Discussion

I've been touched and surprised by the comments welcoming this site. Thank you. It does make me wonder if you'd tell me a bit about what you get out of reading crime novels. But if you want to comment about something else, that's fine too.

Click and type in a question or comment


You should definitely plan a small dinner party with friends attending to play the story out loud after dinner! The seller of one of the tapes of "Female Sleuths" I bought suggested I transfer the cassette version to CD so it would last longer. I just asked my daughter who is studying in China if she remembered driving on long trips listening to "Lucky Dip"? And she said "Yeah! I liked that one." I made my kids listen to it several times. Ha! But truly, it is performed to a "T". You'll get a kick out of it! I have also ordered Gimme More to read again. Sincerely, Adrienne

Hi again Adrienne. Well, I've ordered a copy of Sleuth. And thank you for your suggestion but any friends of mine worth their salt would throw food at me if I tried to play a reading over dinner. Either I'm a not good enough writer or a not good enough cook. LC 27 June 2010

Hi, Liza, Adrienne, from West Texas here. I saw that you perhaps had not heard the book-on-tape version of "Lucky Dip." A very fine thing to hear, in my humble opinion! It is in a collection edited by Sara Paretsky called "Female Sleuths: A Mystery Collection." Performed by Lorri Holt and Gina Leishman. Publisher: Mind's Eye/AVC Corporation. 1993. Since it is out of print, and the audio version was only on cassette tape, my treasured copy has long since been fried in the heat of West Texas.

I have purchased two used copies from Amazon, and would like to send you one as a gift. Or if you prefer not to give out your mailing address, which is totally understandable, and would rather order it yourself, there are some available from Amazon.com. Just search for "Female Sleuths: A Mystery Collection (Audio Cassette)" by Sara Paretsky (ed.)

Aren't you kind, Adrienne. Thanks so much for the thought but I wouldn't dream of putting you to the trouble and expense. However, you're right. I wasn't aware of the CD and I will certainly use the information you've provided. So thanks again... LC 23 June 2010


A crime shoud be like a scrumtious meal followed with a perfect drink Cody's novels are that.I have read everything she's written and am reading Gimme More as I write this, this is the kind of novel that makes reading imprtant, like eating and drinking. Laziestcrow

How kind of you to be so generously encouraging. I'll try to make sure that no diet I get involved in extends to my writing. LC 2 June 2010

Hej Liza,
I just finished "Gimme More" and i'm amazed! The german bookcover is awful and i almost didn't read it. It's the first of your books i read. And i like it very much! Thank you for this book and this story. Hopefully it will made into a movie someday.
Greetings from Germny - spread the smile - faby

Hi faby, Thanks for the kind words. I have to point out that I had a great translator - Pieke Bierman, who is herself a very fine writer. LC 3 May 2010

Dear Liza,
I'm a fan of the british TV series Anna Lee. I didn't know you as author, bevore I've senn the serie. It's a long time ago - I've seen it in my home country, Germany, and liked it. I and many other fans would like to see more. I understand the statements, I've read, that you were dissapointed about the serie because the characters have changed. But, the TV serie was great and fresh and quite different to all these american crab we always see in Europe. Please, could you change your mind and write more - but also, getting influence that the producer understand what you want for a character. Imogen Stubbs would be still the right person for the character - more adult but she is a really good actor and people.
I love your books as well and would like to see also more books - also Anna Lee - . I like your work and would be happy, if I would have these gift.

Many thanks
Dirk

Hi Dirk,
I'm glad you like Imogen Stubbs. I like her too. And believe me, the reason the series did not continue had nothing to do with me. Unfortunately a writer has practically no influence at all about if, or how, TV series get made. LC 30 April 2010


Dear Liza,
Just finished "Gimme more" for the second time. Congrats that itīs being published in the US. I speak of it whenever I can. It says a lot about big business versus the individual, and money versus morals. It gives me strength. Thanks for writing it, and on top of that - in great way.

All the best,

Eva Gabrielsson, Stockholm

Hi Eva,
Thanks for writing such an encouraging message.
There are so many ups and downs in life, wins and losses, heads and tails, I think we all need to take strength from wherever we can find it. Especially if we're fighting the Behemoth.
Very best wishes,
Liza. 4 April 2010



Hello, Liza;
I'm trying to stick to a policy of writing to thank writers whose work has educated, impressed, or otherwise pleased me in the latter segments of my 83 years. In the mystery field I waited too long to thank Dick Francis and Robert Parker. After reading Bucket Nut again tonight (a masterpiece), I don't want to be too late to thank you. I marvel at your abilities as a writer and as an observer of the human situation. You have my gratitude and admiration.

Bill Powers

Hi Bill,
What a very kind idea - writers often feel they're shouting unheard into the wind. I think I should do something like that too.
Your comments are most generous as well. Thankyou.
Liza 4 April 2010



Hi, Liza,
I've always wanted to tell you that you were one of the reasons for me to start to write and that your heroines have been a big influence on mine ever since. Can't give you my real name because my stalking ex would love to find a new entry by me in the www, but anyway, keep on writing, please!
looking forward to reading your new novel (yes, yes, yes somebody should do a film on gimme more!),
yours,
Ramona Donsell, berlin, germany

Thanks, Ramona, for taking the time to say hello and say these nice things. I'm so sorry about the ex; there are a lot of those about, unfortunately. And I do keep writing. I kind of can't do otherwise. Maybe you have a more balanced attitude toward your work. I hope so. All very best wishes. LC 15 Feb 2010

Hello, Liza,

A link popped up on my emails and I was surprised to read about your Anna Lee series. I wrote the autobiobraphy of Anna Lee, the British actress, and she would be delighted to know that she has a female detective named after her. I wish I'd seen the series here in the States. I see that Julian Glover played a character on the Anna Lee TV series. I recently interviewed him for my next book, Conversations with Great Britons of Stage and Screen, for which I have interviewed some 75 actors, directors, production designers, etc., etc.
Keep the Anna Lee name alive!
Cordially,
Barbara Roisman Cooper

Thanks for posting this, Barbara. All best wishes with the Great Britons... LC 12 Feb 2010

Hi,
there is few days I ask you i wondered if you have had any enquiries about "la veuve rock'n roll" for a movie adaptation?

you've answer me that no one has been interested in French film rights. But in other country do you have enquiries?
And do you think that you next book will be in the same type of Gimme more? (I'm really sorry for my bad english)
Chrislaine

Hi gain Chrislaine. No, no film interest in Gimme More. But then again it has only just been published in the US, so who knows? But the book I've just finished is... quite different. LC 14 Nov 2009

I first picked up Dupe because of the main character's name, Anna Lee, which is my daughters name. I quickly found that even if the name had been different I would have loved the series. "A rose by any other name?"

I have yet to give your other series a try but plan do so as soon as I finish the 12 books I have already accumulated. Thanks for your writing.

Sally

I think we all find things we like by happy accident, Sally. I know I have. Luck comes to those who look for it. Maybe there'll be some treasures in that stack of twelve books. LC 14 Nov 2009

Ms Cody,
I've read all of your books, but have saved the treat of "Lucky Dip and.." for last. It's the "last" bit that concerns me. You just keep getting better! My 95 year old mother suggested I let you know that I'm hoping you like to write and are continuing........?
Regards, purplefinn

Oops. I belatedly read the newsletter and found one answer - your nearly finished current work. Thank you! To answer your question about crime. I started reading Sue Grafton for a "light read" and a female protagonist. I happily discovered that the genre of female sleuths was becoming increasingly popular and attracting some wonderful writers. I could do without murder, but it seems so often part of the bargain. Empowerment, intrigue and a good read does it for me!
purplefinn

Thank you - and your mother - for writing and such generous comments. I've really enjoyed the proliferation of female writers and protagonists since I began. If they'd all been there in the first place then I wouldn't have had to bother. But hooray for the good read. LC 14 Nov 2009

It was great seeing Liza with Michael and Peter at Bouchercon in Indy...

plastic.santa

Thank you for the access to the pictures, santa. It was good to work with Mike and Peter again, but it's also stressful trying to make it all look easy. LC 14 Nov 2009

Hi Liza
I am Klondyke Kate and i would love for you to get in touch with me! I can be found on Facebook or Myspace or by email j.hanford982@btinternet.com I often wondered why my ears were burning now i know why lol.
Regards KK
KK

liza Its Natalie G if you get this please email me at nzanolli@verizon.net


Gosh, what a memory. Yes, that was the one. I understand it didn"t stay open long and I'm not surprised. I went there to buy a book and failed because the staff were too busy handing out wine. I was told to come back on Monday. I was on a brief visit from New Zealand on my way to Berlin so never got my book. I was more than compensated though, because I met you and another of the authors I admire, Gwendoline Butler.

What do I get out of reading crime novels? The same as I get from any novels: irritation, frustration, indignation from the not-so-good-ones and, from the good ones, entry into a different world, entry into the lives of interesting people, delight in good craftsmanship, pleasure from good prose. I like the feeling of knowing that things are not necessarily what they seem to be. I like that they often come in series so I can keep meeting the characters. Some, like Reginald Hill's and yours, are so beautifully structured, so elegantly written that as soon as I've finished I have to go back and re-read to savour how it's done. (In Mr Hill's case with a dictionary at my elbow.)


I am past the age of wanting to improve myself, so most modern "literature" goes into the Too Hard or Too Depressing baskets. I still read Jane Austin, Dickens, the Brontes for pleasure, but I wait with great impatience for new books from Reginald Hill, Peter Lovesey, Janet Neel, Gwendoline Butler, John Harvey, Ruth Rendell, P D James, Liza Cody. In between I re-read Margery Allingham, Josephine Tey and a few of the other Golden Agers.

I spent a great deal of my working life dealing with young and adult offenders and much crime fiction is so far removed from reality it's almost fantasy. That's OK. I wouldn't want to read about most of the offenders I knew.
But I get considerable, if illusory, comfort from the unravelling of the mystery and the restoration of order.
Well, you did ask. Eve B.

Thank you so much for your comments and your time, Eve. A lovely letter. LC 1 Aug 09

I met you briefly at the opening of a new mystery book store in London in the late nineties and I remember urging you to write faster since I wanted more and sooner. When I read your next beautifully crafted book I was sorry to have been so importunate as writing of such quality is worth the wait. However, I'm getting on a bit, so I hope the next one's not too far off. RIFT is still my favourite. Eve Bourke

Hi, Eve Bourke,
Was that the new shop in Marylebone? You were most encouraging then and you're still encouraging now. And I'm still as slow as a glacier. So sorry.
Very best wishes, LC 21 Aug 09


hello!
i wondered if you have had any enquiries about "la veuve rock'n roll" for a movie adaptation?

Chrislaine

As far as I know no one has been interested in French film rights. Thanks so much for asking. LC 18 Aug 09

Hello Ms. Cody,

Are you still keeping up with this site. I was motivated to write from a discussion with friends of mine about authors we admire. I started reading the Anna Lee series, but it's the Eva Wylie series I most admire for prose and story. Gimme More also held my interest and surprised me with the ending. Great use of the 'fuck you' money.

Moxie Stoermer

Oh yes, certainly keeping the site and keeping it up-to-date, as best I can. Thank you very much for the kind words. LC 24 July 09

Hello! I just found your books on the library shelf and now I'm jonesin for MORE!! OMG Eva is a gas. I started your works with Head Case and Anna and it took me awhile to get into the British jargon. (I'm a Yank) When I picked up Bucket Nut tho, with it's way down slang I loved it. The total lack of reverence Eva holds. I wish I could remember half the wisecracks you put in her mouth, I could shut down anyone!

The mysteries, as one writer commented, take one out of themselves. I do escape in books. I see what is going on. And when an author makes me cry for someone then on the next page laugh out loud, I'm hooked. I have a picture of Eva in my head and if I met her, I'd be kind to her I hope. I read all Agatha Christie and Doyle, but it is you, the Evanovich's and the Robert B. Parker's and your slightly bent sense of humor that makes me crave for more.

Good Luck in your choices! Theresa

PS from Theresa...
It's the Good triumphing over Evil that I love in mysteries.

Theresa, Thanks - it sounds as if you have quite a way with words too. There are 2 more Eva books - Monkey Wrench and Musclebound. - in case you haven't found them already. Yes, escaping in books, seeing and hearing what's going - that's what I like too. But I don't necessarily agree that good triumphs over evil. A positive ending to me might only be a character surviving, or resolving to strut her stuff differently, or discovering her power-source. LC 15 July 09

Hi !
I'm french so please excuse me for my english. I've really like "la veuve rock'n roll" (gimme more). The extracts of song before the chapters, the characters, the way of write...this book was just special. Since I've read this book I wait impatiently another book of you. I would like if another book is to come ? And if so, what type (literary) was it?
thank.
Chrislaine

Thanks, Chrislaine, for your kind remarks about Gimme More. I think some of the my first series, about Anna Lee, Yellow Books in France. But as for more books, it's a very difficult time for writers these days, everywhere. I do keep writing - usually on the edges of crime stories - and if something does get published in France then I'll post news about it on this site. LC 1 July 09


I like crime stories ("mysteries") for probably the same reason I like crossword puzzles: I get to work my mind while at the same time being entertained. However, I like good crime stories for the same reason I like any good novel when the characters are interesting, the plots are engaging, and there are always bits and pieces to think about or learn from. Good novels don't just mimic our lives--they take us out of our lives a bit while at the same time tug at something inside us. How would we react in this situation? What is morality? etc. By the way, can't wait to read your next book.

Good letter. Me too. Thanks. LC 14 May 09


Dear Mrs. Cody, I am writing to you as a big Eva Wylie fan and a rookie graphic artist. I've read all your Eva books, (I just finished Musclebound) and let me tell you how deeply influential and unique they are. I would like to ask you something regarding the characters; As you made these characters up,no one can know better how they look like than you. Please Mrs Cody, if you have the time for a silly question like mine, would you be so kind as to let me know how Eva would look like in real life? As a graphic artist, I really feel like drawing Eva once. But I really do not want to draw her the way I imagine her, I would really love to know how you picture her. Her body, her height, hair, face, eyes... Thank you for reading my message, Michael Orodan

Thanks for your letter, Michael. Shall I make something up or tell you what I REALLY think? The truth, then: I would be much more interested in a drawing of the way YOU imagine Eva. A writer's gift to a reader is to stimulate his or her individual imagination. Readers have terrific visual imaginations - they make pictures out of words - and one of my jobs is not to spoil it for them by over describing.

Words like big, ugly, overweight, hulking, muscular, powerful, are just abstract on a page. But they can be turned into thousands of different pictures, depending on the readers and their experience, their visual and aural taste etc.

Let me tell you about the two women who were accidental mothers to Eva - without whom I would never have even thought of her.

Walking up Charring Cross Road one day, on my way to a meeting, I saw a man coming towards me - about 6'4", straggly dark hair, brown eyes,fringed leather jacket with the arms cut off, low slung jeans, big belt, worn boots - looked like a fit guy after 7 years too much beer, in fact a roadie at a Metallica concert. I made that judgement in 2 seconds from all the crude visual clues of size, silhouette, movement and dress. Two seconds later I realised he was a woman and I was startled. Did she dress like that and slouch around London looking that way because that's what she wanted? Or had she learned from bitter experience that she'd look a total prat in a frock and lipstick? What was it like to grow up looking like her? That was mother number one.

Number two was the wrestler Klondyke Kate, who I've described meeting elsewhere on this site. She was about 5'5": shaped like a barrel, round face, blue eyes, tiny hands (she wore children's rings) and she had short legs, very powerful, low centre of gravity, impossible to knock over. She always played the villain. She had no other choice but she made the most of it. The insults levelled at her by the crowd would make most ordinary women weep. But she was used to it.

Both these women were in their 40s at the time. But I wanted to go further back and see what they might've been like, say, between 18 and 22, when women are supposed to be at their prettiest, most nubile. most fanciable. Presumably they'd been teased, insulted, neglected, rejected, all their lives for their failure to be girly.

Because anyone who tells you that looks aren't crucial to the way you're treated is lying through their teeth. Both men and women make and act on very crude judgements about looks.

It's no wonder then that Eva, having no practice with affection, puts her emotional understanding into her dogs. (Yes, you're right, there's a whole parallel set of social relationships, based on pack behaviour going on there.) It's also no wonder that a) she sort of falls in love with Goldie, who looks like her lost pretty sister, and b) when she finally finds her sister she's so very easy to manipulate.

I've really enjoyed writing to you and thinking about this stuff again, but I'm not going to tell you what Eva looks like, ever, because I've written 3 whole books describing her - from other people's reactions to her, her sad relationship to beauty, her connections with humans, dogs and her audience. Even the way she believes her own publicity and gets into trouble.

Because you' re a graphic artist you probably have a very acute visual imagination; and you probably have a huge visual memory to refer to. So perhaps you can tell me - do you think a gift like that enhances reading for you? Meanwhile, thank you for your kind, encouraging remarks. LC 15&18 March 2009



These are the comments left in the first months after I launched the site in August 2008 - with one exception.

Click and type in a question or comment


I'm so happy to find your website. I treasure your books and writing and sometimes wish you were an automaton into which I could insert coins (or large bills :-) ) and get more books in exchange. I read Rift years ago ... not long after it came out, and to this day when I eat a fresh soft boiled egg this book comes to mind. It was so arid, so dessicating. LOVED IT. I work in special education, often with girls who feel they have to be estremely tough to survive, and I see a little of Eva in many of them. I wish Eva's series was 25 or 30 books long ... Can Eva take center stage once Sue Grafton gets to "Z"? Do you think you have another Eva story in you? Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for your great writing, imaginative yet very real characters, and always ... that something new.

Thank you so much for your message. It meant a lot to me. LC 29 June 09

I live in India and am a fan of feminist detective fiction - found not in proper bookstores but inevitably on heaps of second hand books sold on pavements. Sara Paretsky was the first one I discovered. I read Lucky Dip in a short stories collection edited by Paretsky, and loved it. Bucket Nut was a surprise find - and I have since passed around that tattered copy to so many - all women - including my mother and sister. We're all committed fans, and since you're not available to buy in India, I kept asking family and friends abroad for the next two on the series. This is one story I wanted to share; my uncle in the US. on my request, bought Musclebound and Monkeywrench on Amazon and promised to send them to my mother and I when he next visited India. But when he glanced thru the books, he was worried at the "raw" language, and scenes he said were uncomfortable, and was worried to leave it around in his brother's home in India where some random sensitive person or teen might be scandalised!! And he couldn't quite be sure his 60-year old sister and 36-year old niece really wanted to read these books! It got us thinking - neither my mum nor I would have thought the Bucket Nut series was scandalising, and I know that my uncle or others wouldn't bat an eye at Sidney Sheldon or some other sleazy potboiler. What about Eva and her world made them uncomfortable? And we figured it was the highly unconventional women and their attitudes - to their bodies, to prostitution, to violence, and so on!
Anyway, I thought that would be a real compliment to you, and you might enjoy it.
I'm still hoping against hope that Lucky Dip and other Stories or the Anna Lee series will turn up second hand somewhere here for us...!

I answered this with a private email. LC

Thank you for putting up this site. I had wondered what had happened to you! (I thought maybe you'd fallen in the same hole as Jerrilyn Farmer?!) I am a fan from the San Francisco area in the United States. I absolutely can't wait until March 2009 to read Gimme More, so I will be buying myself an early Christmas present from Amazon UK. Happy holidays and many thank yous for writing the new book!

And thank you for taking the time to post such kind comments. I certainly hope you enjoy Gimme More. LC 30 Nov 2008


Dear Liza I live in new york and go to Pace University. I was assigned your book Rift for a book analysis report in my English class. And I just have to tell you that it is now one of my favorite books! I love it ! It catered to all my needs for action and adventure! hats off to you ! best regards

Thanks for writing. Rift was an important book for me, one that I needed to write. I travelled in the areas I described and many of the details - including pests and diseases - were ones I experienced. All best, LC 31 Oct 2008


Just listened to Lucky Dip for the umpteenth time on a recent road trip. That character is haunting. She is begging for more of her story to be told. I have certainly read thousands of short stories over my 77 years. That one story is without question the memorable and moving story I have ever read. If adding my begging to Crystal's for more of her story, will move the mountain... consider it added


Thanks for your generous comments about Lucky Dip. In fact it was this story that encouraged me to write the BucketNut Trilogy. The second in the series, 'Monkey Wrench', features Crystal and Dawn and takes their stories a step further.

But I'm curious to know what form you're listening to the story in. I wasn't aware there was an audio version and you're now the second person to mention it in this column.

Anyway, thanks again. LC 2 Oct 08




Very much enjoyed your Anna Lee and Eva Wylie books; and RIFT blew me away. Best, Vonda N. McIntyre (vonda@sff.net)

Thanks for taking the trouble to say so, Vonda. I appreciate it. LC 22 Sept 08


I just ordered a signed edition of "Lucky Dip" (am the fan who earlier wrote who is from West Texas) from the link on your website, and when I received a personal response from the publisher via email, I went ahead and shamelessly begged them to publish you again, should you care to submit something. Hope that's okay with you. As a writer myself, I know a few of the ups and downs of writing. If my request to the publisher fell on deaf ears, so be it, but thought it wouldn't hurt to try.

As a writer yourself you'll know that these days we need all the help we can get. Thanks, I very much appreciate it. LC 16 Sept 08


Dear Mrs. Cody, I'm a fan of your Anna Lee books - and also the TV Movies. I think, Imogen Stubbs presents Anna Lee very well. I'm from Germany and the TV Serie was a great success, so I've read the books as well. And I must say, I miss more books. Anna Lee is a normal person with normal problems and a special way to solve problems and crime - without any special effects or James Bond technics. This makes your books and the TV Serie very special and unique. It would be wonderfull, if you would write more stories and also if the TV would produce these - but I think, just Imogen Stubbs makes it special and they should engage her for he Role as Anna Lee. I love both - your books and the serie. Many thanks for writing it. Dirk Aust


Thanks Dirk. Yes, I thought Imogen was wonderful too. In fact it was a very good cast altogether.

I don't think I'll write about Anna Lee again (although she did appear in all three of the Eva Wylie books) because it was so long ago and I think Anna was very much a woman of her time. But a wise woman will never say never... LC 8 Sept 08



Are you going to make us wait ten years between novels? That is cruel and unusual punishment indeed. I search every time I come to the UK which is every year and this time I lucked out and found 'Gimme More' in a charity shop in Wells. Was the mention of snook early in the novel an intentional 'clue'? How did Guido know that the lady at the post office was a Quaker? Being a Quaker, it intrigued me. Well, I love your novels and your smart, sassy, strong women. Let us know please when another novel is imminent. Ciao4now, KT, a word nerd, from the Gulf Coast of Florida (I drive to work every day on the Tamiami Trail!) 02/09/08

Great to hear from the Gulf Coast. The snook was not so much a clue as a theme - something beautiful, elusive, hard to pin down, needing a sort of seduction - like love or music or a rich mark. (Tried to catch one myself in the mangroves but caught a tree instead).

There was only one post office on that particular key. Guido knows the area and would know someone as important as the postmistress. Actually, Manatee Key is based on Long Boat Key - you might know it - and when I first went there 30ish years ago that's what everyone said about the woman who ran the post office. Oddly, I used to think that all post offices and all junior schools in the US were run by Quakers. But then I realised that if something was run by a Quaker, people told you about it because it was like saying, 'This institution is well run and you can trust it.' No one ever said such-and-such was run by, for instance, an Episcopalian. If I notice odd details like that I tend to use them even if I'm mistaken. And I often am.

Sorry about the long wait - not entirely my fault. I am slow, but not that slow... LC 4 Sept 08



I love your writing and your books' small f feminism. Is Lucky Dip going to be published in the UK? Harriet

Unfortunately, there are no plans for LD in the UK, Harriet, but maybe try Amazon in the US, which might turn out to be cheaper even with shipping than the few copies avaiable over here. And thanks for the encouragement. LC Aug 08


Hi, Liza, I can't tell you how many times I have searched for your books in libraries and bookstores since you last published. You have made me so happy by reappearing. I've read all your published works, some a few times. I believe you are right up there with Sue Grafton and Martha Grimes. Thank you so much for creating this website. This wonderful news, of your publishing a new book soon, really made my summer! I first heard Lucky Dip as a book on tape that I played many times driving thousands of miles around West Texas with my children. The narrator did a great job with the wonderful writing you did. I could go on and on, but Eva's my favorite next to Lucky Dip. Anna Lee is right up there too. Your characters are compelling and good role models for young women growing up. Your voice in writing is authentic and unique. Other authors in mystery don't hold a candle to you, with one or two exceptions. Thank you, again. Yippppeeeeee!

Oh, aren't you nice to post things like this - and we aren't even related. I do hope you enjoy GIMME MORE when it surfaces. LC Aug 08


Love this site. No more spelling mistakes....tee hee !!!! Mouse XX

Loved the dyslexia joke, Mouse. Teehee to you too. Seriously, all extra proof reading gratefully received. LC Aug 08


Congratulations on an excellent site, just what your fans have been crying out for. Can't we bring back Eva Wylie? Bucket Nut was a stunner! Chairman, Cody fan club, Hyde Park Branch

Thanks for the encouragement. Hyde Park Fan Club sounds like something Kate Bush and Kurt Cobain might have written together.Surreal. LC Aug 08

Selected Works

Latest Novel
GIMME MORE
All Birdie Walker wants is some justice for her husband, Jack. But since Jack was a rock star and the justice has to come from the music business, Birdie absolutely has to take some extreme measures.Click on the title for more information.
Short stories
LUCKY DIP and Other Stories
All my short stories up to 2003 are in this collection. It includes two written specially. Click on the title for a bit about how I came to write short stories and more information.
The Anna Lee series
DUPE, BAD COMPANY, STALKER, HEAD CASE, UNDER CONTRACT, BACKHAND
I wrote six novels about Anna Lee. Click on the titles for more information.
The Eva Wylie series
BUCKET NUT, MONKEY WRENCH, MUSCLEBOUND
Professional wrestler Eva Wylie appeared in three novels in the '90s. Click on the titles for more information.
The other stand-alone novel...
RIFT
This novel is set in the Ethiopia of the 1970s. Click on the title for more information.
The story collections I co-edited for Britain's Crime Writers' Association.
1st CULPRIT, 2nd CULPRIT, 3rd CULPRIT
In the early '90s I helped edit these three books - aiming them to be more annuals than anthologies. They include many things we're proud to have published. Click on the titles for more information.