Novelist Robert Goddard told an audience in Sidmouth that he got his break in storytelling as a schoolboy when his partially-sighted grandmother asked him to read to her from the local paper.

He soon found the stories a little dull for his taste and decided to ‘spice them up’ by inventing a murder. His grandmother enjoyed the enhanced stories so much he had to continue.

But when people she met expressed concern about the old lady’s alarming flights of fancy the young Robert was quickly relieved of his narrating duties.

The thriller writer was promoting his new book Panic Room at the latest Meet the Author event at Kennaway House.

The writer, who lives in Cornwall, has been writing for ‘significantly over 30 years’ and this is his 27th book.

He said he got into writing by ‘eliminating all other possibilities’ for a career.

“I think selling double glazing was the least successful of those. Basically because I didn’t sell any,” he said.