Lady Catherine Manning is a British writer, who has written five mystery novels under the pseudonym Elizabeth Ironside.

Early life

Catherine Manning is the daughter of a general practitioner doctor, and grew up in a Northamptonshire village. ^[1]

She was educated at University of Oxford, where she earned a bachelor's degree in history, followed by a PhD. ^{[2] [1]}

Career

After university, she worked for some time as a teacher, before turning to writing. ^[1]

As Elizabeth Ironside, she won the Crime Writers' Association Best First Novel Award for her 1985 novel, A Very Private Enterprise. ^[3] She has also been runner-up for the Crime Writers' Association Golden Dagger. ^[3] All of her five novels have been published in the UK and the US. ^[3]

Interviewed by The Daily Telegraph in November 2004, Manning said that she had not been able to publish a new novel for a while because her husband, Sir David Manning, was the British ambassador to the United States, and acting as a hostess for their numerous functions had kept her very busy. ^[1] She also expressed pleasant surprise, saying that she was "extremely flattered,"" when she found out that in a then recent interview with Time magazine, Laura Bush had said, "I'm having so much fun reading Lady Catherine Manning's mysteries." ^[1]

Selected publications

• A Very Private Enterprise (1984) Hodder & Stoughton Ltd ISBN  978-0340352694
• Death in the Garden (1995)
• The Accomplice (1996)
• The Art of Deception (1998) Hodder & Stoughton ISBN  978-0340716854
• A Good Death (2008) Hodder & Stoughton ISBN  978-0340716861

Personal life

She is the wife of Sir David Manning, the former British ambassador to the United States. ^[1] She met her future husband when they were both history students at the University of Oxford, "I think we met at a lecture." ^[1] After a few years, they found out that they were unable to have children. ^[1]

References