Dogs, cats, and mystery, oh my! I love a cozy mystery. There is just something about quaint locales, quirky characters, and a smart whodunit that keeps me turning the pages. Kathy Manos Penn is the author of the multi-volume Dickens & Christie Mystery series set in England. Penn has written 10 books featuring widowed Leta Parker who leaves her corporate life in Atlanta to live out her dream of living in a small village in the Cotswolds.
My small town book festival, Turning A New Page, is delighted to welcome Penn in January 2024 as a panelist on our Coffee, Tea, And Mystery panel discussion. Find out all about her and the first installment of the series — Bells, Tails & Murder — below.
She crossed an ocean to start her life over. Can she nab a killer before her quaint village becomes a graveyard?
Recently widowed Leta Parker desperately needs a change of scenery. Pursuing her lifelong dream of retiring to the Cotswolds, she leaves her soulless corporate hustle in Atlanta and moves to England with her talking dog and cat companions—Dickens and Christie. But she’s barely begun making new friends when she stumbles across her housekeeper’s body …
With several villagers pegged for the crime, Leta teams up with a retired English teacher and her sharp-as-a-tack octogenarian mother to track the killer before the trail goes cold. As the not-so-friendly local policewoman elbows them out and scandalous rumors plague the tight-knit community, it’s left to the ladies and their pets to sleuth for the truth.
Can Leta, Dickens, and Christie sniff out the culprit before the cute little town loses more than its charm?
Bells, Tails & Murder is the delightful first book in the Dickens & Christie cozy mystery series. If you like spunky literary women, amusing animal sidekicks, and inviting cultural backdrops, then you’ll love Kathy Manos Penn’s engaging page-turner.
Other Books In The Series
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Kathy Manos Penn lives in Sandy Springs, Georgia with her husband and her four-legged office assistants. When she dreamed of retiring from corporate America, she envisioned indulging in her favorite pastimes—reading, traveling, and writing columns for her local paper. Taking her bucket list trip to England was a top priority.
A second career as an author was never part of the plan—until someone uttered the fateful words, “You should write a cozy mystery.”
Nine books later, readers can’t get enough of the Dickens & Christie mystery series. Kathy adheres to the adage to write what you know and populates her mysteries with well-read, witty senior women, a loyal dog, and a sassy cat.
Her two four-legged office assistants inspire the personalities of Dickens & Christie. Why is Dickens a fiend for belly rubs? Because Kathy’s real-life dog is. The same goes for Christie’s finicky eating habits and penchant for lolling on top of the desk or in the file drawer. She gets it from the calico cat who rules the roost.
How does Kathy describe her life? “I’m living a dream I never knew I had.”
Book I in the series, Bells, Tails & Murder, won a 2020 Readers’ Favorite Gold Award, and Pets, Pens & Murder, Book VII, garnered a 2023 Georgia Author of the Year nomination.
Hi,
What a lovely surprise to see your blog pop up in my email. I’m so very glad you discovered my Dickens & Christie series, and I look forward to seeing you at the Perry Book Festival!
So excited!