Marian Babson: R.I.P.

Mystery author Marian Babson passed away recently at the age of 88. American born, Marian Babson, whose real name was Ruth Stenstreem, lived in London for most of her life. She wrote traditional mystery novels from 1971 onward. She also served as secretary to the Crime Writers’ Association.  She was a full-time writer whose many interests included theatre, cinema, art, cooking, travel, and, of course, cats, which feature in many of her mystery books. Her first published work was Cover-Up Story in 1971. In all she wrote over 45 mysteries. The publisher's tagline for her style is "Murder Most British," a style reflected in each of her novels. She was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library in 1996.

I was lucky to meet her several times over the years at Malice Domestic (she took the QEII/she didn't fly) and in England. I remember a particular lively train trip in 1987 when she took me to a CWA meeting in St Albans. Such fun.

You might be interested in this link to a real crime story that involved Marian in 2015. "Award-winning American Crime writer who has penned almost 50 whodunnits solves her own crime after discovering her carer stole 27,000 pounds from her bank account."  And this was at age 86!

Here's a link to her books. I'll be re-reading her Christmas book The Twelve Deaths of Christmas (1979) this week.

R.I.P., Marian