Marjorie Owen wrote two mystery novels. LADIES OF CLASS and THE POISON PEN. They feature Detective Chief Inspector Richard Hayward in two intriguing whodunits.
The novels themselves have great reviews on Amazon but the most interesting story is how her books came to be published.
Marjorie lived a full and rich life in England. When Marjorie passed away in 2004 at the age of 93 her son Mike Owen discovered a box full of his Mum's writings. Although he knew that she had written a couple of stories he had no idea how extensive her writings were. Over several years Mike's wife Dee Owen transcribed Marjorie's handwritten books and published them on Amazon.
Here is an excerpt from Amazon about Marjorie Owen written by her son Mike Owen...
My Mum, Marjorie, was born on September 11th 1911 in England and endured the bombardment of World War II. As far as I know, she was born out-of-wedlock with an Irish Lord for a father and a Russian princess as her mother. I have no idea who took her after she was born but it was not her true parents.
Although her life before my birth and working is somewhat sketchy, her career, as a major London department store clothing buyer, was long and interesting. Members of the Royal family were among some of her more famous clients. Marjorie found time to write many short stories and four novels ranging from romance to mystery. She did not attempt to publish any of her writings. We can only surmise that she wrote for the joy and did not wish to seek any recognition or fame.
I do know that, just after my birth and unbeknown to my father, she did have romantic meetings with one or two members of The Royal Air Force. One, of note, was Guy Gibson of the famous Dam Busters Raid in 1940 something.
She changed her birth certificate from 1911 to 1917 so that she could work for an additional six years before mandatory retirement. She lived above a post office with no hot water and had to strip wash in the kitchen downstairs before the staff arrived for work. She also had to carry buckets of coal up for a fire to heat the flat.
As her only child, she spoiled me when times were tough and food rationing was in effect due to the war. She paid for private schooling and college to ensure I had a good education. When I moved from England to Los Angeles, in 1983, she would come and visit my wife and I every two years. She adored the Hollywood Bowl and the canyons above Santa Monica and Malibu.
Marjorie passed away on March 28th 2004, after a very full life, at the age of ninety-three.
My wife spent three years transcribing her hand written works to computer and the first book of Mum's, a murder mystery set in England, was published on March 15th 2008.
