AUTHOR VERONICA HELEY

Veronica Heley celebrates the publication of her 71st book in May 2013, having been in the business for over 40 years. She lives in Great Britain and is currently writing two gentle crime series set in different areas of London. She also produces the occasional short story. She’s involved with her local church and community affairs, likes to break for coffee with friends and does the garden when she has time. She has been a member of a book reading club for 40 years, but has decided that life is too short to read depressing literature any more.

Don’t you hate it when people ask if you want the bad or the good news first? I do. So here’s the bad news first; the clothes moths are here, there and everywhere. At least twice a day I go round the house with my zapper and last night I found one in my bed! In it! No, I didn’t scream, but I said ‘Aaargh!’ in a heartfelt manner.

The good news is that both the series of gentle crime stories - the Ellie Quicke Mysteries and the Abbot Agency series (with Bea Abbot as the heroine) - are being asked to go on for another year. I am currently working on a Bea Abbot, which will be out this November. And I've just finished proof reading the next Ellie - Murder in Time - which will be out in the UK in May, and in America 3 months later. After that, it will be back to writing another Ellie. I am so pleased.

Work progresses, more or less as usual. FALSE DIAMOND, the latest in the Abbot Agency series, has been doing well with reviews - even getting a starred review from Publisher's Weekly. In this story, Bea (who runs a domestic agency in London) is asked to find out why the daughter of a wealthy family has a false diamond in her wedding ring. Mix in an abusive husband who is trying to bluster his way into taking over the family's business, a son in financial trouble, and the black sheep of the family who may or may not be on the side of the angels. Oh, and the husband believes the quickest way to achieve his ends is by using force . . . which does not go down well with Bea.

I’m also working on the next short story for the Methodist Recorder. I want to deal with the difficulty a busy person has in saying ‘no’. If you’re anything like me, you’ve had to learn how to say ‘no’ the hard way by saying ‘yes’ and finding out that you really can’t manage to fit whatever-it-is into your schedule without major problems. It’s easy enough to respond to a plea for help by saying ‘Yes’, but is it the right thing to do? I wanted to call this story ‘THE ABILITY TO SAY “No!”’ Then I thought that ‘THE ART OF SAYING “No!”’ might be better. Now I’m dithering between the two titles. Perhaps you’ve got a preference? If so, do let me know. The usual rules apply: if you'd like to read this story, and can't get hold of a copy of The Methodist Recorder - which won’t be out till just before Easter - then let me know soon after and I'll send you a copy by email.

Talking of Downton – which we weren’t, but why not? – I wrote a series set in a modern British stately home in crisis. This is the Eden Hall series and the last of the four books – Master of the Hall – is now out as an e-book. My heroine, Minty, is nothing like flinty Mary from Downton, but I enjoyed writing these books and hope you will enjoy reading them.

The short stories in Unsung Heroes is also available as an e-book, and doing well. I think I’ve almost got enough stories to fill another book, but they all need editing. Some need lengthening, some need shortening. Oh dear. Well, I must find the time, somehow. . . To be continued...
 

 There’s still a lot of talk going on about putting my early crime novels back into print or e-book, but these things take time. I get e-mails from this publisher and that asking me if I’d be interested to going with them, and then I ask another publisher who has taken my earlier books if they’d like them, and I wait for a reply from them. Meanwhile, I calm myself by thinking my agent has all this under control. Also to be continued . . .

A blessing: may you find time to look around and appreciate the beauty of this world, the daffodils, the early red tulips, the forsythia . . . the birds . . . and the kindness of friends. 



Veronica Heley

www.veronicaheley.com
http://blog.veronicaheley.com/


If you'd like to win a .pdf copy of Veronica's book, False Diamond, leave a comment, along with your contact information!