 Ann Waldron |
Ann Waldron of Princeton, author of five mysteries, including most recently The Princeton Imposter and A Rare Murder in Princeton, and twelve other books, has worked as a journalist and writer all her adult life. She grew up in Alabama and graduated from the University of Alabama, where she edited the newspaper, The Crimson White. Her first job was as a reporter for the Atlanta Constitution. She worked for the Tampa Tribune and wrote a weekly column for the St. Petersburg Times, which also appeared in the Miami Herald for a number of years. She was book editor of the Houston Chronicle from 1970 to 1975. Since moving to New Jersey, she has done a great deal of freelance work for magazines and newspapers. She has written book reviews for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Trenton Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She was the Inquirer’s regular weekly reviewer of children’s books for twenty-three years. She is the author of six novels for children aged nine to twelve and three nonfiction books for children: True or False? The Detection of Art Forgeries, Claude Monet and Francisco Goya. Her three biographies for adults are Close Connections: Caroline Gordon and the Southern Renaissance, published in 1987 by Putnam and still in print in paperback from the University of Tennessee Press; Hodding Carter: The Reconstruction of a Racist, Algonquin, 1983, also still in print; and Eudora: A Writer’s Life, Doubleday, 1998, Anchor paperback 1999. From the New York Times, February 4, 2007: "Sometimes it takes a stranger to spot the serpent in the gardens of suburbia. McLeod Dulaney, the protagonist in The Princeton Murders and other academic mysteries by Ann Waldron, is a Florida journalist who is offered a teaching job at Princeton after she wins a Pulitzer Prize. Although the petite widow is very much a Southern lady (to the point of sharing her recipe for baked grits), her outsider status gives her the perspective to spot the campus poisoner among her fellow academics." Whodunits? Whydoit? Princeton's Ann Waldron turns, belatedly, to mystery writing By CLARA PIERRE REEVES Special to The Times There must be some small part of the state of Alabama that didn't want Ann Waldron to settle up North. After 30 years in Princeton, the Southern accent remains powerful. Yet there is no "Steel Magnolias" inflection here, just one that's all her own: declarative and amused. Especially amused. Even over the phone Waldron sounds as though she's smiling. And who wouldn't be, at the release of a 15th book and third mystery novel? Even as seasoned a writer as Waldron can be forgiven for being a little astonished at her latest achievement, "Unholy Death in Princeton" (Berkley Prime Crime, 281 pages, $6.50, paper). This sprightly septuagenarian surprised herself by undertaking a notoriously tricky genre at the very height of a career that has produced nine children's books, four biographies and countless articles and reviews for magazines and newspapers. What made her take on mystery writing at a point in her career when she could have rested on her literary laurels? "I've always wanted to write mysteries," she replies. "After all, I've always been a big fan. I love Rex Stout and Agatha Christie. They and S.S. van Dine were favorites of mine growing up." (Van Dine wrote a popular series of detective novels featuring the brilliant Philo Vance.) It is a Monday afternoon and Waldron is sitting in my living room after a weekend on the road. "I drove to Annapolis where my son Tom and I both spoke at a book festival. He's just published 'The Pride of the Sea,' a dramatic account of a clipper ship that sank in the Caribbean, drowning four crew members including the captain." (Of her four children, Thomas is the one who inherited the literary gene. He has switched to free-lance writing after 17 years as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. A cup of tea seems to revive the writer--as it frequently does detective McLeod Dulaney, who appears in all three of the Princeton-based mysteries. I have become quite attached to McLeod's breezy personality and to her sterling qualities as an amateur sleuth. I'm therefore delighted to learn that she will carry on her valuable work: Waldron has a contract for two sequels. The next volume, set in the rare-book collection at the university's Firestone Library, has already been completed. But Waldron is still undecided on exactly where in town she will set the fifth book, and is also pondering the direction the story line should take. Why had she waited so long, I ask, to plunge into mystery writing, when her skill lay so obviously in that direction? "Life," she replies, looking amused. "Well," she hesitates, smoothing her khaki skirt in the only gesture that might be labeled "Southern demure" in the hour we've spent talking, "I did attempt one earlier, way back in 1965 when my husband Martin was opening The New York Times' office in Houston." Waldron says she has learned a lot about detective procedure from talking to police officers, who are universally accommodating. "I've found most law enforcement people to be incredibly nice. And the ones in Princeton have been especially helpful." One of the most congenial characters in all three of her mysteries is, in fact, Nick Perry, the Princeton Borough policeman on whom McLeod relies and on whom she appears to be developing a crush. If Waldron's skill as a fiction writer leads her to take pains with her supporting cast of characters, her curiosity as a reporter of fact has led her--in this most recent book in particular--to investigate some issues of some significant theological weight. The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gnostic Gospels and the Jesus Seminar all play prominent roles in "Unholy Death in Princeton." Religious fundamentalism makes an appearance, too, in the person of Roscoe Kelly, a seminary student who practices snake handling. And yes, this engaging hillbilly from Tennessee has brought his rattlers with him to Princeton. Theological radicals, ethical conservatives, gays and neo feminists are all put into play to discuss matters such as "inclusive language" in biblical translations, gay marriage and the ordination of gay clergy. Wasn't there a lot of research necessary for this novel? "Oh, yes!" Waldron exclaims. "But that's where my friend Virginia in Tallahassee was so helpful. She's married to a Presbyterian minister and she gave me many bits of information that helped to round out what I discovered by reading and talking to seminary faculty and staff." "Such as?" "Like the anecdote about seminary food, for example. You remember when one of the characters is talking about an uncle of his who was a seminarian after the Second World War? He said they were served the same thing every week, and on Wednesdays it was always macaroni and tomatoes, known as 'blood and guts.' One student, who had been shaken in his belief that the Bible was God's word verbatim, remarked that whereas he'd discovered that Moses didn't write the first five books of the Old Testament, nor did David write the psalms, there was one thing he could be sure about: If it was Wednesday night he would be served `blood and guts.'" Speaking of food, what about those recipes that appear at the conclusion of each of Waldron's mysteries? "My editor suggested I add them. They're all tried and true. I've used them myself." This fan can certainly vouch for the excellence of the veal stew in "Unholy Death to Princeton" -- and for the book itself. Princeton resident Clara Pierre Reeves is the author of two books on the sociology of fashion, two novels about medieval troubadours that were published in four languages in Europe, and many articles for newspapers and magazines. She teaches writing at New York University. --From The Times of Trenton, June 5, 2005 |
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