NO-ONE can accuse Anna Smith of shirking the big issues in her novels.

Child kidnapping and people trafficking both feature heavily in her new book, which starts off with the abduction of a three-year-old Glasgow girl from her parents' holiday apartment on the Costa del Sol.

It goes on to introduce a senior New Labour politician with a furtive secret who socialises on a yacht belonging to a corrupt Russian oligarch.

And along the way it explores how certain newspapers exploit other people's tragedies – the abduction, in this case – to increase sales.

With the Leveson Inquiry in full swing, Anna's book, To Tell the Truth, is highly topical, but this won't come as any surprise to anyone who knows her.

Much of the story's background, and some of its characters, stem from real-life stories she investigated as an award-winning journalist in Glasgow.

"It's fair to say I've spent more than a few years on newspapers, wading through other people's misery," is how she puts it.

To Tell the Truth is the second novel to feature her alter ego, Rosie Gilmour, a seasoned news reporter on the fictional Post.

Recovering from a traumatic experience in Glasgow, recounted in the first book, The Dead Won't Sleep, Rosie finds herself in Spain when the abduction unfolds on a summer day in 1998.

The kidnapping has obvious similarities to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann almost five years ago.

"I thought about this a lot when I was writing the book," concedes Anna. "But writers use real-life events all the time to trigger off stories.

"I was in Spain at the time, and once I decided to make the new book about people trafficking. I thought that this abduction was the best way to start.

"People have shied away from any dramas – TV or books – about missing children these last few years because of what happened to Madeleine, and of course I understand the sensitivity of that.

"As a journalist I wrote huge articles in defence of the McCanns – what happened to them is the worst thing that could – but as a writer I don't think child abduction is an issue we should shy away from.

"The abduction in the book isn't about the McCanns at all."

One of the book's most disturbing scenes is set in a dilapidated farm near Tangiers, in Morocco, where young orphans and street children from Romania and Africa – children no-one would miss – are imprisoned in cages.

This, too, has echoes of one of Anna's real-life encounters. As a journalist, she visited hellish orphanages in Romania.

She says: "I remember these kids, lying in cots, dehumanised and never knowing what it is to be loved or touched, and I wondered, both then and later, 'what became of these people? What did they grow into?' "

One of the book's central characters has just such a background.

The increasing use of children in pornography, which also crops up in To Tell the Truth, is another issue that has long concerned Anna.

"It has now become so massive because of the internet," she

" It's actually quite terrifying when you research it; there are street children in north Africa and elsewhere on that continent who are worth nothing and they get picked up by people and exploited," she says

To Tell the Truth, an atmospheric and fast-moving story, is set mostly in Spain and Morocco, although Rosie does return to Glasgow on various occasions and for different reasons: to visit Barlinnie, an East End hostel, and a run-down Saltmarket hostelry that, as Anna writes, definitely isn't the kind you'd find in the Good Pub Guide.

"There are certain crime novels set in Glasgow that are slightly one-dimensional – set in the city and there's a murder or series of murders – but I wanted to make Rosie a completely different character," she says. "I wanted to take her all over the world. I want to give my books an inter-national feel."

She's true to her word: her third Rosie Gilmour novel, Refuge, is almost finished, and due out next year. It's set in Glasgow but some of the action moves to Kosovo.

The first Rosie Gilmour book sold well and the publishers see no reason why the sequel shouldn't perform likewise.

"What has amazed me more than anything else is the feedback," Anna says.

"The first one is selling in Australia and New Zealand now. When the paperback came out, the publishers put a cheeky sticker on it, 'As good as Martina Cole – or your money back'.

"But people have been emailing the publisher to say 'It's not as good – it's better'. It has literally leapt off the shelves and sold something like 20,000 in the first three weeks in paperback alone."

Anna put a lot of care and attention into creating the character of Rosie.

"If you're going to do a series of books, the biggest challenge you face is getting people to like the character," she says.

And if people buy into her, that's all to the good.

"I specifically didn't want her to be just another Glasgow journalist. I wanted her to feature in a totally different kind of story with different rules," Anna says.

It certainly seems to have succeeded: Rosie's many fans include Scottish TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, who has loved the series since reading an advance copy of The Dead Won't Sleep in one sitting.

"She's been hugely supportive, actually," says Anna.

"She's such a really nice person, so down to earth. The way you see her on TV is the way she really is."

n To Tell the Truth is published by Quercus on February 2. Anna Smith will appear at Waterstone's, Sauchiehall Street, at 6.30pm the same day. For more information, visit www.annasmithscotland.com