While Inspector Witherspoon receives accolades and kudos for his Scotland Yard successes, his housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries, does a lion's share of the detection work.
I was born in West Virginia, the middle sister to Nanette and Linda. My parents moved the family to Los Angeles in the early sixties, and I graduated from Pasadena High School. I attended California State University at Fullerton and earned a Degree in American Studies.
On a visit to England in 1975, I met my future husband, Richard. We were married in May 1976 and lived in a small village outside London. We came back to California in September 1977.
In 1988 I began my new career as a fiction writer. Although I was working in the shipping industry, and enjoyed my job, I wanted to fulfil my long-held desire to write!
I began by writing romances. I joined the Romance Writers of America - Orange County chapter. After my entry in the "unpublished authors" contest run by this chapter was announced as a finalist - I was delighted, but the New York editor who read my entry was scathing in her criticism. I was crushed for a day or so, but it hardened my resolve to continue writing. My very next proposal was the one that my agent sold to Silhouette. It was published under my pen name of Sarah Temple as KINDRED SPIRITS. I was thrilled - a published author!
I wrote two more Special Editions for Silhouette but I jumped at the chance to write a Victorian mystery series for Berkley - I've always had a keen interest in mysteries. I called my brother-in-law, Robert, who lives in London and he found old,original London newspapers from the 1880s and a host of books on Victorian households. These books and newspapers were priceless guides to my understanding of the real Victorian world of Inspector Witherspoon and Mrs. Jeffries.
I have also written some Young Adult novels,which are not currently in print - writing as Cheryl Lanham - my maiden name. These were such fun to write because teenagers are so emotional and it was great therapy to switch from the lives of a Victorian household involved in solving murders to the angst of a contemporary California teenager! By some strange quirk of events, the Young Adult books sold really well in Norway - translated into Norwegian, I hasten to add. Sales in the United States were not as dramatic and the series was cancelled.
I quit my part-time job in October 2010 so I could write mysteries full-time. I live in southern Orange County.
