LIZA CODY - Bio/Biblio

I'm particularly glad that GIMME MORE is out in the US now. As well as the UK, it's already been published in Germany, France and Italy: the book jackets are below.

This seems like a good place to add how very much I appreciate readers in non-English languages. I couldn't do without you guys.

Anna Lee on TV

In 1993 ITV did two-hour adaptations of the six Anna Lee novels. The next year they were broadcast on A&E in the US.

Anna was played by Imogen Stubbs, who is a brilliant actor - and much prettier than the Anna in my head.

Quick Links

If you want to get in touch with me, or have an enquiry about rights, possible commissions, or adaptations then click here to send me an email..

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is where I often publish stories that aren't in anthologies. Click here to have a look at EQMM.

To check availability of my books on Amazon UK click here.

Or Amazon in the US, click here.

Or for my books on Barnes & Noble, click here.

Or for a link to AbeBooks and access to a raft of smaller sellers of my books click here.

Bio/Biblio

Biography

I was born and brought up in London and educated, unsuccessfully, at a particularly horrible all-girls' boarding school. I was dyslexic before dyslexia was known and recognised so I looked pretty stupid on paper.

Things looked up after I went to the City and Guilds of London Art School and later to the Royal Academy Schools of Art. I swore I would never try to write or do maths ever again.

Since then I've worked as a graphic designer, furniture designer, shop assistant, cleaner, hair inserter and colouring artiste at Madame Tussaud's Waxwork museum. Anything to feed the family. Clearly, I never managed to sell many paintings. Also, briefly, I was a roadie for one of the worst bands in London. It was not a steady, well-paid job, but it did provide me with some great material for later on.

Things looked up again when I broke my promise and whiled away a freezing cold winter and spring by writing a detective story which grew into a novel (Dupe.) I still can't spell, but fortunately other people can; and now I have a computer that can too. Spelling turned out to be pretty unimportant - who'da thunk it?

These days I live in Bath about ten minutes walk away from my daughter. Things are still looking up.

Femlead.org

A project I am particularly committed to is Femlead - a small NGO in the Busiiro region of Uganda. I'm a founder member and Femlead's mission is to keep young girls in education instead of early marriage and prostitution. Find out more and maybe donate by clicking here https://femlead.org/ or going to Femlead.org.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOVELS First publication

DUPE London, Collins, 1980
BAD COMPANY London, Collins, 1982
STALKER London, Collins, 1984
HEADCASE London, Collins, 1985
UNDER CONTRACT London, Collins, 1986
RIFT London, Collins, 1988
BACKHAND London, Chatto & Windus, 1991
BUCKET NUT London, Chatto & Windus, 1992
MONKEY WRENCH London, Chatto & Windus, 1994
MUSCLEBOUND London, Bloomsbury, 1997
GIMME MORE London, Bloomsbury, 2000
BALLAD OF A DEAD NOBODY, iUniverse 2010
MISS TERRY, iUniverse 2012
LADY BAG, iUniverse 2013

CROCODILES AND GOOD INTENTIONS, iUniverse 2018

GIFT OR THEFT, iUniverse 2020

THE SHORT-ORDER DETECTIVE Gatekeeper 2024

Anthologies as co-editor

1st CULPRIT (with Michael Z. Lewin)
London, Chatto & Windus, 1992
2nd CULPRIT (with Michael Z. Lewin)
London, Chatto & Windus, 1993
3rd CULPRIT (with Michael Z. Lewin and Peter Lovesey) London, Chatto & Windus, 1994

SHORT STORIES First Published in

"Spasmo" A CLASSIC ENGLISH CRIME (90)
"Uniform" NEW CRIMES (89)
"K.K." MURDER & COMPANY (88) BBC Radio, (08)
"Lucky Dip" A WOMAN’S EYE (91)
"In Those Days" 1ST CULPRIT (92)
"Where’s Stacy?" 2ND CULPRIT (93)
"Reconstruction" LONDON NOIR (94)
"Doing It Under the Table" BBC RADIO (92) LUCKY DIP and Other Stories (03)
"Chalk Mother" BBC RADIO (93) BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON (94)
"Solar Zits" WOMEN ON THE CASE (96)
"A Card or a Kitten" A CLASSIC XMAS CRIME (95)
"Love In Vain" NO ALIBI (95)
"Walking Blues" BLUE LIGHTNING (98)
"Queen of Mean" TART NOIR (02)
"Indian Throw" HER MAJESTY (02)
"Woke Up This Morning" LUCKY DIP and Other Stories (03)
"Listen" LUCKY DIP and Other Stories (03)
"Art, Marriage and Death" Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (05)
"Kali in Kensington Gardens" THE VERDICT OF US ALL (06)
"The Old Story" THE IDEAS EXPERIMENT (06) Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (07)
"Whole Life" Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (10)
"Mr Bo"Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (11)
"I Am Not Fluffy" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (13)
"Day or Night", DEADLY PLEASURES (13)
"A Hand" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (14)
"Ghost Station", MOTIVES FOR MURDER (16)

"Health and Safety" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (17)

"Life and Death in T-Shirts" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (17)

"My People" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (20)

"When I'm Feeling Lucky" Hayakawa Mystery Magazine (21)

"Hard Hearts" MY PEOPLE and Other Crime Stories (21)

"Never Enough" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (22)

"Don''t Push Me" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (24)

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS:

LUCKY DIP and Other Stories, Crippen & Landru 2003

MY PEOPLE and Other Crime Stories, Gatekeeper, 2021

AWARDS:

John Creasey Memorial Prize, for DUPE, 1982
(CWA award for best first novel of the year)

CWA Dagger nomination, UNDER CONTRACT, 1987
(for best novel)

MWA Edgar nomination, for DUPE, 1983
(for best novel)

CWA Silver Dagger, for BUCKET NUT, 1993

MWA Edgar nomination, for BACKHAND, 1993
(for best novel)

Anthony Award (for short story), “Lucky Dip”, 1993

The Marlowe (Germany) for MUSCLEBOUND, 1998

2015: Deutscher Krimi Preis (Kategorie International Platz 2) für Lady Bag (Lady Bag)
2017: Deutscher Krimi Preis (Kategorie International Platz 2) für Miss Terry (Miss Terry)
2019: Radio-Bremen-Krimipreis für Ballade einer vergessenen Toten und ihr Gesamtwerk

Miscellany

Two years in late '80s as coach to Frome Fliers Women's basketball team. Won 17 Lost 3.

Co-creative director of The Sardine Circus.

Creator of Equal Opportunities cribbage.

Co-creator of Cribbage v the Universe

My short stories between 2003 and 2021.

One story in this book, published here for the first time, is "Hard Hearts." I've used it's central character - a part time private investigator - for my next novel (not yet completed as of February 2023.)

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.