Zenith Brown was a best-selling mystery writer of the 1930s-1950s. She was out-of-print for years until a small publishing house recently reissued some of her books as e-books and paperbacks. She wrote primarily under the name Leslie Ford for her American-based novels and David Frome for her UK-based novels. Stories were often published in the "Saturday Evening Post." She published dozens of novels.
She wrote her first mystery about 1929 while living in London as the wife of a Rhodes scholar and young mother. A woman at a dinner party said she had received a generous contract for three mysteries. Zenith, who needed money, said, "I can do that too." And she did. Her first novel, "The Murder of An Old Man" was never published in the US but can be found at the Harvard University library.
She and her family returned to the US in the early 1930s and lived in Annapolis. Her husband was a professor/tutor at St. John's College. She lived in Washington briefly during WWII, but chiefly in Annapolis and sometimes in Baltimore* while her daughter was in school there. She had second homes first near Chestertown, MD on the Eastern Shore and later off Whitehall Road near Annapolis.
She wrote American based mysteries as Leslie Ford, notably the Grace Latham/Col. Primrose novels based in Georgetown, Washington, DC**. She brilliantly nailed both the Washington of long-time cave-dwellers and of politicians. Her portrait of political Washington still rings true. It is my impression that Latham and Primrose were based on romanticized portraits of herself and her husband. She was quoted as saying Sgt. Buck was based on a staffer at St. John's, and an interview implies that Grace Lantham's long time housekeeper Lilac was based on her own housekeeper. Sheila, Grace Latham's dog, was very likely her own Dr. Watson although the breeds were different.
She also wrote many stand-alone US-based mysteries.
Her UK-based novels were written as David Frome and feature the odd little Mr. Pinkerton and his friend, Humphrey Bull, a Scotland Yard detective. She said that he was based on the husband of her landlady in London.
Less frequently, she also published as Brenda Conrad and Zenith Brown.
Her novels tended to be rich travelogs of their settings. From the "Baltimore Sun" in 1946: "Background is of prime importance to Mrs. Brown. She always visits the scene of her story, absorbs the atmosphere, talks with the people, and collects picture postcards to remind her of the place long after she has returned to her third-floor den in Annapolis."
In the same interview, Mrs. Brown said: "The body is only a jumping-off point for the story. I look for no recherché method of murder. I am a believer in the blunt instrument school and only once did I resort to poisoning, a very simple poison. What makes the person commit the murder is more important to the story motivation than how he does it. Give me a good clean murder done quickly and then let us proceed to emotional complications." This is particularly interesting because the early paperbacks of her novels tended to have sensational covers featuring terrified young women that had little to do with the tone of the books.
Her novels give a picture of an upper class world and attitudes now gone.
She said that her books were trivial, perhaps comparing them to the literature that her husband taught.
***
* In 1937 she was living in Baltimore during the week and her apartment at 1101 St. Paul St. caught fire. She and her dog were taken out of the building on a ladder and the manuscript of her current novel "floated downstairs in water and (was) salvaged page by page by bystanders, plucked out of the stream of water being poured into the building."
** A current mystery-novel website presents her novels as if Col. Primrose was the main character rather than Emma Lathrop. He was not although their interactions and relationship are key to the novels.
She wrote her first mystery about 1929 while living in London as the wife of a Rhodes scholar and young mother. A woman at a dinner party said she had received a generous contract for three mysteries. Zenith, who needed money, said, "I can do that too." And she did. Her first novel, "The Murder of An Old Man" was never published in the US but can be found at the Harvard University library.
She and her family returned to the US in the early 1930s and lived in Annapolis. Her husband was a professor/tutor at St. John's College. She lived in Washington briefly during WWII, but chiefly in Annapolis and sometimes in Baltimore* while her daughter was in school there. She had second homes first near Chestertown, MD on the Eastern Shore and later off Whitehall Road near Annapolis.
She wrote American based mysteries as Leslie Ford, notably the Grace Latham/Col. Primrose novels based in Georgetown, Washington, DC**. She brilliantly nailed both the Washington of long-time cave-dwellers and of politicians. Her portrait of political Washington still rings true. It is my impression that Latham and Primrose were based on romanticized portraits of herself and her husband. She was quoted as saying Sgt. Buck was based on a staffer at St. John's, and an interview implies that Grace Lantham's long time housekeeper Lilac was based on her own housekeeper. Sheila, Grace Latham's dog, was very likely her own Dr. Watson although the breeds were different.
She also wrote many stand-alone US-based mysteries.
Her UK-based novels were written as David Frome and feature the odd little Mr. Pinkerton and his friend, Humphrey Bull, a Scotland Yard detective. She said that he was based on the husband of her landlady in London.
Less frequently, she also published as Brenda Conrad and Zenith Brown.
Her novels tended to be rich travelogs of their settings. From the "Baltimore Sun" in 1946: "Background is of prime importance to Mrs. Brown. She always visits the scene of her story, absorbs the atmosphere, talks with the people, and collects picture postcards to remind her of the place long after she has returned to her third-floor den in Annapolis."
In the same interview, Mrs. Brown said: "The body is only a jumping-off point for the story. I look for no recherché method of murder. I am a believer in the blunt instrument school and only once did I resort to poisoning, a very simple poison. What makes the person commit the murder is more important to the story motivation than how he does it. Give me a good clean murder done quickly and then let us proceed to emotional complications." This is particularly interesting because the early paperbacks of her novels tended to have sensational covers featuring terrified young women that had little to do with the tone of the books.
Her novels give a picture of an upper class world and attitudes now gone.
She said that her books were trivial, perhaps comparing them to the literature that her husband taught.
***
* In 1937 she was living in Baltimore during the week and her apartment at 1101 St. Paul St. caught fire. She and her dog were taken out of the building on a ladder and the manuscript of her current novel "floated downstairs in water and (was) salvaged page by page by bystanders, plucked out of the stream of water being poured into the building."
** A current mystery-novel website presents her novels as if Col. Primrose was the main character rather than Emma Lathrop. He was not although their interactions and relationship are key to the novels.
Zenith Brown was a best-selling mystery writer of the 1930s-1950s. She was out-of-print for years until a small publishing house recently reissued some of her books as e-books and paperbacks. She wrote primarily under the name Leslie Ford for her American-based novels and David Frome for her UK-based novels. Stories were often published in the "Saturday Evening Post." She published dozens of novels.
She wrote her first mystery about 1929 while living in London as the wife of a Rhodes scholar and young mother. A woman at a dinner party said she had received a generous contract for three mysteries. Zenith, who needed money, said, "I can do that too." And she did. Her first novel, "The Murder of An Old Man" was never published in the US but can be found at the Harvard University library.
She and her family returned to the US in the early 1930s and lived in Annapolis. Her husband was a professor/tutor at St. John's College. She lived in Washington briefly during WWII, but chiefly in Annapolis and sometimes in Baltimore* while her daughter was in school there. She had second homes first near Chestertown, MD on the Eastern Shore and later off Whitehall Road near Annapolis.
She wrote American based mysteries as Leslie Ford, notably the Grace Latham/Col. Primrose novels based in Georgetown, Washington, DC**. She brilliantly nailed both the Washington of long-time cave-dwellers and of politicians. Her portrait of political Washington still rings true. It is my impression that Latham and Primrose were based on romanticized portraits of herself and her husband. She was quoted as saying Sgt. Buck was based on a staffer at St. John's, and an interview implies that Grace Lantham's long time housekeeper Lilac was based on her own housekeeper. Sheila, Grace Latham's dog, was very likely her own Dr. Watson although the breeds were different.
She also wrote many stand-alone US-based mysteries.
Her UK-based novels were written as David Frome and feature the odd little Mr. Pinkerton and his friend, Humphrey Bull, a Scotland Yard detective. She said that he was based on the husband of her landlady in London.
Less frequently, she also published as Brenda Conrad and Zenith Brown.
Her novels tended to be rich travelogs of their settings. From the "Baltimore Sun" in 1946: "Background is of prime importance to Mrs. Brown. She always visits the scene of her story, absorbs the atmosphere, talks with the people, and collects picture postcards to remind her of the place long after she has returned to her third-floor den in Annapolis."
In the same interview, Mrs. Brown said: "The body is only a jumping-off point for the story. I look for no recherché method of murder. I am a believer in the blunt instrument school and only once did I resort to poisoning, a very simple poison. What makes the person commit the murder is more important to the story motivation than how he does it. Give me a good clean murder done quickly and then let us proceed to emotional complications." This is particularly interesting because the early paperbacks of her novels tended to have sensational covers featuring terrified young women that had little to do with the tone of the books.
Her novels give a picture of an upper class world and attitudes now gone.
She said that her books were trivial, perhaps comparing them to the literature that her husband taught.
***
* In 1937 she was living in Baltimore during the week and her apartment at 1101 St. Paul St. caught fire. She and her dog were taken out of the building on a ladder and the manuscript of her current novel "floated downstairs in water and (was) salvaged page by page by bystanders, plucked out of the stream of water being poured into the building."
** A current mystery-novel website presents her novels as if Col. Primrose was the main character rather than Emma Lathrop. He was not although their interactions and relationship are key to the novels.
She wrote her first mystery about 1929 while living in London as the wife of a Rhodes scholar and young mother. A woman at a dinner party said she had received a generous contract for three mysteries. Zenith, who needed money, said, "I can do that too." And she did. Her first novel, "The Murder of An Old Man" was never published in the US but can be found at the Harvard University library.
She and her family returned to the US in the early 1930s and lived in Annapolis. Her husband was a professor/tutor at St. John's College. She lived in Washington briefly during WWII, but chiefly in Annapolis and sometimes in Baltimore* while her daughter was in school there. She had second homes first near Chestertown, MD on the Eastern Shore and later off Whitehall Road near Annapolis.
She wrote American based mysteries as Leslie Ford, notably the Grace Latham/Col. Primrose novels based in Georgetown, Washington, DC**. She brilliantly nailed both the Washington of long-time cave-dwellers and of politicians. Her portrait of political Washington still rings true. It is my impression that Latham and Primrose were based on romanticized portraits of herself and her husband. She was quoted as saying Sgt. Buck was based on a staffer at St. John's, and an interview implies that Grace Lantham's long time housekeeper Lilac was based on her own housekeeper. Sheila, Grace Latham's dog, was very likely her own Dr. Watson although the breeds were different.
She also wrote many stand-alone US-based mysteries.
Her UK-based novels were written as David Frome and feature the odd little Mr. Pinkerton and his friend, Humphrey Bull, a Scotland Yard detective. She said that he was based on the husband of her landlady in London.
Less frequently, she also published as Brenda Conrad and Zenith Brown.
Her novels tended to be rich travelogs of their settings. From the "Baltimore Sun" in 1946: "Background is of prime importance to Mrs. Brown. She always visits the scene of her story, absorbs the atmosphere, talks with the people, and collects picture postcards to remind her of the place long after she has returned to her third-floor den in Annapolis."
In the same interview, Mrs. Brown said: "The body is only a jumping-off point for the story. I look for no recherché method of murder. I am a believer in the blunt instrument school and only once did I resort to poisoning, a very simple poison. What makes the person commit the murder is more important to the story motivation than how he does it. Give me a good clean murder done quickly and then let us proceed to emotional complications." This is particularly interesting because the early paperbacks of her novels tended to have sensational covers featuring terrified young women that had little to do with the tone of the books.
Her novels give a picture of an upper class world and attitudes now gone.
She said that her books were trivial, perhaps comparing them to the literature that her husband taught.
***
* In 1937 she was living in Baltimore during the week and her apartment at 1101 St. Paul St. caught fire. She and her dog were taken out of the building on a ladder and the manuscript of her current novel "floated downstairs in water and (was) salvaged page by page by bystanders, plucked out of the stream of water being poured into the building."
** A current mystery-novel website presents her novels as if Col. Primrose was the main character rather than Emma Lathrop. He was not although their interactions and relationship are key to the novels.
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