An Interview with Lesley
Cookman
PM:
Please tell us everything we need to know about the new
book!
Lesley:
It’s the 20th full length Libby Sarjeant Mystery,
set in Steeple Martin and the nearby town of Felling. All the regular cast of characters
are present, as well as some who’ve appeared as the series goes on. And, of
course, some new ones!
PM:
Can it be read as a standalone, or do we have to start at
the beginning of the series?
Lesley:
I always try to write them as standalones, and fill in as
much detail at the beginning as I can without boring the pants off regular
readers – who, I’m sure, would say you need to start at the beginning.
PM:
How did you get into writing in the first place, and how did
you first get published..?
Lesley:
My first published writing was my regional RSPCA awards
(two!) while I was at school. After that, although I always wrote privately,
nothing happened until my late husband’s employer, Which Computer magazine,
asked me to unpack a large cardboard box, unearth a little Apricot Desktop
Computer, assemble it, then write a piece on it saying how easy it had been.
This, obviously, was at the very beginning of the Desktop Publishing
Revolution. I then became a staff writer, doing features on all sorts of things
– Computers for Children, Science Parks, Computers in Schools. I then went on
to write for Business Matters, Small Business Matters and various other rather
boring publications. I edited Poultry Farmers’ Weekly (!) and The Call Boy, the
house magazine of the British Music Hall Society, wrote pantomime scripts and
short fiction and finally, went to do a Master’s Degree at the University if
Wales, where I met Hazel Cushion, who went on to ask me if she could publish
the embryo book which had appeared as my dissertation.
PM:
Why do you love to write Crime fiction?
Lesley:
I began reading my parents’ collection of Golden Age
Detective Fiction when I was nine and fell in love with Ngaio Marsh, John
Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson and Rex Stout. So I feel I’m trying to carry on
their traditions.
PM:
I’ve heard that you don’t like the phrase ‘Cosy Crime’ –
why’s that? And how would you define your genre..?
Lesley:
When I started writing it, it wasn’t called that – it was a
term that came over from the USA and to me, sounds twee and belittling, very like
the dreaded “Chick Lit”. I write Mystery Fiction, or Detective Fiction, as the
old publishers would have it.
PM:
What is your readership like..? Do you meet them, or get
letters from them?
Lesley:
Oh, yes! I have a very active Reader Group, some of whom I
have met, and all of whom I use as sounding boards. Sometimes we disagree –
they have very strong views! – but mostly they are incredibly useful, and can
be relied on to answer various research questions. For instance, one of my
regular characters is a female vicar, so questions of church practice sometimes
come up. Frances and Suzanne can always be relied on to provide the answers.
PM:
I love the characters in your books. They’re like people I
feel I’ve met. Do you take elements or overheard phrases from people you’ve
observed..?
Lesley:
Not consciously, but I think I cotton pick characteristics
and traits from various people. When the books started, a group of young
friends vied with each other to “recognise” the characters – and the places.
They were never right, but I could see where they were coming from, as it were.
PM:
Tell us about the landscapes and settings of your series.
Where in the world are we, and why should everyone want to go there..?
Lesley:
I always say I unzipped Kent, from the coast down between
Deal and Folkestone, up to Canterbury. I moved other locations to suit me, so
there is a Sandwich look-alike, and the other way, there is a marshy area just
like Romney and Walland. The villages are all made up, but the general terrain
is similar to the area running alongside the A2 from Canterbury to Dover.
PM:
What are you going to write next..?
Lesley:
The 21st in the Libby Sarjeant series!
PM:
Finally… tell us something surprising about yourself that
your readers might not already know..!
Lesley:
I was once asked to become a “Bunny” at the Playboy Club in
London by Victor Lownes, Hugh Hefner’s right hand man. Told you I was old...
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