BILL Spence is a sort of modern day George Eliot in reverse.

It was in the early 1990s that Bill ditched his own name from the jackets of his novels in favour of that of a rather austere-sounding woman, whose name suggests she could be related to the Prime Minister - maybe even Tony's mother.

But writing in disguise, so to speak, has paid enormous dividends for a writer who was previously known for his string of cowboy novels.

It was to please his female readership that he adopted the moniker Jessica Blair, as Bill recalls.

"Originally The Red Shawl (the first Jessica Blair book) was presented to the publishers under my own name but they decided they would like to publish it under a female name and they suggested Jessica Blair.

"The main reason for that was that the main character was a woman and women read more books than us men. But the background of the book was the whale industry out of Whitby, so the story would have appealed to men, too."

He added: "When The Red Shawl came out, it attracted quite a bit of local publicity because here was a man writing as a woman."

Noticeably avoiding a pre-Christmas publication date, the tenth hardback Jessica Blair creation, The Restless Heart (Piatkus £17.99), hits the shelves on January 3. On the same date, The Long Way Home (Piatkus £5.99) comes out in paperback format, following its publication in hardback last June.

The Restless Heart is again set around the North Yorkshire coast, particularly Whitby. It also revisits earlier Jessica Blair territory in that characters from The Red Shawl and A Distant Harbour reappear, while the characters' children are also featured.

It tells the story of Olivia, who feels that her chances of becoming mistress of Cropton Hall have been dashed when she is rejected by George. She marries Kit, the man who loves her, but will her desire to avenge her rejection by George destroy that love?

If it is anything like its predecessors, the novel will be a great success. Jessica Blair has proved particularly popular in Bill's native North-East, mainly because of the setting. But interest is steadily spreading to other parts of the country.

Currently, there are no problems with writer's block for the prolific author.

"Some days it's harder than others," Bill admits. "But I do try to write every day, with the exception of one-and-a-half days a week."

And, by George, he needs to. Because the Jessica Blair novels have a habit of running to between 130,000 and 160,000 words each, about 450 pages for the reader to wade through. This is very different from his westerns, which would clock in at about 45,000 words.

The news is good for fans of Jessica Blair. Bill is currently penning the 11th of the series, which he is due to deliver to the publishers in June for publication towards the latter end of the year.

The Restless Heart will appear in paperback next summer.

Updated: 11:19 Thursday, December 27, 2001