Samantha Weinberg


Samantha Fletcher is a British Green Party politician, and under her maiden name of Samantha Weinberg, a novelist, journalist and travel writer. Educated at St Paul's Girls' School and Trinity College, Cambridge, she is the author of books such as A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth and the James Bond inspired trilogy The Moneypenny Diaries under the alias Kate Westbrook. She is assistant editor of Intelligent Life, the features and cultural magazine from The Economist.

Writing

In 1994 Weinberg wrote Last of the Pirates: in search of Bob Denard about French mercenary Bob Denard. In 1995, she spent three months travelling in the United States with Daisy Waugh.
In 2003 she won the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction for her book Pointing from the Grave: a True Story of Murder and DNA, about the murder of biotechnologist Helena Greenwood in California in 1985 and the pioneering use of DNA profiling in tracing her killer 15 years later.

''The Moneypenny Diaries''

When Weinberg's agent, Gillon Aitken, was appointed the literary adviser to Ian Fleming Publications, she and Aitken pitched their idea for a series of James Bond novels centred on the character of Miss Moneypenny, M's personal secretary. The series, referred to as The Moneypenny Diaries, is a trilogy with three books and two short stories currently published under the alias of Moneypenny's editor, Kate Westbrook.
In 2010 Weinberg became the Green Party candidate for the new seat of Chippenham in Wiltshire, standing under her married name.

Personal life

Weinberg is married to filmmaker Mark Fletcher. She currently resides in Wiltshire, England. She has two children.