I am reading a book by an English author, and she used the word tetchy. I hadn't heard it before, but it's in 25 online dictionaries so it's obviously common. Is it more used in England or is it common here too and I've just not heard it?

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Tetchy

No, I haven't heard it, though I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's used in the southern states. I have heard the U.S. variation touchy.

Pretty commonplace here.

I've heard southerners mention tetched, as a bit eccentric (loony, to you and me).

I would have imagined it an US regionalism (especially in the set phrase "a might tetchy"), but I guess I've just been exposed to too much Britannia ...

IIRC, it was fairly common in the USA back in the 1950s, but is rare now. I think it was used in some of the old Warner Brothers cartoons, especially by Buggs Bunny.

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I've heard southerners mention tetched

I think that might be their version of "touched", as in, "touched by the moon".