Writer Lesley Horton is on cloud nine while her fictional cops walk the mean streets below.

Lesley is set to hit the bestseller lists when her first novel is released by one of the country's leading publishers.

Orion is paying a five-figure sum and plans to heavily-market the crime story by the Keighley News' village correspondent.

They want at least one more book featuring Lesley's detective duo, and hope it will lead to a series rivalling that of best-selling Orion author Ian Rankin.

"I feel as though I'm somewhere up in the heavens," says a delighted Lesley. "I don't feel like I'm really me anymore. This is the first novel I've ever written. One week I'm writing columns for the Keighley News, the next this. It feels like a fairytale."

Lesley, of Manor Road, Utley, set her novel Snares of Guilt in a city "just like Bradford" and focuses on a white police inspector and an Asian sergeant. The pair investigate the murder of a Sikh health visitor who was married to a Muslim but having an affair with a white doctor.

Lesley applied knowledge of young people and racial issues picked up while teaching in inner-city Bradford.

After showing off her first few chapters she was taken on by leading agent Teresa Cris, and was head-hunted by new Orion crime editor Kirsty Ffolkes.

A minor bidding war led to an increased offer from Orion, to publish Snares of Guilt in every English-speaking country except the USA. The Dutch rights have also been sold.

Lesley has high hopes for success in America where crime books by regional authors are currently popular.

She is now in the middle of writing her second novel with the same characters, and has ideas for four more.

Though delighted to be signing a contract this month with Orion, Lesley will not reveal exactly how much the "five-figure" advance is worth.

But she admits: "Because I've been given such a large advance, Orion will be marketing me quite strongly.

"It looks like I will be writing full-time. It's a second career for me - it's wonderful."