A LIBRARY may traditionally be a place of quietness — but not when effervescent author Marcia Willett breezes in.

She was busy chatting amongst the tomes in Tavistock Library last Thursday — signing books and answering questions as part of World Book Day.

Librarian in charge, Moira Andrews was delighted Marcia agreed to come. The Devon author is so popular with local readers that the library has just increased the number of her titles they have in stock.

'Her work is very popular. She mentions Tavistock in her books — going to the Bedford Hotel for coffee, shopping at Creber's, walking through the market . . . People like that,' said Moira.

Marcia Willett is currently busy finishing her 12th novel but found time to come to Tavistock — a town she is particularly fond of.

'Last year I did a talk a fortnight — libraries, reading groups, ladies' luncheon clubs, book shop events,' she says.

'But at the end I wondered if I was a professional talker or a professional writer. It was distracting because if people are coming to see you, you want to give them a good time. I think if people are coming to hear you talk you must prepare what you are going to say.'

Marcia said she happily accepted the Tavistock Library invitation 'because they didn't ask me to talk — just come and meet people.'

She says she owes a big debt to libraries, and believes her own skills as a writer are due to 'years and years' of reading.

'When I was a Naval wife my first question where ever we went was "where is the library?" I didn't give a damn where the supermarket was . . .'

She believes the book will always be a popular form of entertainment. There may have been a lot of hype about the internet but she believes, in the end, there is no substitute for a good book.

'People ask me what do I think about Harry Potter — and I say if it gets young people reading books that's great.'

Marcia is still surprised by her own success. Now 55 she has just finished her latest novel — her 12th in the six years she has been a professional writer.

Her novels have rapidly taken off in a big way since the first, 'Those Who Serve', went on the bookshelves six years ago. She is now in the middle of an American deal.

'I still find the whole thing utterly amazing,' she says.'I have to be home at the end of the phone between 3pm and 11pm because that's when they are in their offices in America.'

But what is really important to her currently is the last two chapters she is working on.

'It is really exciting. My characters are still doing things I didn't know they were going to do!' she says — almost as eager as any reader to reach the end of the book to find out what happens.

She finds a lot of inspiration in Devon and is fond of setting her stories in specific locations around the county.

'My 11th Marcia Willett novel 'A Week In Winter' will be out this autumn. I call it the "Bovey Tracey book" because it is set in Bovey Tracey,' she says.

'I have written the Dartmouth book, the Totnes book, the South Brent book . . .'

All her novels, in whichever part of the county they are set, make compulsive reading. And as people like to seek out the locations they must also be quite a boon for local tourism . . .