Amateur sleuths on the trail of a murderer in Sussex-set cosy crime novel

Merryn explains: “I’d been writing a crime series set in the 1950s with my protagonists finding danger and death all round the world, but in lockdown I felt the need to read something gentler, something based closer to home. One of the books I chose was labelled a cosy crime and I enjoyed it so much that I went on to read several more in the genre. It made me keen to write my own—a cosy crime series based in the 1950s, an era that fascinates me—and based in Sussex. I’m hoping that what I found interesting will appeal to many others in this beautiful part of the world.

“I’m not quite sure why I chose to set the first murder in a bookshop, but when I did I had Much Ado, the wonderful shop in Alfriston, in the back of my mind. My fictional village is actually in West Sussex and my description of the All’s Well (yes, even the title was influenced by the shop!) is a little different from Much Ado, though it owes much of its quirkiness to the place. Having chosen a bookshop as my murder scene, Flora, the young bookshop owner became one of my amateur sleuths and Jack, a reclusive local crime writer, the other. As I got to know them both, theirs turned out to be a sparky relationship but one that has worked over six books, with romance now in the air. Murder at Abbeymead Farm is the sixth book in the Flora Steele Mysteries but, like all the books in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone. To give you a flavour: a newcomer has ruffled more than a few feathers with his grand plans for modernising the village of Abbeymead and, when he goes missing, a shocking discovery awaits the amateur detective duo. Whoever is behind the death has taken careful steps to cover their tracks while reeling Jack and Flora ever nearer to danger. Whether they can unmask this clever killer before they, too, meet a shocking end, lies in the balance.”

Merryn added: “I have written in a variety of genres but always historical fiction. Bringing the past to life has been a passion for me in whatever genre I’ve written, and over the years I’ve moved between Regency romance, Victorian timeslips and wartime sagas, all of which had a mystery at their heart. It was only a matter of time, I guess, before I went over to the dark side completely first with The Tremayne Mysteries series that has my sleuths travelling the world, then with this cosy crime series set in rural Sussex.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve needed to put pen to paper. As a small child, I wrote poems and at grammar school there were short stories that I never dared mention – creative writing was definitely not encouraged. I kept on writing through the years, but between family, pets and my job as a lecturer, there was little time to do more than dabble. I had some success with a few short stories, but the genre never felt quite right for me. When work pressures eased and my children left the nest, I grabbed the chance to do something I’d always promised myself – to write a novel.”