Charlotte MacLeod

• Born: November 12, 1922
• Birthplace: Bath, New Brunswick, Canada
• Died: January 14, 2005
• Place of death: Lewiston, Maine

Type of Plot: Cozy

Principal Series: Peter Shandy, 1978-1996; Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn, 1979-1998; Janet Wadman and Madoc Rhys, 1980-1992; Grub-and-Stakers, 1981-1993

Contribution

In her mysteries, Charlotte MacLeod created local communities that, along with her principal series characters, served as continuing elements within her fiction. Her development of these communities, with all their customs and eccentricities, the new residents who bring change, and the movement of minor characters into major roles in particular novels, made her work distinctive. To define these communities further, MacLeod used domestic detail, conveying realism and evaluating her characters’ states of mind by the states of their domestic circumstances. A love interest in each series culminates in marriage, indicating the importance of stability in the domestic sphere of her sleuths, amateur and professional. MacLeod’s portrayals of domestic detail and marital relationships to support the development of her characters places her in a company that includes Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Simpson, and Patricia Moyes, among others. The light touch MacLeod brought to her mysteries, in which humor and satire are as important to the overall effect of her work as the plot, further distinguished her fiction from that of her contemporaries and allowed her to present mysteries that were also comedies of manners.

MacLeod was a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Crime Writers of Canada. In 1992 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bouchercon convention and in 1998 she received the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement. She also received the Nero Wolfe Award for The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond (1987), and she was twice nominated for Edgar Allan Poe Awards and three times nominated for an Agatha Award.

Biography

Charlotte Matilda Hughes MacLeod was born in Bath, New Brunswick, Canada, on November 12, 1922, the daughter of Edward Philips MacLeod and Mabel Maude Hayward MacLeod. During her childhood, her family moved to the United States, and she attended public schools in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She then attended the School of Practical Art in Boston (now the Art Institute of Boston).

MacLeod began her professional career in advertising in 1952, working for N. H. Miller in Boston, where she remained until 1982. She worked as copy chief and eventually became a vice president in the firm. While working in Boston, MacLeod resided on Beacon Hill and later in Sudbury, a small town west of Boston. There, she was a member and officer of the Sudbury Garden Club. After leaving N. H. Miller, MacLeod moved to Maine.

By the age of ten, MacLeod had decided that she would write mysteries for young readers because she could not find enough of them to read. MacLeod first began publishing fiction and articles in popular magazines in the 1960’s. Her early fiction was written primarily for teenagers, and many of these works are mysteries. One of her juvenile mysteries, We Dare Not Go A-Hunting, published in 1980, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

MacLeod began writing her better-known mystery fiction for adult readers in the late 1970’s and quickly attracted a reading audience that enjoyed her “witty and literate” style. In addition to writing, she did illustrations and paintings. MacLeod died on January 14, 2005, at the age of eighty-two in Lewiston, Maine.

Analysis

About her own mystery fiction, Charlotte MacLeod commented, “My murders are simple, old-fashioned affairs using weapons that might be found in any well-appointed home: plant poisons, quicklime, contaminated food, bed pillows.” Most of the crime and detection in MacLeod’s novels occurs in the domestic scene. Her approach to the domestic life is marked by humor and satire; while a few of her novels reflect the dark side of life in a community, most focus on amusing incidents and social relationships that are temporarily disrupted by murder. In her novels, the perpetrators are often obvious and the solutions at times implausible, but these are not the central elements in her work. MacLeod presented comedies of manners in which verbal wit and social foibles and faux pas often take center stage. Her writing supports the structure of the comedy of manners by relying on marriage as a means of reestablishing stability in the community. MacLeod used each series to allow character development: The personalities of continuing characters evolved as new novels appeared. Thus, the characters were not fixed at the time of their first appearances, and in the course of each series, many characters changed from being types to becoming rounded and interesting figures. While developing the personalities of her continuing characters, MacLeod also allowed the identities of the particular community in each series to emerge, revealing local folklore, customs, and values that influence the crimes and the solutions.

Mystery fiction is often regarded as a literature of reassurance and conformity, and this is the case for MacLeod’s writings. In her various series, MacLeod established secure relationships for her sleuths and returned communities to a sense of well-being at the end of each mystery. She provided few gory details, and though suspense was created through the use of the unknown, it did not culminate in moments of violence. MacLeod’s use of the domestic and her humorous touches in each series contributed to the positive outlook on the world that her mysteries convey. For the fictional worlds that MacLeod created, murder is merely a momentary diversion in the development of social relationships and the satirizing of those who cannot laugh at their own foibles.

Rest You Merry

MacLeod’s first series, featuring Peter Shandy as an amateur sleuth, began with Rest You Merry (1978). Reflecting traits that suggest Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, Peter Shandy enjoys puns and plays on words, collects literary obscurities, and displays a few “Shandyisms” of his own, including his proclivity for counting everything he sees and beginning statements with “M’yes.” Peter serves as a moral center for his community at Balaclava Agricultural College, a fictional institution in western Massachusetts, though he sometimes overestimates the self-serving motives behind other people’s actions. In his first appearance, he is a staunch bachelor, but when the librarian Helen Marsh arrives on the campus to catalog the library’s Buggins collection, she brings an end to his bachelor days and works with him to solve two murders that have marred Balaclava’s Christmas extravaganza of holiday lighting and winter sport. Under Helen’s influence, Peter becomes less priggish and allows more of his sense of humor to show. By the novel’s end, the couple are involved in a budding romance.

The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond

By the time Peter and Helen appear together in The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond, they have settled into a comfortable marriage and often work together to solve cases, using Helen’s research skills and knowledge of the Balaclava Buggins collection to turn up clues related to the town’s and the college’s past. The efficiency of their household and the details of their domestic life serve as a means of contrasting the chaos and disintegration that mark the home life of many criminals and their victims.

While developing the character of Peter Shandy in this series, MacLeod also defines the town-and-gown world of Balaclava College. She draws heavily on humor to present the sources of conflict found in academic life—the struggle for funding, the need for grants, the prima donna personalities of some faculty members, and the unbelievable eccentricities of others, including the school’s president, Viking-like Thorkjeld Svenson and his equally imposing wife, Sieglinde. MacLeod’s work reveals a realistic appreciation for the less-than-idyllic nature of college life and for the tensions that exist between a college and its host community.

To convey continuity and development in her setting, MacLeod includes information about new members of the faculty and new residents in town. When Professor Joad joins the chemistry department and moves onto the Crescent, where almost all college faculty live, Peter consults him on a case and makes him part of the investigating team. MacLeod also allows characters to provide background information on the town’s past, as Grace Porbles does in The Corpse in Oozak’s Pond, recalling incidents and details from her childhood. This sense of change and growth in the community is accompanied by the development of minor characters, the best example of which is Police Chief Fred Ottermole. In the first few books in the series, Ottermole is a flat character whose principal function is to serve as a foil for Peter; as the series continues, however, Ottermole gradually becomes more perceptive and more likable, with his own particular quirks and mannerisms. The presence of a community that provides a context for the mysteries but does not remain a fixed and static place has helped to make this series a favorite among reviewers of MacLeod’s work.

The Family Vault

In her second series, MacLeod follows a method similar to that in the Shandy series, though the setting and the types of characters are markedly different. MacLeod again focuses on domestic activity and social relationships as the substance of the Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn series and creates a continuing community made up of Sarah’s family, her boardinghouse tenants, and Max’s family. Not all the books in this series, however, reflect MacLeod’s usual humor and lightness. With its implications of human cruelty and deception, the first book, The Family Vault (1979), is a much darker novel than any in the Shandy series. There is little laughter in Sarah Kelling’s life, other than that evoked by wry observations and black humor regarding the family’s morbid enjoyment of funerals. In this novel, Sarah is married to a fifth cousin, Alexander, a man a generation older than she is, who treats her “like his child instead of his wife.” Their relationship is further hampered by Alexander’s mother, Caroline, a cruel and vindictive woman whose dark secrets have brought the once-wealthy family to the brink of financial collapse. Much of this first book focuses on the signs of disintegration apparent in the Kellings’ domestic life as Sarah makes do for meals and entertaining, uses worn-out linens and clothing, and finds plaster falling on her while she bathes. The only bright moment in the course of the novel comes with the appearance of Max Bittersohn at a dinner party; Sarah finds herself attracted to him in part because he treats her like a human being and an adult. They work together to solve the mystery of an old murder that has present-day consequences, but Sarah is still held within the bonds of her marriage and her family ties. Her release from this entrapment comes with the death of her husband and mother-in-law in a car accident, and with her new independence, Sarah begins to develop her own character.

The Kelling and Bittersohn novels feature two communities: Beacon Hill and the North Shore (north of Boston), especially Ireson’s Landing, where the Kellings own summer estates and members of Max’s family run businesses. In this series, family members who have minor roles in early novels, including Sarah’s uncles Dolph and Jem and her cousin Brooks, later become central figures within particular mystery cases. All these cases revolve around Boston’s upper-class society and the world of art, making use of Sarah’s knowledge of society and Max’s expertise in the area of art fraud and theft. In this series, the satire is directed toward the upper class, poking fun at their foibles, their snobbishness, their traditions, and the silliness of their preppy nicknames—such as Miffy, Biff, and Lassie. Even activities and props become a part of this continuing community, as Dolph’s recycling center, which is first mentioned in The Withdrawing Room (1980), becomes a focal point in The Recycled Citizen (1987) and the George Romney portrait of a Kelling ancestor mentioned in The Palace Guard (1981) becomes central to The Plain Old Man (1985). Family members also provide love-interest subplots for a number of the mysteries, and Sarah often succeeds in matchmaking for many of them.

The Bilbao Looking Glass

The novels that continue this series reveal both the changes in Sarah’s character, first as she must struggle to make her own way in the world and then in the development of her relationship with Max, who becomes a tenant in her brownstone boardinghouse on Beacon Hill. While allowing the introduction of a wider range of characters and social classes, the boardinghouse also presents an opportunity for MacLeod to expand Sarah’s personality and her abilities as an amateur sleuth, though this is slow to happen. As Sarah gains experience being around people who come from different backgrounds, she becomes more self-reliant and finds that she is able to stand up to her family and assert her own views. When she appears in The Bilbao Looking Glass (1983), the fourth book in the series, Sarah realizes that she is not “little Sarah” anymore, and she finds that with an adult perspective on life there is more room for humor.

The growth in Sarah’s character is facilitated by her relationship with Max Bittersohn, which quickly evolves into one of the love interests in the series. Max’s Jewish middle-class background and strong family ties to the North Shore are gradually revealed through the first four novels in the series. Max functions as a “one-man detective agency” and enjoys a freedom of movement based on his class status and his expertise in the field of art fraud. Sarah is sometimes envious that Max is accepted in places where she is not, and she must painfully confront the issue of anti-Semitism among her own family and associates when she announces her engagement to Max in The Bilbao Looking Glass. Though obstacles appear, Max and Sarah do marry, again establishing the pattern of stability and domestic order that has become a mainstay in MacLeod’s fiction. The two books that follow their marriage reflect little character development and are hampered by a thinness of plot, but at the end of The Recycled Citizen, Max and Sarah have their first child, suggesting that their roles will continue to change.

The Balloon Man

The Balloon Man (1998) was the last of the Kelling and Bittersohn novels to be published. In it, Sarah and Max’s son, Davy, is three years old and has become the central focus of their lives. The couple has recently moved into a new house that replaces the memory-laden Kelling home at Ireson’s Landing. Once again, themes of Sarah’s unhappy past ride in tension with the joyous and supportive network of family and friends that now surrounds her. The action involves stolen gems (part of the old Kelling estate), two kidnappings, and the aid of Sarah’s eccentric uncle Jem and his butler. It also involves many passages in which Sarah reminisces about her first marriage, marking a sort of transition in which she is finally able to put her first husband’s ghost to rest.

Janet Wadman and Madoc Rhys Series

Writing as Alisa Craig, MacLeod set two of her series in Canada. The first, featuring Janet (pronounced “JEN-net”) Wadman and Madoc Rhys, takes place in New Brunswick, with two of the books set in and around Janet’s hometown of Pitcherville. Here, as in her other series, MacLeod takes as many pains to establish the identity of the community as of her characters. Many of the aspects of life in Pitcherville are revealed through the thoughts and insights of Janet Wadman, the amateur sleuth who suspects murder when an elderly neighbor dies of food poisoning in the opening novel of the series, A Pint of Murder (1980) . Janet draws on her knowledge of country life and customs to analyze the events that occur, and her knowledge of family histories proves helpful to Madoc Rhys of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when he appears to conduct the official investigation. MacLeod uses the character of Rhys to undercut the stereotyped image of the Mounties, as Madoc looks less like “Renfrew of the Mounted” than he does “an unemployed plumber’s helper” in his rumpled clothes and baggy pants. The relationship that develops between Janet and Madoc is important for its reinforcement of middle-class values. In Murder Goes Mumming (1981), the habits and behaviors of the wealthy Condrycke family are satirized and at times openly ridiculed, while Janet and Madoc agree that they will live “mostly . . . on [his] weekly pay packet.” Their marriage and lifestyle develop further in A Dismal Thing to Do (1986), which also presents a less straitlaced Janet whose self-reliance and powers of observation support Madoc’s investigation of bootlegging and possible espionage.

Grub-and-Stakers Series

The other Canadian series focuses on the Grub-and-Stake Gardening and Roving Club of Lobelia Falls, Ontario, and its most active member, Dittany Henbit. Like MacLeod’s other series, this series presents a domestic relationship at its center as Dittany marries Osbert Monk (also known as the author Lex Laramie). His attitude toward the domestic is used in this novel as a test of worthiness: Osbert says that he loves Dittany’s kitchen with its old-fashioned pantry exactly as it is, thus winning Dittany’s approval and her heart. Dittany and Osbert assist Sergeant MacVicar in his efforts to solve local crimes, often serving as temporary deputies. This is the lightest of MacLeod’s series of mystery novels, and though murder occurs, wordplay and farce rule the stories.

Principal Series Characters:

• Peter Shandy , an agriculturalist and college professor, is in his late middle ages when he first appears as the developer of the Balaclava Buster, a prize rutabaga. He ages a little in the course of the series and marries Helen Marsh, a librarian who is Shandy’s twin in temperament. A calm and quiet man, Shandy has strong moral convictions and enjoys a display of wit and repartee. His keen observations and his love of counting anything and everything are often the means by which he detects important clues.
• Sarah Kelling , a Boston Brahmin in her mid-twenties, is made a widow in the first book in which she appears. In the early books in the series, she lacks self-confidence and is easily cowed by those around her and by tradition, but her character develops greater strength and assurance in the course of the series. She develops a relationship with and eventually marries private investigator Max Bittersohn.
• Max Bittersohn , Sarah’s husband, is a private investigator who specializes in art theft and art fraud. His middle-class upbringing allows him to move more comfortably in the greater world than Sarah; thus, he serves to balance Sarah, whose view of the world is more limited.
• Janet Wadman is a perceptive amateur who relies on her knowledge of the past and of local people to gain insights into cases. She holds to her strong moral convictions, though these at times make her appear overly straitlaced. Her character grows in the series as she becomes more self-reliant and less judgmental. Her confidence develops in part through her marriage.
• Madoc Rhys , Janet’s husband, a Welshman who has become a Mountie, is assisted by Janet in his cases.
• Dittany Henbit Monk is the principal member of the Grub-and-Stake Gardening and Roving Club, a women’s social organization in Lobelia Falls, Ontario, which fosters a love of gardening and of archery. Dittany is the energetic amateur sleuth who mobilizes other club members for worthy causes while engaging in her own investigations. She frequently calls on Sergeant MacVicar of the local police to assist her.

Bibliography

DeCandido, GraceAnne A. Review of The Balloon Man, by Charlotte MacLeod. Booklist 95, no. 2 (September 15, 1998): 203. Although the reviewer objects to MacLeod’s persistent whimsy, she says the novel will appeal to those who can set aside their skepticism.

Lindsay, Elizabeth Blakesley, ed. Great Women Mystery Writers. 2d ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007. Contains an essay on McLeod that examines her work and her life.

Long, Tom. “Charlotte MacLeod, Author of More than Thirty Mysteries.” Boston Globe, January 21, 2005, p. C21. Obituary of MacLeod that looks at her distinctive personality, penchant for white gloves and elaborate hats, and childhood influences and motivations for being a writer.

Oliver, Myrna. “Charlotte MacLeod, Eighty-two: Author of ’Cozy’ Mysteries, Juvenile Books.” Los Angeles Times, January 19, 2005, p. B9. Obituary that notes how the MacLeod’s ladylike manner and white gloves fit the cozy genre. MacLeod, who lived in Maine, was regarded by some as the inspiration for Jessica Fletcher in the Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) series. Contains substantial biographical information.

Publishers Weekly. Review of The Balloon Man, by Charlotte MacLeod. 245 (November 2, 1998): 73. This brief review praises the zaniness of the novel’s events and MacLeod’s witty urbanity.

Publishers Weekly. Review of Exit the Milkman, by Charlotte MacLeod. 243, no. 27 (July 1,1996): 45. This brief review praises MacLeod’s whimsy and wit in the Shandy novels.

Reddy, Maureen T. “The Female Detective: From Nancy Drew to Sue Grafton.” In Mystery and Suspense Writers, edited by Robin Winks. New York: Scribners, 1998. This detailed study offers insight into a variety of female detectives, both hard-boiled and amateurs like MacLeod’s Sarah Kelling. Bibliography.

Routledge, Chris. “Detective Fiction.” In St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. This basic essay offers an overview of the conventions of detective fiction through the centuries, concentrating on the subgenres of the subject. Sheds light on MacLeod’s work. Bibliography.