USA Today Bestselling Author and Award-winning novelist Bette Lee Crosby brings the wit and wisdom of her Southern Mama to works of fiction—the result is a delightful blend of humor, mystery and romance along with a cast of quirky charters who will steal your heart away.
A Note from Bette Lee…
Welcome. I’m delighted that you’ve stopped by for a visit. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to explore my website, browse through my books and get to know a bit more about me.
First off, I’m a Southerner; and Southerners are born storytellers. In the South stories are handed down from one generation to the next, and often told while sitting on the front porch or gathered around a potluck picnic table. With every telling the characters grow bigger, braver and definitely more memorable. So it is with my characters—each one born of a tale that started long ago.
Every writer begins as a reader and this is also true of me. But ignoring the gift of storytelling that my mama passed down, I majored in art and started out as a graphic artist. Fate stepped in and when one of the salesmen said to make up some sell copy for the back of a pantyhose package, I did. Before long I realized my niche was creating images with words rather than pictures and a new career blossomed.
After two decades of writing for business—magazine articles, corporate reports, marketing plans and the like—that storytelling heritage kicked in and I began my first novel. I began writing the story in longhand using sticky notes, cross outs, and asterisks for editing and then handing my messy papers over to my secretary to be typed. (Remember, I studied art, not typing.) Several chapters later, I admitted defeat, bought my first laptop and taught myself to type.
I wrote two full-length novels (which will never see the light of day) before I wrote The Twelfth Child and entered it into the National Pen Women competition as an unpublished manuscript. It won and that tiny taste of success spurred me on to make this a full time career.
Now, I write almost every day and consider myself blessed to be doing this thing that I love so much. I look back and smile thinking if Mama were still here she’d recognize bits and pieces of the stories she once told.
This is Me…
I am a wife, a sister, a grandma and a dog mama
I am also a 30-year survivor of Lymphoma
For 17years I taught Kindergarten Sunday School
I took Flying Lessons on a 4-seat Piper Warrior
I do my best thinking on my 3-mile morning walk
My hair is naturally curly (Spring into ringlets curly!)
I am a night owl who dreads the thought of getting up early
I can often be found trolling Facebook in the wee hours
I am a big time dog lover, which comes as no surprise to anyone
In Spare Change, Scooter Cobb is named after my friend’s dog
We live in Florida because I love sunshine, hate cold weather
My favorite television show is This is Us
My favorite drink is red wine (Pinot Noir)
In restaurants I almost always order seafood
My guilty pleasures are ice cream and candy
Award & Accolade Highlights
Silver Threads – Winner of the 2017 Indie Discovery Award and FAPA President’s Book Award
Baby Girl – Winner of 2016 Indie Discovery Award, International Book Award, Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal and one of ten novels optioned to be read by Wind Dancer Films
Huffington Post named Baby Girl Best Chick Lit of 2016
Spare Change – USA Today Bestseller and Winner of 5 Literary Awards
Cracks in the Sidewalk – USA Today Bestseller and Winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award
Passing through Perfect – Winner of the 2016 RONE Award. Kirkus Review says, “Well written and engaging…”
Midwest Book Review says, “Southern Fiction at its best…”
Four-time winner of the FAPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal
Lifetime Achievement of over 40 Literary Awards
On the USA Today Bestseller List four times
Achieved #1 Nook Book Status on Barnes & Noble
#1 Amazon Bestseller for Historical Fiction & Literary Fiction
July 2017 – iBooks Bestseller List
Frequent guest on Cyrus Webb’s Breakfast with Books and other radio shows
Featured Interview in Southern Writer – January 2013
Seventeen Novels published to date, two more scheduled for 2018
USA Today Bestselling Author – Bette Lee Crosby
Scroll Through Stories by Bette Lee Crosby