INTERVIEW WITH VERONICA HELEY

Veronica Heley celebrated the publication of her 82nd book in December 2018, having been in the business for over 40 years. She is currently writing two gentle crime series set in different areas of London and three short stories a year for the Methodist Recorder. She has also written children’s and resource books, a biography, and some historical fiction, along with many articles and reviews. 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. You can learn more about Veronica by visiting her website.   

INTERVIEW WITH VERONICA HELEY
 
If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would you say?
 
I’m a story-teller who writes about family crises and murders . . . in which the good always come out on top.
 
What do you do when you’re not writing? Any interesting hobbies?
 
I have cups of coffee with friends, I garden and I sing alto in a ladies’ choir.
 
What was your favorite book as a teen or child?
 
From fairy stories I moved straight on to Jane Austen.
 
Tell us three things about yourself that might surprise your readers.
 
I play Patience (Solitaire) with real cards, I always have two vases of real flowers in my living room, and I haven’t been to a hairdresser for fifty years.
 
What genre did you start out writing? Have you changed course? Is there something else you'd like to try someday? What is it?
 
I started in crime, switched to historical, did a stint of fourteen years writing children’s stories for the Christian market plus a biography of St Paul. I did the storyboards for some cartoons, and loads of reviews of books. Then came the text for three pop-up books, and at the turn of the century I was invited back into crime with a Christian background . . . and I’ve been there ever since. Oh, and I wrote a lot of short stories along the way. 

For years I lectured on How to Write. Every now and then I think I ought to put my notes into a book format. If my story-telling facility ever deserts me, then perhaps I will . . . but it doesn’t seem to have done so yet.
 
What’s the best writing advice you ever received?
 
The best advice I was given was to learn how to edit my own work. It took a while for me to do that but it’s paid off.  

Do you have any writing goals you haven’t met yet? What are they?
 
My next writing goal is to finish the umpteenth working through of my next book, get it delivered and accepted. After that . . . who knows? Once I thought it would be pleasant if my books were adopted for television, but I avoid swearing and explicit sex and cruelty. So no, that’s not likely to happen.
 
What are you working on now?
 
I’m working on the 20th Ellie Quicke mystery, which is probably going to be the last in that series. I’ve been living with Ellie for twenty years, and I feel she’s grown enough to do without me in future. What happens next? I haven’t the faintest idea. If God wants me to do another book about her, or someone in her family situation – or about Bea Abbot (the other series that I write about) then He’ll give me the idea for it. I leave all that to Him.
 
Tell us about your latest releases.
 
I have had two books published recently. One, from the Ellie Quicke series, came out last June with Severn House (September in USA). This was MURDER BY SUGGESTION which opens when

Ellie’s difficult daughter Diana turns up with suitcases in tow. Bunny Brewster has died of an overdose, and Diana’s husband, Evan, is convinced she is responsible for his friend’s death. Four other neglected, bored wives in their circle recently joked about ways to kill their husbands . . . and are also thrown out by their husbands . . . ending up on Ellie’s doorstep. Can Ellie work out who is responsible, and why?
 

Then at the end of the year Severn House brought out another Bea Abbot story, FALSE ACCOUNT. Wealthy Marcia Tredgold and her dowdy daughter Charlotte, visit Bea, asking for her to find replacement staff for them . . . but what Marcia really wants is to find out whokilled her two cats! A shocking event causes Bea to worry about Marcia’s own safety. Could the cats’ deaths be linked to other disturbing events? And whose account can be trusted in the web of secrets and lies which has been spun around the family?

 
What is the most important thing you’d like readers to take away from your books?
 
The most important thing is that however diffident or assertive we may be; however rich or poor, however difficult our family circumstances, our Christian background help us to get through whatever life throws at us.
 
Leave a comment, along with your contact information, and you could win a copy of Veronica's book, MURDER BY SUGGESTION!