I love writing. I have a magnetic relationship with it – if there’s a pen or a laptop, I can’t leave it alone: I’m drawn to it. If I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing. I have a lot of creative energy and if I didn’t have novels to write, I can’t imagine the trouble I’d get into. Life as a full-time novelist is just such an incredible journey, and every day I realise how lucky I am.

Several years ago, I left my job and took a masters in professional writing. It was such a blast that I ended up deciding to write for ever. I was lucky to get a wonderful agent and then I had my first novel published, the one I started for my dissertation. Since then, I haven’t stopped writing.

I joined Boldwood Books a few years ago – three and a half? – it’s whizzed by – and I’ve had ten novels released in the hens’ lit/ romantic comedy genre and two – almost three – more under my pen name of Elena Collins, dual timeline spooky historical novels. They’ve been successful, and I’m always so grateful to readers, bloggers and reviewers for their incredible support, and to the special Boldwood team.

I love my work, researching in different locations and delving into history, reading widely across genres, reviewing, blogging, but I’m happiest when I’m writing a novel. So you can imagine how delighted I was when one of the lovely editors at Boldwood asked me if I’d like to write a cosy (cozy) crime series. How could I resist?

I grew up surrounded by novels. Crime was a genre my mother adored, from Agatha Christie to MC Beaton; from Dorothy L Sayers to Conan Doyle. She’d imagine herself next to the sleuth throughout the whole story, picking up clues, guessing who the protagonist might be, changing her mind, identifying red herrings, right up until the moment of ‘the big reveal.’ It rubbed off.

It was very easy to come up with a setting for my series. I know Cornwall well – I lived there briefly; I have friends there. The location is beautiful – there are beaches, surfing, wild swimming, coastal paths, cliffs, hills, fabulous local food and close-knit communities.

It is a setting to die for!

 So I became a writer of cosy (cozy)crime and Morwenna Mutton was born. The first novel in the series is called Foul Play at Seal Bay.

I love the idea of a sixty-year-old sleuth who rides a bicycle, although the hills are getting a bit harder nowadays. She is one of a generation of four women, from her man-crazy mother Lamorna, in her eighties, to the little ‘heller’ (Cornish word for a naughty child) Elowen, a mischievous six-year-old who is always in trouble. Twenty-eight-year-old Tamsin runs the family teashop, and is about to hold her engagement party on the beach. Then a body is found by the sea.

Morwenna works in a library where the ghost of Lady Elizabeth Pengellen is a regular visitor, often rearranging books, nibbling sandwiches, turning off computers. Morwenna is also a part of a wild swimming group; it is when she is in the sea, shivering and freezing, that she does her best thinking in terms of unravelling the whodunnit. But she is an amateur – her skills will develop throughout the series.

How can a writer not get caught up in the passion and thrust of crime writing? The characters are exciting, the plot development is fast paced and the final denouement is so much fun to write. I added to the mix Morwenna’s handsome ex, fisherman Ruan Pascoe, a cat, an invisible dog, Susan and Barb who work at the pop-up knitting shop in aid of the Lifeboats…

Crime writing is such fun!

I have started the second book in the series, and the story will take place in the spring, when Seal Bay becomes busier and slightly warmer although the Cornish weather, just like the killer, is unpredictable.

I do hope you’ll enjoy the Seal Bay /Morwenna Mutton series. The first novel is published in August and the second will follow in April 2023. It’s a new venture for me, and I can’t say how exciting it is to add a third genre to my writing CV. It’s a real opportunity to create new, warm characters and pacy action in a stunning setting.

So, now I’ve introduced Morwenna and her family and the gorgeous community she lives in, I do hope you’ll join her and enjoy following her every move in Foul Play at Seal Bay.

It’s great to be writing novels that start ‘Once upon a crime….’

Judy xx