Betty Rowlands


Betty Rowlands was a writer of cosy crime mystery novels set in the Cotswolds and Gloucestershire.

Personal life

Born in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, to parents Arthur and Kathleen Beatrice Howard, her grandfather was Sir Ebenezer Howard, founder of the garden city movement and the first garden city, Letchworth, in 1903. Rowlands had two half brothers from her father's first marriage and the family moved to Bromley, Kent when she was young.
During the Second World War, working at the General Post Office Engineering Department, Betty met her first husband, Bert Jenner and married in 1942. They had three children. They divorced in 1957 and Rowlands married Len Rowlands in 1966, moving to Brimpsfield, Gloucestershire, in 1971.

Writing career

Rowlands began writing seriously when she moved to the Cotswolds and joined local writing groups. At the same time she began teaching adults English as a second language. A number of her early short stories were read on the BBC in the late 1970s and in 1988 she won the Sunday Express / Veuve Clicquot Crime Short Story of the Year Award.
Her first novel was A Little Gentle Sleuthing, published in 1990, when Rowlands was in her late 60s. Her last novel was published in 2014, at the age of 90. She was a member of the Crime Writers' Association.

Melissa Craig series

  1. A Little Gentle Sleuthing. Republished as Murder at Hawthorn Cottage.
  2. Finishing Touch. Republished as Murder in the Morning.
  3. Over the Edge. Republished as Murder on the Clifftops.
  4. Exhaustive Enquiries. Republished as Murder at the Manor Hotel.
  5. Malice Poetic. Republished as Murder on a Winter Afternoon.
  6. Deadly Legacy. Republished as Murder in the Orchard.
  7. Smiling at Death. Republished as Murder at Larkfield Barn.
  8. The Cherry Pickers. Republished as Murder in Langley Woods.
  9. The Man at the Window. Republished as Murder at Benbury Brook.
  10. The Fourth Suspect. Republished as Murder at the Old House.
  11. No Laughing Matter. Republished as Murder in the Dining Room.
  12. Sweet Venom. Republished as Murder in a Country Garden.

    Sukey Reynolds Series

  13. An Inconsiderate Death. Republished as Death at Hazel House.
  14. Death at Dearley Manor. Also.
  15. Copycat. Republished as Death at Beacon Cottage.
  16. Touch Me Not. Republished as Death at Burwell Farm.
  17. Dirty Work. Republished as Death at Ivy House.
  18. Deadly Obsession. Republished as Death on a Summer Morning.
  19. Party to Murder. Republished as Death under the Apple Tree.
  20. Alpha, Beta, Gamma... Dead. Republished as Death at The Mariners Hotel.
  21. Smokescreen. Republished as Death at the Library.
  22. A Fool There Was. Republished as Death on Clevedon Beach.
  23. Miss Minchin Dies. Republished as Death in the Village.
  24. Unnatural Wastage. Republished as Death as Sycamore House.
  25. The Scent of Death. Republished as Death at Sandy Bay.

    Standalone novels

Hive of Bees.