Poet Joolz has landed a £50,000 book deal after winning a national competition for new crime writing.

The Bradford-based writer has signed up with the publishing giant HarperCollins.

Joolz, 44, won the Crime Writers' Association New Writing Competition last year with her entry Stone Baby.

Today she described her two-book deal with HarperCollins as a fairytale come true.

"I have been writing poetry for 20 years and for this to happen now is fantastic. It finally gives me a chance to earn a regular weekly wage without having to go out and do poetry gigs the whole time," said Joolz.

Stone Baby is set in Bradford and partly inspired by the author's memories of the reign of terror of the Yorkshire Ripper. It concerns a comedienne who discovers that her apparently respectable partner is a notorious sex murderer.

It will be published in April 2000 under her real name, Julie Denby, and will be followed by a second novel to be called Corazon, which Joolz is now working on.

The £50,000 advance is an exceptionally high amount for a first time novelist. But Julia Wisdom, editor-in-chief at HarperCollins, is convinced that her new capture is worth every penny.

"When asked to judge a competition for the best first chapter and outline of a crime novel I confess to being a bit dubious about the sort of entries we would get," she said.

"But I and the other judges were all knocked sideways by Julie Denby's entry Stone Baby.

"It stood out in all sorts of ways - the raw energy of its language, its originality, the way in which the reader is immediately plunged into the world of the novel.

"Stone Baby fully bears out the promise of the early pages. The author has a new, striking voice, the alternative lifestyle milieu of the novel is brilliantly portrayed, the banality of evil shiveringly put across.

"We have high hopes for this and the next novel Corazon and feel that Joolz herself offers marketing opportunities we could only dream of for most authors."

Joolz, who lives in Thornbury with Justin Sullivan, frontman of Bradford rock band New Model Army, was hot property after winning the Crime Writers' Association competition, with publisher Hodder and Stoughton also offering her a contract.

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