Charlotte MacLeod (1922–2005)
Author of The Family Vault
About the Author
Charlotte MacLeod was born in Bath, New Brunswick, Canada on November 12, 1922. She immigrated to the United States in 1923 and became a naturalized citizen in 1951. She attended the School of Practical Art, now the Art Institute of Boston. She was a staff artist and copywriter at Stop and Shop show more supermarkets from 1945 to 1952. She also worked at N.H. Miller & Co. advertising firm from 1952 to 1982 starting as a copy chief and ending up as a Vice President. She wrote two series under her own name, a Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn Mystery series and the Peter Shandy Mystery series. She also wrote two series under the pseudonym Alisa Craig, the Madoc and Janet Rhys Mystery series and the Grub-and-Stakers series. She also wrote Had She But Known: A Biography of Mary Roberts Rinehart and a dozen juvenile books. She won five American Mystery awards and a Nero Wolfe award. She edited the anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings. She is the co-founder and past president of the American Crime Writers League. She died on January 14, 2005 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Charlotte MacLeod
Associated Works
Malice Domestic 01: An Anthology of Original Traditional Mystery Stories (1992) — Contributor — 191 copies
A Modern Treasury of Great Detective and Murder Mysteries (1994) — Contributor — 63 copies, 1 review
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: First Annual Edition (1992) — Contributor — 16 copies
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Second Annual Edition (1993) — Contributor — 13 copies
Murder's Out of Tune | The Curse of the Giant Hogweed | A Sense of Loyalty (1985) — Author — 4 copies
The Luck Runs Out | The Lord Mayor of Death | Murder Begets Murder — Contributor — 2 copies
Death in a Cold Climate | The Grub-and-Stakers Move a Mountain | Passing Strange (1981) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Long Journey Home | Someone At The Door | The Grub-And-Stakers Quilt A Bee (1985) — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- MacLeod, Charlotte
- Other names
- Craig, Alisa
- Birthdate
- 1922-11-12
- Date of death
- 2005-01-14
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Art Institute of Boston
- Occupations
- mystery novelist
copywriter
advertising executive - Organizations
- Crime Writers' League
- Awards and honors
- Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement(1998)
Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award (1992) - Short biography
- Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, is the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she has also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.
- Nationality
- Canada (birth)
USA (naturalized) - Birthplace
- Bath, New Brunswick, Canada
- Places of residence
- Bath, New Brunswick, Canada
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Maine, USA - Place of death
- Lewiston, Maine, USA
- Map Location
- USA
Members
Reviews
I adored the late Charlotte MacLeod’s Kelling series so, so much that I devoured all 12 books and only wish she’d lived to write a dozen more. So when my book club, the Great Escape, suggested Rest You Merry, the first novel in MacLeod’s Peter Shandy series, as our December read, no one was more enthusiastic than I.
Curmudgeonly bachelor Peter Shandy’s a tenured professor of agrology at Balaclava Agricultural College in Balaclava Junction, Massachusetts. While he’s gone, the wife show more of his best friend, an interfering, overbearing woman named Jemima Ames, turns up dead in Shandy’s living room. Police declare Mrs. Ames’ death an unfortunate accident that occurred when she was trying to take down Shandy’s vulgar Christmas display; however, neither Shandy nor Ames’ husband Tim buy that explanation. Rest You Merrydoesn’t rank with the Kelling books, but the mystery cozy was pretty good, and I immediately downloaded the next book in the series, The Luck Runs Out, from the library.
Special thanks to my Great Escape sisters for a chance to launch into yet another Charlotte MacLeod series. And with 10 books in the Peter Shandy series, I will be enjoying myself for years to come. show less
Curmudgeonly bachelor Peter Shandy’s a tenured professor of agrology at Balaclava Agricultural College in Balaclava Junction, Massachusetts. While he’s gone, the wife show more of his best friend, an interfering, overbearing woman named Jemima Ames, turns up dead in Shandy’s living room. Police declare Mrs. Ames’ death an unfortunate accident that occurred when she was trying to take down Shandy’s vulgar Christmas display; however, neither Shandy nor Ames’ husband Tim buy that explanation. Rest You Merrydoesn’t rank with the Kelling books, but the mystery cozy was pretty good, and I immediately downloaded the next book in the series, The Luck Runs Out, from the library.
Special thanks to my Great Escape sisters for a chance to launch into yet another Charlotte MacLeod series. And with 10 books in the Peter Shandy series, I will be enjoying myself for years to come. show less
I gave the late Charlotte MacLeod a chance to redeem herself after the slipshod ending of Something The Cat Dragged In and the utter silliness of The Curse of the Giant Hogweed. Thankfully, this sixth entry in the Peter Shandy mysteries returns to a better plotted mystery than the last two books, and the book maintains the cerebral humor that endears MacLeod’s books to her readers.
Professor Shandy is called on to investigate the drowning death that emulates that of Augustus Caesar show more Buggins, killed in 1904; both were murdered and sunk into Oozak’s Pond with pockets weighted with rocks. Unfortunately, no one can identify the newest drowning victim — except to note the astounding Buggins family resemblance. Two more murders follow immediately thereafter, but Shandy, with the help of his wife and “demon reporter” Cronkite Swope, manage to solve the crime. A fun read and a return to former glory. show less
Professor Shandy is called on to investigate the drowning death that emulates that of Augustus Caesar show more Buggins, killed in 1904; both were murdered and sunk into Oozak’s Pond with pockets weighted with rocks. Unfortunately, no one can identify the newest drowning victim — except to note the astounding Buggins family resemblance. Two more murders follow immediately thereafter, but Shandy, with the help of his wife and “demon reporter” Cronkite Swope, manage to solve the crime. A fun read and a return to former glory. show less
Sarah and Max are hosting the wedding of Max’s nephew Mike and his bride Tracy at their house by the ocean; it is a perfect day - that is, until someone somehow places the long-lost Kelling ruby parure amongst the wedding gifts, a corpse-smelling person appears in the same room but isn’t dead and, soon enough, Max goes missing. And that’s only the beginning of their troubles….This is the last of the Sarah Kelling mysteries; it is, unfortunately, marred by numerous repetitions of show more plots in previous books, not to mention a villain almost a carbon copy of the penultimate book in the series. It is known now that Ms. MacLeod was suffering from dementia by this time, so those gaffs are excusable, and in spite of her affliction, she was still capable of writing a ripping good yarn. I especially liked Max’s ordeal, and some of the zinging dialogue as well (for example, Aunt Mabel makes a scene by telephone, and when Max suggests that Sarah give her something or another, Sarah replies that she would not give Aunt Mabel “a pleasant look.” Ouch.) Although I’m sorry the series had to end on such a flat note, relatively speaking, I’m still very glad to have met Sarah Kelling, Max Bittersohn and their assorted friends and relatives; they have provided me with hours of enjoyment, for which I thank the author; recommended. show less
I simply can’t get enough of the late Charlotte MacLeod’s Peter Shandy series! In the third installment, Peter Shandy, professor of agrology at Balaclava Agricultural College in Massachusetts, investigates the improbable death of Spurge Lumpkin, the dimwitted farmhand for 105-year-old Hilda Horsefall and her 82-year-old nephew. Soon he’s looking into a string of accidents at the Horsefall farm that locals attribute to a curse from a newly found rune stone and Shandy attributes to a show more conspiracy of malevolence and greed.
All of the names in this cozy mystery are just as fanciful as Lumpkin’s and the Horsefalls’, lots of the situations and events are simply over the top, and western Massachusetts seems more overrun with Scandinavians than North Dakota or Minnesota. But readers won’t care because MacLeod’s novel contains a tight plot and such delightful dialogue, slyly humorous turns of phrase, and winsome characters. I never guessed who the perpetrator was. I can’t wait to launch into No. 4, Something The Cat Dragged In. show less
All of the names in this cozy mystery are just as fanciful as Lumpkin’s and the Horsefalls’, lots of the situations and events are simply over the top, and western Massachusetts seems more overrun with Scandinavians than North Dakota or Minnesota. But readers won’t care because MacLeod’s novel contains a tight plot and such delightful dialogue, slyly humorous turns of phrase, and winsome characters. I never guessed who the perpetrator was. I can’t wait to launch into No. 4, Something The Cat Dragged In. show less
Lists
Comfort Reads (1)
Christmas Books (2)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 60
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 12,187
- Popularity
- #1,925
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 218
- ISBNs
- 492
- Languages
- 3
- Favorited
- 16