Jane McParkes

Jane believes she was always destined to be a crime writer. As a child she was an avid reader of the Famous Five and any other mysteries she could find at the local library. Her first commercial success came when she was 8 years old with the publication of a letter to the Bunty comic about her grandfather digging up a small handgun and two gold hoop earrings in his garden and suggesting they were connected with an unsolved murder. From that moment she wanted to be a writer...

Life, a career, marriage, motherhood and illness all got in the way, but that initial ambition never died. After years of secret scribbling and lots of reading, Jane began writing ‘A Deadly Inheritance’. A cancer diagnosis and the Covid epidemic eventually focused her mind on finishing her novel, and she enjoyed writing as a means of escape from the grim reality of what was going on in the world.

A Deadly Inheritance was published in April 2023 and was a finalist in the 2023 Wishing Shelf Awards 2023.   It has proved so popular with readers and other writers who invested in the characters’ lives and storylines, that it confirmed Jane’s belief that Olivia and friends deserved a whole series

Jane describes her writing as Cornish cosy crime with a green twist. Her books include ‘green’ characters, ideas and solutions set against the back drop of a traditional murder mystery. While Jane’s concern for the environment is very real, the books in the Olivia Wells Mysteries are meant to be an uplifting, escapist read, making the most of the freedom that the cosy mystery genre allows. Climate solutions are in action throughout the story, but are mainly incidental to the main plot, whose purpose is to entertain and inspire readers.

Deadly Treasures was shortlisted in the Romantic Thriller category in the 2025 RNA awards. As a direct result of this, Jane is now represented by Francesca Riccardi of the Kate Nash Literary Agency and the first two Olivia Wells Mysteries will be republished by Bedford Square Publishers in November 2025, with books 3 and 4 following.