An Okehampton-based author is set to release the first of a new three-book cosy crime series on April 2 as she celebrates 20 years as a published writer.

Set in Mousehole, Cornwall, ‘The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives’ is written by Jenny Kane and follows two fish and chip shop employees who find themselves turned amateur detectives after a body is found in the town harbour.

Jenny has already written multiple books set in Cornwall – a place of particular significance as her father hails from Penzance – and said she finds herself drawing on her own childhood memories of holidays in the town for her novels.

“I remember really great seaside rock, eating too much fudge and seagulls stealing food,’ she said. “My brother and I used to climb into the loft and look out of the window with binoculars, and I’ve just written a scene with the characters looking out of the loft window with binoculars.”

This year also marks twenty years since Jenny's debut story. She was originally an archaeologist and medieval historian, but turned to writing when her husband was offered a job in Scotland, and the family relocated.

She said: “I was at the University of Leicester but there was nothing in Scotland at that moment so I thought I would write a short story to keep my brain going. I sent it off to publishers just to see what happened and the story was accepted. It worked for me when the children were small.”

From a table in a Scottish café, Jenny started her career writing adult fiction at a time “before ‘50 Shades of Grey’” when there was a massive market for such stories. She has since moved into other genres, including cosy crime and romance, and has written audio scripts and novellas for ITV’s 1980s television show Robin of Sherwood. She writes historical crime fiction under the name Jennifer Ash and has had over 40 books published to date.

Today, Jenny also runs creative writing workshops, which she set up to support budding authors starting out on their writing career and help them avoid the mistakes she made early on in her career.

Her workshops are open to anyone, regardless of ability or writing experience. She said: “My teaching is all about joy, and anyone can write something if they want to. I’ve met lots of people who say ‘oh, I’d love to write but can’t’ for such and such a reason. It doesn’t matter about dyslexia or spelling etc. I’ll take whoever wants to do it.”

The second book in “The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives” series, titled “The Fish and Chip Shop Detectives and the Campervan Murder,” will be available on June 11, with a September 2026 release date set for the third instalment.

For more information about Jenny and her works, visit: https://jennykane.co.uk/.