My guest today spends her writing time dreaming up cold-blooded murders and suspicious deaths. I’m being very careful to let Lesley Cookman taste our Victoria sponge cake first – you never know, with these mystery writers!

Welcome to rainy Yorkshire, Lesley. Good to meet you!

Whereabouts do you live, Lesley? On the North Kent Coast in England.

Where is your favourite place in the world? I’d have to say home, wouldn’t I? But apart from that, a very small rural village in Turkey where I go every year, sometimes twice. Several of us go and meet up in a little family owned hotel – no television, no nightclubs, but very jolly boat trips on vessels which would horrify Health and Safety over here. We eat fresh fish, often caught off the back of the boat and fried in the tiny galley, with the best chopped salad in the world and a Turkish speciality, green beans in a sauce. Sometimes we have stuffed peppers and onions, too. And of course – chips.

That sounds idyllic.

Being a writer is a great job.  What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? Working in a Butlin’s cafeteria. Lasted about three days.

A Butlin’s holiday camp might be a great setting for a murder mystery, though. The Redcoat Poisonings has a fine ring to it :)

What book do you wish you’d written? Good heavens! I don’t. If I had written one of my favourite books I woukdn’t enjoy reading it, would I?

We’d enjoy it, though, Lesley!

What’s your favourite song? I have hundreds of favourite songs. My father was a night club musician, part of a duo, my husband was a pro musician and songwriter and all four of my grown up children are musicians. Both girls are pro singers in different genres and have sung everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Bad Company. Both the boys are writers, too – so how could I have a favourite? The knives would be out!

How lovely to grow up surrounded by music.

If you could meet anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you say to them? Judi Dench. (Or Julie Walters.) “I’m jealous”.

It would be great to meet them both together. What great dinner party guests!

What’s your happiest childhood memory? No single one – I had a very happy childhood as the only child of mature, working parents who were huge bookworms. What more could I want?

What a lovely answer.

If you had to marry a fictional character, from film, television, or books, who would it be? Had to? Because I wouldn’t be doing it from choice, but any one of Georgette Heyer’s heroes.

What’s the most important lesson life has taught you? See previous answer! I wouldn’t get married again.

And finally, please tell us about your latest book, where we can find it, and where we can find your blog/website.

My latest book is called Murder In The Blood, and is the fifteenth in the Libby Sarjeant Mystery Series. My regular cast of characters go on holiday to a remote village in Turkey – now there’s a coincidence!

Libby Sarjeant and friends are taking a well-earned holiday at a village on the Turkish coast – but despite their best intentions it seems that murder has even followed them there.

When out on a boat trip they discover a body, but at first it has nothing to do with them, for once … until they find out that the deceased was English – and so are the suspects.

I blog very rarely, but a link to that, my Facebook page and my Twitter account are all to be found on my website: www.lesleycookman.co.uk

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Thanks so much for dropping in, Lesley. We’ve been FB friends for a while, but it’s really good to get to know more about you. I love the atmospheric cover of Murder in the Blood!

If you’ve enjoyed Lesley’s interview, or have any questions or comments at all, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you!