Lesley Grant-Adamson, a former Guardian feature writer who became a celebrated crime novelist, has died aged 83. Her work earned admiration from PD James, who wrote: “She knows how to create an atmosphere of unease and incipient horror.”
Career and literary achievements
Grant-Adamson left her staff role at the Guardian to focus on writing murder mysteries, producing 15 novels, numerous short stories, and several non-fiction books. Her debut novel, Patterns in the Dust, was published by Faber & Faber in 1985 and shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey award for first crime novels.
Her journalism background heavily influenced her fiction; her first five novels feature a gossip columnist, Rain Morgan, as the detective.
Early life and journalism
Born in London to Edna (née Puddefoot), a civil servant, and Edwin Heycock, who served in the army and later worked for the National Assistance Board, Grant-Adamson moved to south Wales as an infant during the second world war. She stayed with her grandparents in Trealaw, Rhondda Valley, before returning to London at age seven. She attended Dame Alice Owen’s school in Islington.
She trained as a reporter at the Coventry Evening Telegraph while her future husband, Andrew Grant-Adamson, worked as a journalist in Leamington Spa. They married in 1968 and moved south in 1971 when Andrew became a public relations executive at Pirelli in London.
Grant-Adamson worked as a subeditor at the Mid-Herts Advertiser, then as a sub on the Guardian’s features pages, before becoming a feature writer. She interviewed novelist Richard Llewellyn and profiled comedian and folk singer Max Boyce. She left the paper in 1980 to write novels.
Teaching and later life
Her short stories were broadcast on BBC Radio and appeared in magazines and anthologies. She received commissions from Hodder for books on crime writing, taught at the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd in north Wales, and held fellowships with the Royal Literary Fund. She later taught a City University evening class on crime fiction and held posts at Homerton College and Newnham College, University of Cambridge (2001-03).
In Debenham, Suffolk, where she and Andrew lived in later years, Grant-Adamson was active in the local history society and organised arts and literary events. The couple moved to a bungalow specially adapted for sustainable energy. Andrew died last year. She is survived by two nephews and two nieces.
