My guest today is author Judy Leigh, who writes in three different genres! Judy has dropped by to tell us about her road to publication, and her latest books. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get talking to Judy.

Judy Leigh has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently lives in Somerset. After teaching theatre, writing lyrics for a punk band and setting up Shakespeare Festivals, she completed an MA in Professional Writing. Since then, she’s been having the time of her life writing novels.

She writes stories that feature characters of all ages, but focus on the lives of older people. These novels celebrate communities, fun and friendship, love and the power of laughter, the belief that everyone should have another chance at happiness.

She writes under the name of Elena Collins. These are dual timeline historical stories, slightly spooky.  She also writes cozy crime. The Morwenna Mutton ‘Seal Bay’ series is set in a beautiful coastal town in Cornwall, and Morwenna is a sixty-something sleuth who works in a library and the family tearooms, cycles everywhere, swims in the sea whatever the weather and gets into mischief solving local crimes.

When Judy’s not writing, she’s often on the beach or on the moors, walking, doing yoga or travelling. She is a Reiki healer, a vegan, an interpreter of dreams and an animal lover. She has three black cats.

Welcome to my blog, Judy. Thank you for dropping by to tell us about your writing journey.

Thanks for inviting me over, Karen. I’ve been scribbling since I could toddle. On Cornflake boxes, in notebooks, on scraps of paper. Throughout the years, I’ve written stories, punk rock song lyrics, pretentious poems, so many plays, reports, reviews. I’ve won a few competitions and enjoyed collaborating with other writers. I just love writing. 

I continued to scribble while I worked in theatre, as a teacher, bringing up my children. Then one day, I decided I wanted to write full time.

I quit my job and signed up to do a masters. This was it. I was determined to learn everything I could about being an author. My journey had turned a corner.

I started my first novel for my mother, about Evie Gallagher, a woman in her seventies, who bought a camper van, left Dublin and travelled through France. Bereaved and lonely, with little knowledge of French, she set off into the unknown. Then she met Jean-Luc, a grumpy man who owned a vineyard.

That was my first published book, A Grand Old Time.

I found a great agent, then I came to Boldwood Books. The best move I could have made.

Five years, twenty books and a million sales later, here I am.

I write in three genres now. The first genre was the ‘hens’ lit – second chances/ golden oldies books that I began writing for my mum. People seem to like stories that feature older characters who live their own life and aren’t defined by the number of their years. They are feisty, fun and full of mischief. They have adventures, fall in love, make mistakes and discover new friends and new directions. I love writing in this genre.

Then my wonderful editor asked me if I’d like to write dual timelines that were slightly spooky. Would I? I leaped in. This new genre came out under the name of Elena Collins, my grandmother’s name. The first one, The Witch’s Tree, did better than I’d have thought possible and now the fifth one, The Cornish Witch will be published in April. Researching and writing these books is so much fun.

Next, I was asked if I’d write cozy crime, and the Seal Bay series was born. Foul Play in Seal Bay is the story of Morwenna Mutton, an amateur sleuth who lives on the Cornish coast. Four books in, The Cream Tea Killer has just been published.

I love the challenge of writing in different styles and genres, putting my reader at the centre of what I create.

I write full time, five days a week, although I’ll always stop for a library talk, a visit to a group or a social occasion. But being a writer is a dream. I live the best life in a little tumbledown cottage in Somerset with three cats, my family and friends. I wouldn’t do anything else.

Every day I count my blessings.

I blog from time to time, from recipes to reviews. You can find me at judyleigh.com. Or between the pages of a book.

I look forward to seeing you there.

That’s an incredible writing journey, Judy. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Judy’s latest books are:

Morwenna Mutton should be living the quiet life of a librarian and grandmother in Cornwall’s beautiful Seal Bay – if only dead bodies would stop turning up…

After the excitement of her last investigation, amateur sleuth Morwenna is looking forward to things getting back to normal. When local DJ Irina asks to meet however, desperate to share information she has discovered regarding nefarious goings-on, Morwenna can’t resist.

But Irina never arrives for their drink – instead her body is washed up on the beach, an apparent victim of an accidental drowning. At once keen wild bather Morwenna knows something is amiss as Irina was a strong swimmer who knew the local conditions well. What had Irina uncovered and who would want her dead?

When the local news dubs Irina’s murderer The Cream Tea Killer in honour of Cornwall’s famous delicacy, the clock starts ticking. Now the murderer knows Morwenna is on their trail, no one in her family is safe. She must get to the truth before the killer gets to her…

‘We’re celebrating life,’ Rose said. ‘Life, every single minute of it. Tell me, girls – is there ever anything better to celebrate than that?’

Five years after seventy-something Tess jetted off to Paris with her best friends, Jen, Rose, Della and Pam – the Five French Hens – for Jen’s hen do, a lot has changed. Prospective groom Eddie has been given the heave-ho, Tess’s husband has been sent packing and the Hens are making the most of their golden years.

But Tess is stuck in a rut. Rather than embrace her independence, she watches on as Rose wows Paris, Jen explores Iceland and Pam heads to Greece. But when tragedy strikes Della, Tess is shaken into action. They both need a change of scenery and longing to see the Northern Lights, they head to the Highlands of Scotland and the magical Isle of Skye.

There Tess and Della get more than they bargained for. Along with stunning scenery and breathtaking history, they find new friends, grand adventures and even romance. And when they’re joined by the other Hens, together they start plotting a fabulous new future for them all.

1648 – Hertfordshire

Thirteen-year-old Katherine Ferrers is in despair at being betrothed to arch-Royalist Thomas Fanshawe whose family are hellbent on plundering her family’s fortune to champion the exiled Charles. As her unhappy marriage stretches before her, her only comfort is her beloved childhood home The Cell. But as the years pass and Kate grows restless, a new passion, a new love and a dangerous calling threaten to upend everything she’s ever known.

Present Day – Hertfordshire

Charlie Wolfe jumps at the chance to help his uncle renovate a tumbledown cottage overlooking Nomansland Common. Number One Constable’s Cottages was once the home of the man charged with ridding the common of the highwaymen who terrorised travellers. But it’s the story of The Wicked Lady, the notorious female highway robber, that captures Charlie’s imagination, and some long winters’ nights he’s sure he can the hoofbeats of her horse echoing across time.

What drove this mystery woman to risk everything for a life of crime, and why is she still restless, wandering the common in grief? It seems only Charlie can finally uncover the secret Katherine Ferrers has kept for hundreds of years; a secret of a terrible betrayal and a tragic love that was never meant to end this way…