K. M TARRANT was born in Temuka, a quiet, friendly little town, in the South Island of New Zealand. From a very young age, she loved to write. As she grew to adulthood, she continued writing but apart from a few memorial pieces for friends who had lost loved ones, she kept her ‘scribbles’ to herself. Tarrant often recited ‘made up stories’ to her three children at bedtime as they preferred those to the books on their shelves. In 2004, Tarrant, her husband, their children and three cats, moved to Lower Hutt where they lived for several years before moving even further north to the North Shore of Auckland. Once there, Tarrant began looking for work, and an inspired suggestion during a phone call with a dear friend and neighbour in Lower Hutt, the wonderful Helen Whatman (sadly now deceased), pointed Tarrant toward a career in funeral service and in 2012 she qualified as an embalmer. ‘Life and Death in Birkenhead’ is her first novel. It borrows from her years as an embalmer and blends two other interests – crime and figuring out what makes people tick.