The Home Of Country Gals Who Stumble Into Sleuthing

The Works Of Author Lesley A. Diehl

Maddie Sparks: Never too Old for Love or Sleuthing!

On the other side of seventy, Maddie Sparks decides to spice up her life by changing her writing interests from cozy mysteries to romance. She also determines her appearance should reflect this transformation in her writing career. A sassy new haircut and more fashionable clothes complete the newer Maddie Sparks. Before she can begin this new chapter in her life, a stabbing death in the quiet country village she has made her home shocks the town's residents.
 
When her son is accused of the murder, Maddie and the acting county sheriff come together to find the real killer. Their relationship soon blooms into more than one of shared determination to solve the murder. As they enjoy a hike in a nearby park, someone shoots the sheriff, barely missing Maddie. Another killer could be loose in the area, and the person may be closer to Maddie than she realizes. Maddie discovers parts of herself she didn't know existed: real life romance with the sheriff, a talent for sleuthing and room in her life for a fuzzy, orange cat named "Spike." This recent lease on life may be more exciting and more dangerous than Maddie expects.

Sassy Snooping!

Like me, my protagonists choose to live their lives close to nature.
From the deep, green river valleys and tree-covered mountains of upstate New York to the palm-treed pastures of the Big Lake Country in Florida, these women have found their homes and their hearts in rural America.
These plucky snoops are joined by a transplant from Connecticut, Eve Appel, who moves to rural Florida to set up a consignment shop with her best friend and partner, Madeleine Boudreau.

All these amateur sleuths yearn for the simple, artless existence of hard work coupled with rustic pleasure.

That’s why they live away from big cities, but murder and violence have a way of stalking us, even our plucky heroines, who think they’ve avoided life’s perils.

Lesley Diehl - Photo Outside
Readers' Favorite Five Stars Award

The Readers’ Favorite winners seal, five star reviews for the following books in the Eve Apple Mysteries:

Mud Bog Murder

A Sporting Murder

Old Bones Never Die

Killer Tied

Publications By Category

The Eve Appel mysteries and the Big Lake Mystery series take place around the swamps of the rural south. The Microbrewing series, the Laura Murphy mysteries and my standalone mystery Angel Sleuth are set in  the mountains and river valleys of the north. And my short stories and novellas, north and south, complete the collections.

Read more about my books below.