Charlotte MacLeod explained
| Charlotte MacLeod |
| Pseudonym: | Alisa Craig |
| Birth Name: | Charlotte Matilda MacLeod |
| Birth Date: | November 12, 1922 |
| Birth Place: | Bath, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Death Date: | (Aged 82) |
| Death Place: | Lewiston, Maine |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Genre: | Mystery |
| Notableworks: | The Peter Shandy series |
Charlotte MacLeod (November 12, 1922 – January 14, 2005) was a Canadian-American mystery fiction writer.
Biography
Charlotte Matilda MacLeod was born in 1922 in Bath, New Brunswick, Canada, but emigrated to the United States in 1923 and became a naturalized US citizen in 1951. She attended the Art Institute of Boston. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, she worked as a copywriter for Stop & Shop Supermarkets in Boston. She eventually moved on to join the staff of N. H. Miller & Company, an advertising agency, where she rose to the level of vice president; she retired in 1982.
While continuing to work at the advertising company during the day, MacLeod began writing mystery fiction, eventually publishing over 30 novels. Many of her books are set in New England, including a series featuring university professor Peter Shandy, and another about Beacon Hill couple Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. Other mysteries, set in Canada, were published under the pen name Alisa Craig.
MacLeod tailored her books to fit into the cozy mystery genre, i.e. avoiding too much violence, gore, or sex while featuring a humorous and literate-yet-light style, likable protagonists, and eccentric casts of secondary characters.[1]
Her work sold over one million copies in the United States as well as Canada and Japan. MacLeod was co-founder of the American Crime Writers League and served as president. She received a Nero Award for The Corpse in Oozak's Pond in 1987,[2] which was also nominated for an Edgar Award.[3]
MacLeod began writing at 6 a.m. each day, continued through the morning, then used the afternoon for rewrites. She only started new books on Sundays. Although described as a "true lady" and often seen with hat and white gloves, while writing she would stay dressed in a bathrobe to avoid the temptation of leaving the house for an errand.[4]
MacLeod spent her final years in Maine. Toward the end of her years she suffered from Alzheimer's disease. She died on January 14, 2005, in a Lewiston, Maine nursing home.
Awards
In 1998, MacLeod received the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Awards for MacLeod's writing!Year!Title!Award!Result!| 1986 | The Plain Old Man | Anthony Award for Best Novel | Finalist | [5] |
| 1987 | The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond | Nero Award | Winner | [6] |
| 1988 | Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel | Finalist | [7] |
| 1989 | “A Cozy For Christmas” in Mistletoe Mysteries | Agatha Award for Best Short Story | Finalist | [8] |
| Vane Pursuit | CWA Last Laugh Dagger Award | Finalist | |
| 1992 | An Owl Too Many | Agatha Award for Best Novel | Finalist | |
| 1994 | Had She But Known: Mary Roberts Rinehart | Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction | Finalist | | |
Bibliography
As Charlotte MacLeod
- Mysteries starring Prof. Peter Shandy of (fictional) Balaclava Agricultural College & Helen Marsh Shandy, D.L.S.
- Rest You Merry (1979) [Revised and expanded from a short story, which became the opening chapter]
- The Luck Runs Out (1981)
- Wrack and Rune (1982)
- Something the Cat Dragged In (1984)
- The Curse of the Giant Hogweed (1985)
- The Corpse in Oozak's Pond (1987)
- Vane Pursuit (1989)
- An Owl Too Many (1991)
- Something in the Water (1994)
- Exit the Milkman (1996)
- Mysteries starring Sarah Kelling (Bittersohn) and/or art investigator Max Bittersohn, set among Boston's upper crust
- The Family Vault (1980)
- The Withdrawing Room (1981)
- The Palace Guard (1982)
- The Bilbao Looking Glass (1983)
- The Convivial Codfish (1984)
- The Plain Old Man (1985)
- The Recycled Citizen (1988)
- The Silver Ghost (1988)
- The Gladstone Bag (1989)
- The Resurrection Man (1992)
- The Odd Job (1995)
- The Balloon Man (1998)
- Stand-alone books
- Mystery of the White Knight (1964)
- Next Door to Danger (1965)
- The Fat Lady's Ghost (1968)
- Mouse's Vineyard (1968)
- Ask Me No Questions (1971)
- Brass Pounder (1971)
- King Devil (1978)
- We Dare Not Go A Hunting (1980)
- Cirak's Daughter (1982)
- Maid of Honor (1984)
- Grab Bag (1987) (short stories; including two featuring Bittersohn & Kelling, and one with Peter Shandy)
- It Was an Awful Shame and Other Stories (2002) (short stories; a reprint of Grab Bag including three additional stories, one featuring Bittersohn & Kelling)
- Correspondence
- Charlotte MacLeod Remembered: Letters from Charlotte (collection)[9]
- As editor (anthologies)
- Christmas Stalkings
- Mistletoe Mysteries
- Non-fiction
As Alisa Craig
- Mysteries starring Madoc Rhys of the RCMP & Janet Wadman Rhys
- A Pint of Murder (1980)
- Murder Goes Mumming (1981)
- A Dismal Thing to Do (1986)
- Trouble in the Brasses (1989)
- The Wrong Rite (1992)
- Mysteries starring Dittany Henbit Monk, of the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stakers Gardening & Roving Club
- The Grub-and-Stakers Move a Mountain (1981)
- The Grub-and-Stakers Quilt a Bee (1985)
- The Grub-and-Stakers Pinch a Poke (1988)
- The Grub-and-Stakers Spin a Yarn (1990)
- The Grub-and-Stakers House a Haunt (1993)
- Stand-alone books
- The Terrible Tide (1985)
- Poems of Faith (1989)
Awards and nominations
Notes and References
- Book: Lindsay, Elizabeth Blakesley . Great Women Mystery Writers . . 2007 . Westport, CT . 153 . 978-0-313-33428-3 .
- Web site: The Nero Award Winners—Chronological . The Wolfe Pack . The Wolfe Pack . December 8, 2018 . July 27, 2019 . April 3, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190403194430/http://www.nerowolfe.com/htm/literary_awards/nero_award/awardees_chron.htm . live .
- Web site: The Edgars Database . Mystery Writers of America . July 27, 2019 . July 31, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200731232503/http://theedgars.com/awards/ . dead .
- News: Oliver . Myrna . Charlotte MacLeod, 82; Author of 'Cozy' Mysteries, Juvenile Books . Los Angeles Times . B9 . January 19, 2005 . February 13, 2011 . July 27, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190727121346/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-19-me-macleod19-story.html . live .
- Web site: Charlotte MacLeod . 2024-05-12 . Stop, You're Killing Me! . 2024-05-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240506210623/https://stopyourekillingme.com/M_Authors/MacLeod_Charlotte.html . live .
- Web site: The Nero Award: A Literary Award for Crime Fiction. . 2024-05-12 . Crime Fiction Awards . 2023-09-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230907163602/http://www.awards.omnimystery.com/mystery-awards-nero.html . live .
- Web site: Category List – Best Novel . 2024-05-12 . Edgar® Awards Info & Database . 2023-04-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230421152603/https://edgarawards.com/category-list-best-novel/ . live .
- Web site: Agatha Awards . 2024-05-12 . Stop, You're Killing Me! . 2024-04-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240409222338/http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/Awards/Agatha_Awards.html . live .
- Web site: Charlotte MacLeod Remembered: Letters from Charlotte . Robert John Guttke . February 13, 2011 . July 24, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190724064145/http://www.cinemind.com/macleod/main.html . live .
- Web site: History of Guests of Honor and Anthony Award Winners . Bouchercon World Mystery Convention . . 3 April 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140713112456/http://www.bouchercon.info/history.html . 13 July 2014 .
- Web site: Anthony Awards Nominees: 2011 . Bouchercon World Mystery Convention . . 2 October 2003 . 3 April 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120207060829/http://www.bouchercon.info/nominees.html . 7 February 2012 .
