THE AUTHOR
Beatrice Plum.
"Every village has a story. The trick is finding which neighbor told it first — and which one is lying."
Photographed at the kitchen table, mid-second cup.
HER STORY
A librarian
who listened too well.
Beatrice Plum spent thirty-three years behind the issue desk at Shrewsbury Central Library, where she perfected the art of appearing entirely uninterested in conversations she was, in fact, memorizing verbatim.
In 2015, she retired to Oakhaven — a village so picturesque it seems contractually obliged to host at least one scandal per season — and began transcribing what she had learned into novels. The first manuscript was written in green ink on the reverse of overdue notices.
She lives in a stone cottage with low beams, a temperamental Aga, an extensive collection of loose-leaf tea, and Inspector Whiskers — a tabby cat of grave demeanor and unimpeachable judgment. She insists that all resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The vicar disagrees.
THE COMPLETE SERIES
BORN
Shrewsbury, 1958
RESIDES
Russian Caravan, two sugars
RESIDES
A Cotswolds cottage of dubious plumbing
DAILY QUOTA
1,000 words & 4 biscuits
COMPANION
Inspector Whiskers, tabby cat & critic
WORST HABIT
Listening at hedges
A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY
Five decades, several alibis.
1976
First library card forgery
Aged 18, Beatrice issues herself a second card under the name 'Mrs. Pemberton' to circumvent the six-book lending limit. The deception goes undetected for eleven years.
1981 – 2014
A career in cataloging
Three decades among the stacks at Shrewsbury Central, where she develops a Dewey-decimal precision for the private affairs of the borough.
2015
Retirement (so called)
Retires to the village of Oakhaven, intending to garden. Within a fortnight she has a notebook, a suspect list, and a draft.
2017
The Vicar's Last Vespers
Her debut novel is published by Marrowbone & Quill. Reviewed in the Oakhaven Parish Bulletin as 'uncomfortably accurate.'
2024
The Teapot Treason
The fourth Miss Marigold mystery — and a Times Cosy Pick of the Year.