Ruth Cavin News Today

This week, library historical staff unearthed an archive image of a Valentines queen and her court.

Caroline Todd was the pen name of Carolyn Watjen; Charles Todd is actually David Watjen. “Everyone respected that their books weren’t fluff, that they were about real history, about real people in a real time,” said Rhys Bowen, a mystery novelist. “They were one of the better mystery writers.”

Writing under the pen name Charles Todd, she and her son published nearly 40 mystery novels, all of them set in rural England just after World War I.

Why Barbara Neely Is Indeed a Grand Master By Oline H Cogdill Mystery fiction has been a major part of my life since I was a child. I’ve said so many times that I have never read a Nancy Drew or a Hardy Boys—I started with Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, etc. In the beginning, these were just entertaining stories, puzzles to figure out, characters who didn’t resemble anyone I knew. But as I got older, mysteries began to encompass new writers who introduced readers to different worlds. (Thank...