Helen Phifer | From the Beat to Bestseller

From walking the streets of Barrow-in-Furness as a PCSO to becoming a bestselling author with more than a million books sold, Helen Phifer’s story is quite a journey. In this episode of Community Crumpet, Tony chats with Helen about her 15 years as a PCSO, where getting to know the people on her patch was all part of the job, and how a love of reading eventually led her to start writing stories of her own. Helen shares the reality behind becoming a bestselling author from taking eight years to write her first book to writing against three-month deadlines, surviving the editing process and even finding herself alongside Stephen King in the bestseller charts. They also talk crime fiction, Salem and its infamous witch trials, her much-loved detective Morgan Brookes, the importance of libraries and reading, her long-standing connection with the Love Barrow Awards and why, despite her success, Barrow remains firmly part of her story. Find out more about Helen at her website: https://www.helenphifer.com/ 00:00 Welcome to Community Crumpet 01:05 Helen’s Life on the Beat 05:20 Celebrating Barrow’s Community Spirit 06:42 From PCSO to Bestselling Author 08:04 Salem, Witch Trials and Spooky Stories 12:26 Meet Detective Morgan Brookes 15:56 Helen’s Writing Journey 18:22 Behind the Scenes of Writing a Bestseller 26:38 Supporting Reading, Libraries and Other Authors 32:38 The Golden Wand: Supporting Families and Carers