BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR LESLEY COOKMAN

UK mystery author Lesley Cookman, who also goes by Rosina Lesley, started writing almost as soon as she could read. careers as a model, air stewardess and disc jockey, she turned to writing, teaching writing, and editing. Murder in the Blood is her fifteenth Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery. Learn more about Lesley and her books at her website.  

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

When I was about 6! I just wrote stories and made them into “books.”

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

I became a journalist and feature writer over thirty years ago, and subsequently wrote for the stage and short stories for magazines, before turning to novels.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

Traditionally

Where do you write?

In my office at home and in my bedroom in Turkey on holiday.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

Music – classical mostly, but there’s an eclectic mix in my iTunes library.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

I’ve used my background in theatre and my involvement in Community Theatre, but that’s about all. I don’t base characters on real people (except in one case, which was a prize in a competition) and I don’t use real places, as I don’t want to upset anybody!

Describe your process for naming your character?

Usually just pops into my head if it’s a main character. If not, I gaze round the room until something leaps out at me. If the worst comes to the worst, I have a book of “Baby Names” on the shelf beside me.

Real settings or fictional towns?

Fictional – see above.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?

Fran Wolfe has occasional psychic flashes, or “moments.”

What’s your quirkiest quirk?

Um – I don’t think I have one.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?

Any one of Nagaio Marsh’s or P G Wodehouse’s.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Don’t get me started...

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?

Three books, please.

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Delivering papers when I was a kid.

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

There are too many to mention.

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean. I live by the sea in England.

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

Country.

What’s on the horizon for you?

The next two books in the Libby Sarjeant series!

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?

My website has links to my Facebook page, my Twitter account and my blog.

Murder in the Blood

Libby Sarjeant and friends are taking a well-earned holiday at a village on the Turkish coast - but despite their best intentions it seems that murder has even followed them there. When out on a boat trip they discover a body, but at first it has nothing to do with them, for once ...until they find out that the deceased was English - and so are the suspects.

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