Anna Dean, the pseudonym for writer Marian Veevers (born 1956), is the listed author of the Dido Kent series of mystery novels.

Biography

Marian Veevers was born in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

(now part of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

) in England in 1956. She moved to the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

as a child but as she grew older she became determined to return to the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

and, after a few years living in Wales, she moved back to

in 1984. She lives near

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, Cumbria, Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern ...

with her husband. Veevers has worked as an assistant to a psychologist, she has worked for the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, she has taught

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

and worked for the

Wordsworth Trust The Wordsworth Trust is an independent charity in the United Kingdom. It celebrates the life of the poet William Wordsworth, and looks after Dove Cottage in the Lake District village of Grasmere where Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordswort ...

at Grasmere in the Lake District. The one constant throughout her life has been her writing. She has said,

“I write compulsively. It all started with a mistake. When I was taught to write at the age of five I assumed that I must write books. By the time I realised my mistake and understood that it was not actually compulsory to create stories - the habit was too deeply ingrained to give up.”

Veevers has an MA in

Literary career

Veevers adopted the pen name “Anna Dean” for the Dido Kent series of historical crime novels set in the

Regency period The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 1810 and, by the Regency Act 1811, h ...

– the time of

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

. Under her ‘real name’, Veevers has published an historical novel, ‘Bloodlines’ in 1996 and has also written short stories and monologues for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and

BBC Radio Cumbria BBC Radio Cumbria is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cumbria. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in Carlisle. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 71,000 listene ...

. In 2017, she published 'Jane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility', which compares the lives of

and

Dorothy Wordsworth Dorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth (25 December 1771 – 25 January 1855) was an English author, poet, and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close all their adult lives. Dorothy Wordsworth had no a ...

. The Dido Kent mysteries are written partly in the form of letters and Veevers has a particular interest in old letters and documents. In 2002–2003, she worked as Writer in Residence for the

Cumbria Archive Service Cumbria Archive Service serves the English county of Cumbria. Rather than having just one county record office, Cumbria County Council operates four local record offices, now known as archive centres, in Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Kendal and W ...

where she developed the use of archive material as a source for creative writing.

Bibliography

As Anna Dean: * ''A Moment of Silence'' (2008) Published in the US as ''Bellfield Hall'' (2010) * ''A Gentleman of Fortune'' (2009) * ''A Woman of Consequence'' (2010) * ''A Place of Confinement'' (2012) As Marian Veevers: * ''Bloodlines'' (1996) * ''Voices from the Archives'' (2003) * ''Jane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility'' (2017)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Anna English women novelists English crime fiction writers 1956 births Living people Women crime fiction writers