I have just finished rereading the third mystery novel by Patricia D. Cornwell. Her stories keep me turning the pages at a fast clip, and “All That Remains” did it again. There is no plodding plot, and the twists are probable.
A graduate of Davidson College with a degree in English, she published her first novel, “Postmortem,” in 1990, and her next novel will be released in November, 2014. As of last year, Cornwell’s books have sold some 100 million copies in thirty-six languages in over 120 countries. She’s authored twenty-six New York Times bestsellers.
An interesting fact about Patricia Cornwell I just found out is that she is a descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Others obviously are her followers, also; she is a master writer of crime novels. She leads her readers, as well as her characters, on time-sensitive chases to find criminals. It is in the microscopic details that Dr. Kay Scarpetta unties each crime.
Cromwell’s title of “queen of crime” is well-deserved. “Do no harm & leave the world a better place than you found it.”
said Cromwell, and her writing continues to roll out the red carpet to her readers.
Gwen Bristow was born in Manning, SC in 1903, and her protagonists are all strong and independent women who were not afraid of adventures.
The sassy heroine Celia Garth helps the Continental forces by spying for their cause working in a Tory dress shop in Charleston, SC during the Revolutionary War. Fear of the enemy stimulates
A New York City debutante marries a prairie trader in “Jubilee Trail,” and this is only the beginning of a saga about the old west.
Garnet, that debutante, is described by her father, “He thought about the people who had come before them. The Huguenots, the Scottish Dissenters, the English pirates who had stormed up and down the coasts of the American colonies until they got old and virtuous and finally settled down on shore. [He] thought sometimes that a good many of the people who were heroes after they were dead must have been great nuisances while they were alive.”
Who would ever have thought that heroes might have been nuisances at one time? Characters are thoughtful in their observations of others in her writing.
Bristow’s historical novels paint our country with defining strokes in its history. “You are not required to start over, but you are required to keep going., said Bristow. Her characters give readers a snippet of advice on how this is done.
If you haven’t read either of these authors, I recommend them both. Women’s History Month is a good time to start!
Sheila Ingle 