About Ben Carrow.

The Writing

I write historical paranormal cozy mysteries set in 1920s Cornwall. The series follows Thea Penrose — lavender farmer, apothecary, careful observer of things that shouldn't be possible but keep happening anyway — as she begins to understand what her mother left behind in the soil.

These are stories that trust you to follow the details. Thea notices what others miss, and so do the books. The mysteries resolve. The paranormal stays grounded in place and family rather than floating free. The Cornwall feels like somewhere you've been, or somewhere you could go — because I believe the world of these books already exists somewhere, and I am doing my best to find it accurately rather than invent it loosely.

Tolkien once said — and I have been thinking about it for years — that he didn't invent Middle-Earth. He helped us all discover it. That is the kind of writer I want to be.

The Land

I grew up close to the land. The kind of upbringing where you learn the difference between soil that has woken up and soil that has warmed through, and why that distinction matters if you want things to grow. I have been building things with my hands, in one form or another, since I was old enough to be useful.

Cornwall feels true to me in the same way. The cliff grass, the salt air, the lavender cutting at exactly the right moment because the oil has peaked and waiting is waste — these are things I understand from the inside. Thea Penrose knows them too. I did not have to teach her.

The Series

Strangled With Lavender is the first book in an open series. Thea's story does not end at three books or five — I want to follow her wherever she goes, for as long as she has somewhere to go.

The books are set in 1923 Cornwall, moving forward through the decade. Each one is a complete mystery with a resolution. Underneath the mysteries, something else is growing — quietly, the way things grow when you are paying attention but not watching too hard.