AN AUTHOR was spotted in a Kirkby Lonsdale book store. 

She 'screamed with delight' when she saw her book Her New Best Friend on the shelves of the Book Lounge, and happily signed the copies.

Penny Jenkins, who writes under her maiden name Penny Batchelor, writes thriller novels under RedDoor Press.

She is based in Warwickshire but was in Cumbria to scout out settings for a potential new book. 

She said: "I previously wrote an article on The Knitters of Dent, and the ideas of the Dent Knitters and setting a literary crime thriller in Victorian times have been marinating in my imagination for quite a while." 

Dent was known in Victorian times for having the 'strongest knitting culture in northern England' with even workers spending their time off knitting. 

She said that Kirkby Lonsdale is likely to feature in her novel: "On my recce I took lots of photos, bought a map and some history pamphlets and wrote down my impressions of the place and the beautiful scenery." 

In reference to the Book Lounge, she said: "I am a huge supporter of indie bookshops. The owner Valerie was really pleased to meet me, saying that 'authors walk among us.'"