Welcome Lesley Cookman, Author of the Libby Sarjeant Mysteries

 

Hi! My name’s Lesley Cookman, and Melissa has very kindly invited me to introduce myself and my books on her lovely blog.

I’m an English writer, living in Kent, England at the seaside. The heroine of my series, Libby Sarjeant, also lives in Kent, although in a typical English village. Her best friend Fran, however, does live at the seaside. Both the village, Steeple Martin, and the seaside town, Nethergate, are fictional, although my British readers have great fun trying to identify the real locations. Here is the map of Steeple Martin, drawn by my friend Susan Alison, which appears in the front of all the books and on my website.

 

 

Libby and Fran are both ladies of a certain age. Libby is lively, nosy and a bit of a bull in a china shop. Fran is much calmer and an occasional unwilling psychic, which is why the local police use her as an “expert” witness now and then. Both Libby and Fran were professional actors in a former life, and Libby now helps to run a community theatre.

There are cats, too. Libby shares her house with Sidney, a rather belligerent silver tabby who appears in her back garden on the map, and Fran has adopted Balzac, a black and white longhair. There is a whole gang of friends and relations who appear regularly, and my dear editor at Accent Press has put together a Who’s Who in the front of every book. The series, currently eleven in all, is available in print and ebook and the twelfth, Murder In The Dark, will be out in October. This is the most recent, Murder In The Monastery.

 

 

As for me, I live with my two rescue cats, a mother and daughter called Godiva and Gloria, and an occasional returning grown-up child. I, too, am a former actor who keeps her hand in at our beautiful Victorian theatre in my home town. I love to hear from readers, so please get in touch, either through my website, Facebook page or Twitter, links below. On my website, you can also sign up to receive my newsletter.

And last, but not least, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of my publishers, Accent Press, we are releasing an anthology of my short stories to be called Bad Behaviour. I can’t show you the cover yet, as it hasn’t been designed, but rest assured it will soon be appearing at all my online homes - and, of course, Amazon!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to “meet” some of you soon.

 

Lesley has generously offered to send a signed print copy of either the first book in the series (Murder in Steeple Martin) or the last (Murder in the Monastery) to one lucky commenter. Please leave your email address; contest is International and runs until 3/22.