Thursday, July 20, 2006

A New Author

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

It's always a thrill to discover a new author - new to me, anyway. And this week I discovered Ann Waldron's Princeton Mysteries.

"A Rare Murder in Princeton" features McLeod Dulaney, a visiting professor, who is living at the home of an old friend, George Bridges, during her stay. His house is called the "Murder House" because of a decades-old murder committed there.

McLeod spends a lot of time in the Rare Books section of the Princeton library, doing research, where the murders are committed. She discovers one of the corpses and becomes embroiled in the mystery.

She eventually realizes that there is a link between the present murders and the long ago murder, and solves the mystery. Ta-Da! And, just because her main character is a "foodie", she throws in a few recipes for good measure, at the back of the book.

It was a very enjoyable book, and I plan to read the others "Unholy Death in Princeton", "Death of a Princeton President" and "The Princeton Murders". This book was reminiscent of a british cozy, I think because whenever anyone at Princeton speaks, I think, "British". The dialogue sounds as though they are looking down their noses at someone, but it isn't offensive. No more so, at least, than anyone else in the world of academia.

I noticed that Ann Waldron has also written a number of Biographies, such as "Eudora: A Writer's Life", ( Eudora Welty, I presume), and "Hodding Carter: The Reconstruction of a Racist". Although I hardly ever read non-fiction, her biographies sound pretty interesting. So I might try them, too. Stand by.

She is nothing if not prolific, it seems, with a number of children's books to her credit, also. Among them are "Goya", "Monet", "Scaredy Cat" and "The House On Pendleton Block". These don't sound like your typical children's books, but if the publisher says they are, and she says they are, they must be children's books.

I felt as though I had made a real find, with Ann Waldron.

4 comments:

Mari Meehan said...

We lived just outside of Princeton many years ago. Will the books bring back memories or are they more reflective of today - other than growth, however, I doubt the essence of Princeton has changed much. Oxford, however, it ain't.

Anonymous said...

Hi Betty...

Wanted to drop by for a visit and and thank you for yours. Obviously one of the first things I noticed is that we are "state-mates". Is that a word?

You live in one of my most favorite towns. When I was living and working in Missouri I use to travel back and forth to my home in North Little Rock quite often and of course, Harrison was on the beaten path. And there was some restaurant there that I just loved but I can't remember the name. It was a fairly fancy place. I would often try to schedule my arrival time in Harrison around supper time so that I could eat there. That was in the mid-seventies.

Of course with all the changes in that part of the state along with the expansion of Branson it just isn't the same for me as it was back then. In fact, I have not been to Branson since the "explosion". Even with Silver Dollar City so popular back in the seventies, it still seemed so quiet and quaint. I know, I know...different strokes for different folks.

Anyway, nice to make your aquaintance and hope we have many more exchanges.

Betty said...

Hi, Alan,
I have been enjoying your blog, too. You may be talking about the Village Inn restaurant. It's the only one I can think of that might be described as "fairly fancy". Otherwise, we're the fast food capital of the state. I go to Branson occasionally (during the off-season) just to shop at the outlet malls. Haven't seen Branson Landing yet.

Anonymous said...

Yep...that was it. Village Inn. One more thing I can stop trying to remember. :)

Later...