MacLeod, Charlotte

"The Bilbao Looking Glass" by Charlotte MacLeod Avon: 1983


I have read this author before. She writes what is termed "cozies" as explained below. This book is in the series of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn and is set before their marriage. I have found that I need this sort of book ever so often and as stated before it has to be written well and the mystery logical and well put together as well as likable characters that are well developed. MacLeod's books met this requirement very well.

Sarah Kelling is a recent widow who needs some rest from solving some mysteries in Boston. She goes to spend some time at her summer estate at Ireson's Landing. Art Investigator Max Bittersohn goes with her as her renter. He is going to live in the gatehouse while pressing Sarah to marry him. Sarah married her cousin Alexander, a man much older than herself but he died seven months prior. Ireson's Landing is full of her relatives and his since Bittersohn is also from that part of the world although not on the same side of the tracks.

Of course as in all murder mysteries, dead bodies follow the protagonist and one shows up hacked to death soon after their arrival along with the mystery of a antique Bilbao looking glass which shows up in her house. Along with eccentric relatives, amorous suitors and people all too happy to accuse Max of murder and theft of art objects. The pace is satisfactory and the conclusion ties up all ends well. There is humor and Sarah is plucky, fun and smart along with a handsome and intelligent fiance. It is a lot of fun and well worth reading on a cool autumn evening.


Name of author: Charlotte MacLeod AKA Alisa Craig

Dates of birth and death (if applicable): November 12, 1922 - January 14, 2005

Place of birth:Bath, New Brunswick, Canada,

Education: Art Institute of Boston

Literary movement associated with author:She specifically tailored her books to be "cozies", i.e. avoiding too much violence, gore, or sex. All feature a humorous and literate-yet-light style, likable protagonists, and eccentric casts of secondary characters.

Nationality: American citizen

Notable award(s) or ideas (s):MacLeod was co-founder and past president of the American Crime Writers League. She received a Nero Award for The Corpse in Oozak's Pond (1987), which was also nominated for an Edgar Award.

Books and years when published:

-- Mysteries starring Prof. Peter Shandy of (fictional) Balaclava Agricultural College [& Helen Marsh Shandy, DLS] --

• Rest You Merry (1979) -- Revised and expanded from a short story which became the 1st 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 Kelling Bittersohn and/or art investigator Max Bittersohn, set among Boston's upper crust --

• The Family Vault (1980)
• The Withdrawing Room
  

• 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)

-- Non-series books --

• Maid of Honor (1984)
• The Fat Lady's Ghost (1968)
• Ask Me No Questions (1971)
• Cirak's Daughter (1982)
• Grab Bag (1987) (short stories; including 2 about Max Bittersohn and Sarah Kelling, and one about Peter Shandy)
• It Was an Awful Shame and Other Stories (2002) (short stories; a reprint of Grab Bag but with 3 additional stories, including one about Max Bittersohn and Sarah Kelling)

As Alisa Craig:

-- Mysteries starring Madoc Rhys of the RCMP [& Janet (pronounced Jennet) 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)

-- [Other books] --

• The Terrible Tide (1985) (I believe this is a non-series story -- ??)

Short-story collections edited by Charlotte MacLeod:

• Christmas Stalkings
• Mistletoe Mysteries