LIZA CODY - LADY BAG

LADY BAG

I tried a few different drawings for Electra, but this is the one I liked best for the cover.

About Lady Bag

Sara Paretsky says: ‘…made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up for a whole novel… Lady Bag is … perfectly realized…’

Peter Lovesey says: ‘A great read. Lady Bag is a wonderful addition to your line-up of unforgettable women characters… I was deeply involved in her life and situation from page one. Great dialogue as ever and some gorgeous imagery… It all added up to a book I’m sorry to close.’

Mat Coward (reviewing in The Morning Star): ‘… it’s the sharp writing as much as the unusual setting that makes this book such a joy. Cody’s dialogue is always funny and full of purpose, and here she’s found her perfect protagonist – a creative mangler of platitudes, and uncontrollable shredder of pomp and hypocrisy.’

I was delighted when the German feminist publisher, Ariadne, decided to translate Lady Bag for the German mystery market. They did a brilliant job, even getting the book to the mystery best-seller list in Germany

Selected Works

The Lady Bag books

LADY BAG

Don't judge a book by its cover, or a bag lady by her appearance. "I didn't always look like this," she says. "Being barmy doesn't mean I'm stupid."

Lady Bag does have her problems - her close relationship with cheap red wine, for example. When she gets hammered she talks to her dog. When she's extra-hammered her dog talks to her. Guess who makes better sense.

She and her greyhound, Electra, wander through the streets of London, seeing a Dickensian side of the capital city that's only visible to the homeless. Together they accept the kindness or unkindness of strangers with the same wry patience. Until, on one dreadful day, they meet the Devil outside the National Portrait Gallery.

The second of the Lady Bag books is CROCODILES AND GOOD INTENTIONS. The cover and information about it appears in the central column of the site's home page.

Other stand-alone novels

GIMME MORE

All Birdie Walker wants is some justice for her husband, Jack. But since Jack was a rock star and the justice has to come from the music business, Birdie absolutely has to take some extreme measures.Click on the title for more information.

RIFT, BALLAD OF A DEAD NOBODY, MISS TERRY, GIFT OR THEFT

RIFT is set in the Ethiopia of the 1970s. BALLAD is the story of a girl with a miraculous musical talent. MISS TERRY is the story of what happens to someone who looks different from her neighbours when a grisly discovery is made. In GIFT OR THEFT a whole new world is revealed to a young woman who meets a fascinating older man.
Click on the titles for more information.

The story collections I co-edited for Britain's Crime Writers' Association.

LUCKY DIP and Other Stories

All my short stories up to 2003 are in this collection. It includes two written specially.
Click on the title for a bit about how I came to write short stories and more information.

For my short stories between 2003 and 2021 check out MY PEOPLE and other crime stories.

1st CULPRIT, 2nd CULPRIT, 3rd CULPRIT

In the early '90s I helped edit these three books - aiming them to be more annuals than anthologies. They include many things we're proud to have published.
Click on the titles for more information.

The Anna Lee series

DUPE, BAD COMPANY, STALKER, HEAD CASE, UNDER CONTRACT, BACKHAND

I wrote six novels about Anna Lee.
Click on the titles for more information.

The Bucket Nut Trilogy

BUCKET NUT, MONKEY WRENCH, MUSCLEBOUND

Professional wrestler Eva Wylie appeared in three novels in the '90s.
Click on the titles for more information.

Quick Links

LADY BAG

Selected Works