Bob worked for 30 years with West Yorkshire Police. As a senior investigating office and hostage negotiator he took charge of numerous high-profile murder investigations.

Carol was a police admin support worker, and she and Bob retired in 2003. After doing voluntary talks for several charities they took a writing course at their local college and began writing under the pseudonym RC Bridgestock.

They published their first Jack Dylan novel in 2009, Deadly Force, and went on to release internationally-successful follow-ups including Consequences, White Lilies and Reprobates.

Poetic Justice, like the other books set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Harrowfield, is a prequel that focuses on the murder of the detective’s wife and expulsion from university of his drug-user stepdaughter.

Carol said the April 4 talk would be aimed at writers and readers, as she and Bob relate their journey to find an agent and publisher in later to market their books.

Carol said: “On April 27 there will be a general talk regarding our journey from crime fighting to crime writing, including our time in the police force and writing our novels - how, what, where, when, why!”

“We draw on the actual experiences of police officers in our scenarios. It’s no wonder that many of our readers are former police officers - they appreciate the authenticity.”

Both talks begin at 2pm, and the RC Bridgestock novels will be on sale.

The Dome Press last year acquired the rights for the latest novel Poetic Justice along with Carol and Bob’s backlist titles.

Dome Press publisher Rebekah Lloyd said: “We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Bob and Carol and to give this hugely popular series a new lease of life.”

Poetic Justice begins with a vicious, unprovoked attack as Jack Dylan returns home from residential course, and in addition to his family trauma has to investigate two other missing teenagers.

He buries himself in his work, pursuing the criminal elements behind both sets of events whether his superiors like it or not.

As his family disintegrates around him, a newcomer to the admin department, Jennifer Jones, seems to offer some sort of salvation.