About Lesley
For Me, Retirement Is Murder
I used to be a professor of psychology and university administrator, but when I retired, something more enticing called to me—murder—well really murder mysteries. I’ve loved them from the moment I picked up my first Nancy Drew when I was a kid until now when a mystery novel always accompanies me to bed every night.
Raised on a farm in Illinois, my country roots drew me back to rural life, and I moved to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York. In the winter I used to migrate to rural Florida—cowboys, scrub palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle, a place where spurs still jingle in the post office, and gators make golf a contact sport. Recently we sold our house in Florida, so now my life is all about slogging through the mud of spring, enduring the heat and humidity of summer, grieving the bare trees in fall, and staying warm in the winter.
Yet there is much about the Northeast that appeals. The beauty of the river valleys, deep lakes and the mountains here make their own magic with the changing seasons. They have provided the setting for a new character as well as a few familiar ones who, like me, love the ducks, geese, deer, chipmunks, otters, bald eagles, pesky woodchucks who dine in our garden and cheeky red squirrels, creatures wild, cute and sometimes annoying, who come to visit our place on the trout steam throughout the year. Country is never far from my heart and the essence of my writing life.
The women who live in my work are more at home in the country, perhaps like me, feeling protected by life little altered by a hostile outside world. But, Of course, we’re wrong. Murder does come to visit even the most tranquil settings, and my protagonists must confront it at their doorsteps. Are these women up to the job? You’ll find out when you meet them.
My mystery novels include the microbrewing series set in Upstate New York and two cozy mysteries series set in the swamps of Florida—the Big Lake murder mysteries and The Eve Appel mystery series. And because I know pigs can be both smart and snoopy, they’re the animals I chose to include in several short stories and in a stand-alone mystery, Angel Sleuth. Recently I added a mule to my animal sleuths and intend to explore other animal detectives in the future.
Does my background as a psychology professor influence my writing? Of course, it does. In Murder is Academic, I bump off a college president and a few faculty members. The protagonist is (you guessed it) a psychology professor, approaching retirement, blonde, chubby, prone to hot flashes and targeted by a killer who finds educated women a threat. On the other hand, she finds a construction worker and biker just her cup of hunky. Perhaps her hormone-addled brain can’t think this one out clearly. Or maybe she just needs a chocolate-filled donut.
My newest protagonist is a seventy-something-year old gal, the writer of mysteries who confronts murder in real life when she discovers a dead body. She is joined in her sleuthing journey by a large, furry orange cat as well as the county sheriff, a man she finds both clever and handsome. And so begins a series featuring a trio of unstoppable sleuths—sheriff, writer, and cat.
For me humor and danger lurk in the most mundane places, even in the country where most of my protagonists think it’s safe. And I always prove them wrong.
I invite you to share the bumpy, but exciting rides of my sassy country gals, and share a laugh or two as these women delight in snooping into murder. They’d love to share their adventures with you.
Lesley A. Diehl Is A Member Of The Following Organizations:
Sisters in Crime Guppy Chapter