A LEDBURY-based author has been signed up by a publisher after copies of her self-published whodunnit started to sell for up to £400 on the internet.

Suzette A Hill has received rave reviews from the likes of Dame Beryl Bainbridge and the actor Leslie Phillips for her 1950s romp A Load of Old Bones.

Mr Phillips called it an intriguingly quirky read and has already recorded an audio CD, with himself starring as the feline character, Maurice the Cat.

Novelist Beryl Bainbridge praised it in high terms, calling it "tremendous, flowing and amusing".

Suzette has been signed up by Constable and Robinson Ltd, to bring out what the writer calls the properly published version, hardback and professional.

This will be available in both the UK and USA and will be launched at Ledbury Books and Maps on Saturday, June 23, from 11am to 1pm.

Signed copies of the murder mystery will be going for £18.99 but it is the first self-published version, released two years ago, that has really caught the imagination of book collectors.

Signed copies of this version have been regularly changing hands on internet sites for between £100 and £400 a copy.

The author spent many years teaching English at Reading College, before retiring to Ledbury to concentrate on her writing.

Suzette has a sequel on its way called Bones in the Belfry and is now writing her third novel to complete the trilogy.