About Lesley

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Lesley was born in Strawberry Field children’s home in Liverpool, which no longer exists. She was raised in Kirkby, a notorious Liverpool council estate and subsequently lived there for twenty years before moving to London. There she studied English and drama and worked as a freelance writer, her articles appearing in Cosmopolitan, Marie Clare, Red, Bite, Forum, and Time Out among others.  She later teamed up with her editor partner to run their own London-based magazine publishing company Moondance Media for 16 years until 2008.

Moving to Javea, Spain, Lesley began writing novels. Her first published in 2012, The Seventh Magpie is a compelling mystery with a story that spans 400 years was written under the name of Lesley Ann Sharrock. A second revised edition The Seventh Magpie: A secret from the past is the key to the future, was published in 2015, before she changed her name and turned to crime. 

In 2025 Truth Lies Buried was republished by Bloodhound Books along with an audio book narrated by Will Watt. 

Lesley is survived by one daughter and three grandchildren who live in Western Australia, who continue to keep her legacy alive.

Lesley's Book Dedication: For my daughter Estelle, for all the strong, resourceful women that preceded us and for those who will follow on. We are of Mother Earth.

Lesley's' Acknowledgments: To Ian Jackson my partner, best friend and first editor, without whose support and encouragement this book nor any of those that follow would have seen the light of day. 

To Wales for all the inspiration and to Bernie Rickman who helped set me on the road to writing for a living many moons ago. 

Further Acknowledgments in the 2012 first edition:  To Nik Morton for accepting The Seventh Magpie on behalf of Solstice Publishing and my editor Shawna Williams for her enthusiasm and positive contributions. 

Further Acknowledgement in the 2015 second edition: Hilary Sadler for putting together this new updated version for Marzipan Media and enabling The Seventh Magpie to speak again after a silence of several months.

  Lesley's' Authors Notes:  I was an adopted child and was inspired to write this story in response to her own journey of discovery. None of the characters in this novel are real people. But, as the surnames, Griffiths, Thomas, Williams, Davis, Parry, Madog, Bedoe, Lewis etc. are rather common in Wales I have to state here that any similarity to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. 

There are, however, certain truths in this book of fiction. Caernarfon in North Wales with its castle and ancient town walls is real as is the black boy inn, Where I have stayed on many an occasion, also the Anglesey pub and Hole in the Wall Street both exist. I did however invent the Red Dragon jewelry shop.

 Beaumaris castle on Anglesey has been standing beside the Menai Straits since the 13th century, but the Godfrey house is a figment of my imagination. Llandonna is also real, though the legend of the witches landing on the shore there goes back to the 16th century; I merely extended the timeline to fit with the plot. 

The plague did indeed sweep through Beaumaris in 1609. The goods ship Primrose Hill did sink off Anglesey in 190. The Black Team was a secretive government agency during WWII and the spiritualist Helen Duncan was tried for witchcraft in 1944. 

Strawberry Field Children's Home in Liverpool once stood but no longer does and was the place where I was born. Kirkby also exists, and I know because I was raised there. Clapham too is real, as I lived there for twenty years and Javea in Spain is my current place of residence. 

The enigmatic government building with the black door may or may not exist for who can be sure of anything these days? As for the magpie...well, science comes on a pace. Maybe, one day, in the not too distant future.

 Note: The people may not but real, but a number of the relationships and personal interactions were taken from real life, and those heart felt parts of the book are described by Nick Morton, nik-writealot.blogspot.com as 'particularly poignant'.  

Lesley's Book Dedication: To Ian. 

  Lesley's' Acknowledgments: First, I would like to thank those wonderful folk who aided me with their expertise on police procedure, prisons and hostage situations, plus the legal and medical information that did so much to add authenticity to the tale of The Serial Killer's Daughter. So, Cheers to Chris Duffin, Janet Read, as well as Liz and John Yardley. You were all fantastic and any mistakes made in those areas are purely down to me.
Next,there's a big thank-you to my fabulous agent, Caroline Montgomery, for getting me this gig with the Bookouture team-what a great bunch they are. And ta muchly to my editor, Abigail Fenton, who not only caught any clangers like an expert goalie but helped shape the book you see before you.
Big thanks too to my former mentor, Mr Les Edgerton, who read The Serial Killer's Daughter in its raw form way back when. Plus, as always, to my partner, Ian Jackson, for his patience and support along the way.

Besos.

Letter from Lesley:

 Dear reader, 

First of all, I'd like to say a big thank-you for reading The Serial Killer's Daughter and may I add that I hope none of you have the misfortune to encounter anyone even remotely like Don Tyler in real life - ever.

After my Bookouture editor had read The Serial Killer's Daughter for the first time, she turned to me and said, 'I do sometimes worry that Don Tyler came out of your head. ' Yeah, I thought, me too. So if getting inside the mind of Don scared you as much as it did me, then I do hope you'd be kind enough to write a review to give other readers your honest opinion of the overall story, plus the journey that Suzanne and the other characters make throughout the book.