TODAY ON MY BLOG....

I am pleased to welcome Lesley Cookman, best selling author of the Libby Sargeant Mysteries. 

First, thank you, Victoria, for inviting me to your blog. Romantic suspense was one of my first loves after Golden Age Crime Fiction, and I cut my teeth on the wonderful Mary Stewart’s books, the same genre into which at least some of yours fall.

But crime always came first. It started, I suppose with a love of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books, followed by the Secret Seven and the Adventure series, but the Famous Five were my favourites. In fact, one of my favourite ever reviews was that all you had to do was substitute lashings of ginger beer for G and Ts, and you’d have an Enid Blyton. It wasn’t meant to be complimentary, but it was to me!

Having said that, these days my books seem to be read by people who also read Lilian Harry’s Burracombe series and Rebecca Shaw’s Turnham Malpas series, and for the same reasons. The characters’ stories are continued in each successive book, and readers invest in them. Comments we all receive are “It’s like meeting old friends.” In my books, there is usually a murder, the investigation of which gives a hook to hang the story on and a shape to the story itself.

In the most recent, Murder In The Dark, released as an ebook on August 13^th, with print to follow on October 10^th, I’ve included  quite a bit of Kentish history, something which interests me considerably, but which can lead off into the realms of research while ignoring the actual writing. I hope my readers will enjoy it, and enjoy meeting the characters for the twelfth time. And not long to wait after this one – the next will be out in the Spring of 2014.

Murder in the Dark is now available on Amazon

Want to read a really romantic short story - for free?

Visit my website, www.victoriahoward.co.uk and sign up today to receive my newsletter and I'll send you a copy of "A Little Protection," the story of Alexa McAllister and her dangerous liaison in Rome.

Handsome Matt Hemmings, meets scientist, Alexa McAllistair, at a conference on nuclear energy in Rome… and against his professional judgment, he is smitten. The vulnerable – and beautiful - scientist arouses his protective instincts, and the desire to kiss her senseless. And it's more than evident that she feels the same way about him.

But when protesters storm the conference, Alexa is trapped, and Matt’s quick thinking saves her life.

Once back in London, Alexa learns to her horror he is only her bodyguard. Matt must convince Alexa that even though he was initially paid to protect her, the love he now feels is real.

The House on the Shore and Ring of Lies now available in paperback

My second romantic suspense novel, The House on the Shore, set in the Highlands of Scotland (which has been out of print for some time) was published in paperback in April 2013, and is now available from Amazon.

When Anna MacDonald leaves Edinburgh to find peace in the Scottish Highlands, she gets a twofold surprise:  a lost sailor teaches her to love again…while a mysterious stranger has plans to kill her. 

Passed over for promotion by her boss, Anna walks off the job in anger. But being reactionary has its price.  Unable to afford the rent on her fashionable Edinburgh apartment, she retreats to the only place she has ever felt safe – her grandmother's croft on the edge of remote Loch Hourn in the Scottish Highlands. With two border collies for company, she sets out to achieve her lifelong dream: to write the novel that has burned within her heart for years. 

Meanwhile, renowned American artist, Luke Tallantyre, has sailed across the Atlantic to escape an artistic dry spell. Engine trouble lands him in Loch Hourn, and on Anna's doorstep, but the reception he receives is less than welcoming – in fact it's downright frosty. 

When an unseen assassin comes after one of them, they unwillingly embark on an adventure neither ever imagined…including a chance at true love.


I'm also pleased to announce that my third novel, Ring of Lies, set in the steamy heat of the Florida Gulf Coast, is also available in paperback from Amazon. 

When English accountant Daniel Elliott dies in a car accident one rainy night, his widow, Grace, is overcome with grief…and panic.  Daniel was controlling and their marriage loveless, but he always took care of the sheltered Grace.

Or so she thought.

She soon discovers Daniel kept secrets:  an alias, mob ties, a list of numbers, a mysterious beach house in Florida….and a girlfriend who looks like Grace.

Swallowing her fear, she flies to Miami to claim the house Daniel left her.  But the price of her curiosity is peril.  Underworld figures stalk her.  The other woman has left a damning trail of evidence pointing her way.  And handsome, troubled FBI agent Jack West has crossed precarious paths with Grace before.  He could be her savior or her damnation.  All she knows for certain is that she longs to be in his arms.

With little to go on and danger at every turn, Grace must depend on Jack to help her navigate the criminal world of south Florida, and find the truth behind the Ring of Lies.