Fiction_L Archives Name of Mystery Author Dates: 12/1/00,6:14 PM  through  12/1/00,8:59 PM  (2 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to December 2000 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Sophia Torelli <[removed]@kcls.org>
REC'D: 12/1/00, 6:14 PM

I have a patron asking for the name of a mystery author (male)
who wrote in the 70's. The patron remembers three books (all
that her system owned), which have a woman psychologist as the main
character. She is married to a recently retired Fire Chief. In
the firt book, they have just moved from New York to New England
and become involved in a crime which concerns a big fire. The books
seem to cover "big themes", such as the nature of evil...
Sound Familiar?

FROM: [removed]@juno.com
REC'D: 12/1/00, 8:59 PM

Even though the sex of the author is wrong, these sound like the Charlie
Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl mysteries. The first one is The Hamlet
Trap, set in Ashland, Oregon. I think your reader remembers the second
The Dark Door with a mysterious fire and alien space probe (well, she is
a SF writer so she's allowed). On the other hand, Sweet Sweet Poison
sounds more like the reader's description, but I don't remember a fire,
and I don't see one in the NoveList annotation. Great series. Though
the stories are quirkier, the relationship between the older pair reminds
me of that between Homer and Mary Kelly in Jane Langton's wonderful
mysteries.

Joyce Saricks

"Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and
entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either."
Marshall McLuhan

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