Meera Lester Books In Order

Publication Order of Henny Penny Farmette Mystery Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Meera Lester is a widely known editor and writer who has worked in the writing and publishing industry for more than 25 years. She started the Writers Connection in North California during 1983 along with her partner. Over the years, Meera planned and managed various seminars relating to writing and publishing while also serving as the executive editor of publications from Writers Connection. Various successful editors, authors and agents have featured at her conferences and she has conducted dozens of such events. Meera has also acted as an editor for numerous renowned magazines such as Future Outlook, Diversity Magazine, High Technology Careers and Paul Masson’s Summer Concert Series.

Meera launched a conference named “Selling to Hollywood” in Los Angeles during the 90’s with a support of various friends in the film industry. Her main task was to planning and recruitment of speakers for which she received various praises. Senator of California, Dianne Feinstein and the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors also sent Meera letters of commendation for the contributions made by her to film industry. Later, American Screenwriters Association purchased the conference from her. Lester has written over two dozen non-fictional books which were highly successful with some of them being translated into Malaysian, Arabic and French. She has written these books under different publishers which include Rockport Publishers, Kensington Publishing, Fair Winds Press, F&W Publications along with Adams Media.

Meera converted to Catholicism during her teenage years and has since followed her practices. She always keeps a prayer table inside her house which is filled with rosary, devotional candles and prayer books while she always reads the biography of a saint before going to bed each night. Lester feels especially close to the female saints and Our Lady and also has a passion for painting and specializes in iconography of mystics and saints along with spiritual seekers and pilgrims. Her non-fictional books often focus on topics for mental happiness and improvement through meditation, positive approach etc. She has written a variety of books providing tips and guidance to readers for self-development.

After writing more than two dozen books in non-fiction, Meera began writing “Henny Penny Farmette” series which features mysteries and detective adventures of Abby. She is developing the series with the help of Kensington Publishing for releasing the books. Meera lives with her husband Carlos Carvajal who is an architect and designer born in Dominican Republic. She owns the Henny Penny Farmette situated in the bay area of San Francisco. While living at the farm, Meera raises chickens and honeybees while growing different heirloom vegetables.

Meera’s Henny Penny Farmette series is written with a smooth flow featuring a cozy setting which is directly derived from her own farm life. The series features realistic imagery and scenes due to Meera’s writing capability and daily experiences. The story is based in a small fictional town known as Las Flores which is situated comfortably at the foothills of mountain range separating the beach towns alongside Pacific oceans from San Francisco Bay’s inland valley towns. The place offers a perfect setting for the first book of the series named as “A Beeline to Murder”. Many scenes in this book take place on a farmette which is owned by

Abigail (Abby) Mackenzie who is a retired detective and central character of the series.
The scene settings are very similar to reality as Meera herself lives on a half-acre farmland in San Francisco, which she bought in 2009. Lester infuses the central character with her daily routine rather than inventing a different lifestyle. After getting injured, Abby takes retirement from police department and starts working on a plan for restoring her tattered farm house and lands using recycled material. She goes to salvage yards, demolition sites along with sales for DIY items and receives gifts in the form of lumber, stone and manure from her friends. She adds cuttings from roses and trees of neighbors to those she bought at inexpensive rates during the bare root season and envisions the day when her hard work will pay off while having an optimistic mindset. Abby also keeps a small chicken flock along with two beehives for honey at her farm.

Meera believes that readers not only connect with the central character but also with other characters in the story who are working towards the same purpose. Therefore, Abby has a best friend named Katerina Petrovsky who is a police officer in the Las Flores city and was trained by Abby. Another interesting character in the series is Abby’s attractive neighbor Lucas Crawford who is a widower in his forties. Lucas is a rancher and owns the feed store in town. Other characters include Bob Allen who is the chief of police in the town with an egotistical nature whereas Maisey Mack is the owner of a local pie shop hailing from South Carolina and likes telling stories. Abby also gets help from her former police friends named Nettie Sherman and Otto Nowicki.

Any cozy mystery has charm as a major factor to engage readers and Meera generates charm through the settings, people and locale in the Henny Penny Farmette Series. She involves a number of recipes and tips for gardening and beekeeping within her novels as well. In the first book, Abby tries to deliver the trademark honey made by her to a local pastry chef and finds him dead in his shop and her investigative instincts from old days kick in. The coroner states the death to be a suicide but the chef’s brother isn’t convinced and believes it to be a murder. He insists on hiring Abby as the detective and soon she agrees as she shares the same belief. She patiently investigates a number of people but her life may be in danger as the murderer doesn’t plan on sitting quietly. Filled with intriguing plot and along with plentiful twists, the book delves readers into the life of Abby and takes them on a wonderful journey. At the end of the book the readers feel connected to the life of Abby and often look forward to reading more books in the series to reveal the further story.

2 Responses to “Meera Lester”

1. Kathleen L Cooke: 1 year ago

   I just finished A Hive of Homicide. I hope there will be more, especially with the cliff hanger with Lucas!

   Reply
2. Diane: 2 years ago

   Will you write more of the Farmette mysteries?
   I am reading the first 3 now…love your characters
   and look forward to more stories about your farmette.
   I grew up on a SC farm…hard work but I learned a lot..

   Reply