De-ann Black

De-ann Black ranges across several fiction and nonfiction genres, connecting Scottish settings with suspense, crafts, and food. The Strife of Riley introduces John Riley, a Glasgow historian and cyber investigator whose former service background becomes relevant when a dangerous search draws him beyond academic work. Published by Toffee Apple Publishing in 2010, the novel combines a private-investigator plot with contemporary Scottish locations and establishes Riley as the centre of a planned sequence. Black's wider bibliography includes romance, crime, historical fiction, and practical books on knitting, sewing, baking, and gardening. That range gives her storytelling a strong attention to work, place, and the material details of everyday life. In The Strife of Riley, research and computer skills matter as much as physical action, while Glasgow provides more than a decorative backdrop. The result is a modern thriller built around an investigator whose scholarly habits and earlier training pull in different directions.