An author whose latest novel was inspired by Bermuda will be at The Bookmart today for a book signing.

Mrs. Laura Coburn's detective novel "Desperate Call'' is to be one of four novels the former journalist and reserve Los Angeles Police officer plans to complete.

And while it is not based on any events in Bermuda, Mrs. Coburn said she has dedicated it to the Island which was her inspiration to write it.

And her fourth novel -- which will still be set in California -- will feature a female victim in her late 20s who is living with her Bermudian husband in California.

"Without Bermuda having been an inspiration to me, this book (Desperate Call) would not be a reality,'' she told The Royal Gazette .

"Bermuda is now my spiritual home. It is an oasis of quietness and tranquillity.

There is a place in the book where the main character, Catherine, thinks of a place of solitude and beauty.

Mrs. Coburn said for Catherine the place was Carmel, California. But for her it was Bermuda.

Having travelled to Bermuda some 60 times, Mrs. Coburn said she has practically become part of the furniture at Cambridge Beaches where she stays when on the Island.

It was there, she said, that she was inspired to write "Desperate Call''.

"I had just come up from the beach and I thought I must never be parted from this Island,'' Mrs. Coburn said.

"Desperate Call'', which was released in the US earlier this year, is a symbol of her connection.

Mrs. Coburn first visited Bermuda in 1961 and she wrote her first love letter to her husband, Robert, from Southampton.

"The moment I stepped off the plane I instantly connected with the Island,'' she said. "It has always seemed to me my spiritual, if not my actual, home.'' "Desperate Call'', which was published in paperback by Penguin books and in hardback by Headline Books which bought the British rights, is available at The Bookmart.

While Mrs. Coburn said she did not have official sales figures for the book in the US, she said several bookstores in LA sold out and had to reorder copies.

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