My guest today is British Author Veronica Heley. She was my guest last year and I inadvertently misspelled her last name. But she forgave me. If you like a good British mystery, I think that you might want to try one Veronica’s! Here’s Veronica:

“I write two series of gentle crime stories, the Ellie Quicke Mysteries and the Abbot Agency series. The women in these stories are not at all alike – one is a home-builder who helps to run a charity, and the other is a business woman who runs a domestic agency. Both have family problems to deal with, which cause them much distress at times. One worries about her weight and never bothers with makeup unless she feels she ought to. The other is tall and believes in manicures, and good clothes.

Perhaps the only thing they have in common is that each tries to act as a Christian in a secular world, and they both pray in times of distress. One goes to church – she used to sing in the choir – and the other reads her dead husband’s bible and tries that way to learn more about Jesus and what he can mean in her life.

The latest book out – in February in the USA – is FALSE MONEY, where Bea’s well-meant advice to her daughter-in-law has led to a breakdown in their relationship, while at the same time she tries to find the missing star of an art-house film – who also has strong Christian values. None of the girl’s friends seem able to tell the truth behind her disappearance and Bea’s investigation only brings danger to her much-loved grandson.

A grandmother holding the balance between common sense and panic in family situations is all too familiar a problem today, I’m afraid, though my own mother was a good example to us all. She had seen enough of the world to know when to speak and when to keep silent. A rare accomplishment, and one which Bea has to learn the hard way, and with much prayer. For the sake of her little grandson, she puts aside her own hurt feelings . . . and it works.

Ellie is faced with a different problem. Her first husband and her daughter had carefully trained her to fall in with their wishes, but when she’s widowed, she has to learn to say ‘No’ on occasion. This means making some difficult and even agonising choices, but as she grows in faith, so she becomes  stronger and better able to cope with everything that life throws at her. Her latest story is MURDER BY MISTAKE, also from Severn House.”–Veronica

Author Bio

Veronica Heley celebrates the publication of her 67th book this summer, having been  in the business for over 30 years. Apart from the two gentle crime series she’s currently writing and some short stories, she’s also produced a straightforward biography of St Paul, some historical fiction, many articles and reviews, masses of children’s and resource books, and learned how to write story-boards for cartoons.

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.

For more information, drop by www.veronicaheley.com And sign up for her a monthly newsletter by clicking the button on her home page. Or also on her publishers’ website: www.severnhouse.com

Thanks for telling us about your heroines, Veronica. They sound like my kind of strong women!–Lyn

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