My mother, Lesley Cookman, who has died of cancer aged 80, was the author of a series of “cosy crime” (a term she detested) novels, starring the amateur detective Libby Sarjeant, that were a hit with readers. She published 26 novels and three short stories in the series, the last of which, Murder Under the Cliff, was released earlier this year.
Lesley was born in Guildford, Surrey, and grew up in Wandsworth, in south-west London. Her mother, Edith (nee Leonard), was a dressmaker and her father, George Penn, a professional copy editor working variously for the Observer and Hansard. Lesley’s greatest passions – reading, theatre and cats – took hold at a young age after she read The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown, which became her favourite book, and owned her first cat, Candy.
