she said that she was 'still married' to Wells in 2015. In 2016, Machin left Hill for comedian Rhona Cameron. In the 1990s Hill founded her own publishing company, Long Barn Books, which has published two Simon Serrailler short stories and The Magic Apple Tree, all by Susan Hill, as well as The Dream Coat by Adele Geras, Colouring In by Angela Huth and Counting My Chickens by Deborah Devonshire. Published works Hill's novels are written in a descriptive gothic style, especially her ghost story The Woman in Black, which was published in 1983. She has expressed an interest in the traditional English ghost story, which relies on suspense and atmosphere to create its impact, similar to the classic ghost stories by Montague Rhodes James and Daphne du Maurier. The novel was turned into a play in 1987 and continues to run in the West End of London, joining the group of plays that have run for over twenty years. It was also made into a television film in 1989, and a film by Hammer Film Productions in 2012. She wrote another ghost story with similar ingredients, The Mist in the Mirror in 1992, and a sequel to du Maurier's Rebecca entitled Mrs de Winter in 1993. In 2004, Hill began a series of crime novels featuring detective Simon Serrailler, entitled The Various Haunts of Men (2004). This was followed by The Pure in Heart (2005), The Risk of Darkness (2006), The Vows of Silence (2009), The Shadows in the Street (2010), The Betrayal of Trust (2011), A Question of Identity (2013), The Soul of Discretion (2014) and A Breach of Security, a short story (2014), Hero, another short story (2016), The Comforts of Home in 2018 and The Benefit of Hindsight in October 2019. Awards 1971 Somerset Maugham Award I'm the King of the Castle 1972 Whitbread Novel Award The Bird of Night (which was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize) 1972 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The Albatross 1988 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award) (6–8 years category) Can It Be True?: A Christmas Story 2012 CBE 2020 DBE References External links A writer's life: Susan Hill from The Daily Telegraph Contemporary Literary Criticism : Susan Hill Radio Drama by Susan Hill 1942 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of King's College London People from Scarborough, North