What do you think?
Mcleod Dulaney #1
The Princeton Murders
Professor McLeod Delaney gets her first course in crime as the hallowed halls of one of the world's great universities offers an unexpected education in murder. At Princeton, English professors are being targeted by an intellectual with a grudge.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 7, 2003
About the author
Ann Waldron
24 books18 followersAnn Waldron was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up on Cotton Avenue in West End. She went to Hemphill Grammar School and West End High School. She and her parents and older sister lived three blocks from the Vine Street Presbyterian Church, which they attended twice every Sunday and on Wednesday nights for prayer meeting. They spent summers on an 80-acre farm her parents owned in St. Clair County, near Cook Springs.
Ann was co-editor of her high school newspaper (the principal decreed that, although she was able enough, she was too much of a discipline problem to be the editor in chief). She did become editor of the Crimson-White, the student newspaper at the University of Alabama, from which she graduated in 1945. She attended Hudson Strode's creative writing class at the university and appeared in Blackfriars plays.
Her first job was with the Atlanta Constitution, where she was a reporter for two and a half years. It was there that she met her husband, Martin Waldron, who was then a student at Georgia Tech and who happened to see an advertisement for a copy boy's job on a bulletin board at Tech. He applied, got the job, and never looked back. He realized that he was destined to be a newspaper reporter, not an engineer, and he dropped out of Tech.
Martin later finished college at Birmingham-Southern while he worked for the Birmingham Post-Herald. Ann worked on The Progressive Farmer magazine. When Martin was hired by the Tampa Tribune the Waldrons, with their two children, Peter and Lolly, moved to Florida, where Martin first covered the citrus industry in Lakeland, and then the state capitol in Tallahassee.
The women's editor of the Tribune, knowing of Ann's journalistic experience, asked her to write a weekly feature on women in state government. By now there were two more children--Thomas William and Boojie (real name Martin Oliver Waldron III)--but she managed the one-day-a-week job happily. In fact, when she was in the hospital once, Martin wrote her column for her.
In 1960, the St. Petersburg Times hired both of them, but let them stay in Tallahassee. Martin led the team that did the series of stories exposing corruption in the management of the Florida Turnpike Authority that won the Times a Pulitzer Prize for Community Service.
Ann's column was still appearing in both the Times and the Miami Herald in 1965 when the New York Times hired Martin to open a bureau in Houston, Texas. The Waldrons moved to Houston, where Ann became book editor of the Houston Chronicle, and began writing children's books.
In 1975, the Times transferred Martin to New York and the Waldrons settled in Princeton. "We looked at suburbs on Long Island, Westchester County, Monclair, Red Bank, and Princeton, and we loved Princeton," Ann said. She took classes at Princeton University and went to work there as the associate editor of a quarterly magazine, University. She continued to write children's books, published six novels for young people, and wrote a book about art forgeries.
In 1981, Martin died, and Ann went to work fulltime for Princeton as the editor of its Campaign Bulletin. Children's books no longer held the same fascination for her--she wanted to do something different, and settled on a biography of Caroline Gordon. Biography seemed to be the ideal kind of book for her, since she could use research skills learne din journalism and bring people to life using some of the techniques of fiction I had learned. "Princeton University was an immensely helpful employer," she said. "My boss gave me every Wednesday afternoon off so I could do research in the library where Caroline Gordon's papers were held. Often in my travels for the Campaign Bulletin, I could do an interview for the biography as well."
http://www.annwaldron.com/bio.htm
Ann was co-editor of her high school newspaper (the principal decreed that, although she was able enough, she was too much of a discipline problem to be the editor in chief). She did become editor of the Crimson-White, the student newspaper at the University of Alabama, from which she graduated in 1945. She attended Hudson Strode's creative writing class at the university and appeared in Blackfriars plays.
Her first job was with the Atlanta Constitution, where she was a reporter for two and a half years. It was there that she met her husband, Martin Waldron, who was then a student at Georgia Tech and who happened to see an advertisement for a copy boy's job on a bulletin board at Tech. He applied, got the job, and never looked back. He realized that he was destined to be a newspaper reporter, not an engineer, and he dropped out of Tech.
Martin later finished college at Birmingham-Southern while he worked for the Birmingham Post-Herald. Ann worked on The Progressive Farmer magazine. When Martin was hired by the Tampa Tribune the Waldrons, with their two children, Peter and Lolly, moved to Florida, where Martin first covered the citrus industry in Lakeland, and then the state capitol in Tallahassee.
The women's editor of the Tribune, knowing of Ann's journalistic experience, asked her to write a weekly feature on women in state government. By now there were two more children--Thomas William and Boojie (real name Martin Oliver Waldron III)--but she managed the one-day-a-week job happily. In fact, when she was in the hospital once, Martin wrote her column for her.
In 1960, the St. Petersburg Times hired both of them, but let them stay in Tallahassee. Martin led the team that did the series of stories exposing corruption in the management of the Florida Turnpike Authority that won the Times a Pulitzer Prize for Community Service.
Ann's column was still appearing in both the Times and the Miami Herald in 1965 when the New York Times hired Martin to open a bureau in Houston, Texas. The Waldrons moved to Houston, where Ann became book editor of the Houston Chronicle, and began writing children's books.
In 1975, the Times transferred Martin to New York and the Waldrons settled in Princeton. "We looked at suburbs on Long Island, Westchester County, Monclair, Red Bank, and Princeton, and we loved Princeton," Ann said. She took classes at Princeton University and went to work there as the associate editor of a quarterly magazine, University. She continued to write children's books, published six novels for young people, and wrote a book about art forgeries.
In 1981, Martin died, and Ann went to work fulltime for Princeton as the editor of its Campaign Bulletin. Children's books no longer held the same fascination for her--she wanted to do something different, and settled on a biography of Caroline Gordon. Biography seemed to be the ideal kind of book for her, since she could use research skills learne din journalism and bring people to life using some of the techniques of fiction I had learned. "Princeton University was an immensely helpful employer," she said. "My boss gave me every Wednesday afternoon off so I could do research in the library where Caroline Gordon's papers were held. Often in my travels for the Campaign Bulletin, I could do an interview for the biography as well."
http://www.annwaldron.com/bio.htm
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 17, 2018
Started out pretty fun then spiralled into a typical cosy. Not bad, just blah. And she really had an unnatural dislike of Cosmopolitans
December 28, 2020
Stars: 3 / 5
My Recommendation: A cozy knit plot like a sweater that gives you a itch here and there but still keeps you warm. A straightforward mystery with some petty unique quirks, expected twists, mildly amusing, and pleasant read for those dull days.
The Princeton Murders in the first book in the McLeod Dulaney series by Ann Waldron, first published in January of 2003. It introduces the readers to McLeod Dulaney the protagonist of the series, and sets a stage for the future books in the series.
McLeod Dulaney is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist from Florida who comes to Princeton University in Princeton, NJ as a visiting lecturer. The stories in this series are the various cases that Dulaney investigates.
McLeod Dulaney arrives at Princeton University in New Jersey as a visiting lecturer. She gets invited to a string of faculty gathering during which she meets the rest of the department folks. She starts having a grand time knowing them as well as her students and her classes. All seems to go well until professors are dying like flies in a honey pot. And although no one believes her, she thinks they are being murdered. So McLeod with help of her students sets upon investigating the deaths.
We had a second outdoor social distancing book sale at the local library and I found a few treasures in the form of new authors and a few books of the authors I collect. Best part was it was a bag sale - meaning you buy a bag for $5 or $10 and fill as many books as you want in that bag. Me and my friend hauled three bags in total. I guess we are set for 2021 to entertain ourselves if this pandemic continues.
Ann Waldron was one of the new authors that I picked in that sale. In the beginning, it started off well, and to the way I expected a cozy mystery would be. Then few things happened that made me pause at continuing to read.
For instance, I found it a bit surprising that Waldron made her character McLeod a little shallow with regards to external appearances of other people. Several times she had McLeod critiquing a character who was fat or had some odd features in their face.
Then, I also felt that she was introducing a new character every couple pages and it felt hard to keep track of them. I have read book in long-running series by other authors where characters keep appearing from past books, or new ones crop up. But they seldom created as much confusion as Waldron did for me.
And then just before I tried to put it aside, I checked on the author. It came as a surprise to me that she started writing The Princeton Murder mystery series in her late seventies. She had been an accomplished writer until then but not in this genre. That actually cinched it for me to pick the book again as it made me wonder how one could begin a new path in their career at that very prime age. Made me rethink about my career path as well.
Waldron's McLeod at first reminded me of Jessica Fletcher from the famed Murder, She Wrote TV Show and later books (https://inspirethoughts.livejournal.c...). Specially when some portion of the plot resembled closely to a few of the episodes in the series - 1991 Night Fears, episode 2 from season 8; 1989 Class Act, episode 10 from season 6. But as the book progressed she morphed into Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple (https://inspirethoughts.livejournal.c...).
All in all the plot is tight and well-written despite the plethora of characters Waldron kept throwing at the readers. A cozy knit plot like a sweater that gives you a itch here and there but still keeps you warm. A straightforward mystery with some petty unique quirks, expected twists, mildly amusing, and pleasant read for those dull days.
Spoiler Alerts:
1. Plot Reveals:
a. Staff at Princeton University: Ginger Kingsley, executive director of the Council of the Humanities, & her husband Cliff; Frieda, Ginger's secretary; Mystique Alcott, novelist and a playwright; English Department professors Gertrude "Trudy" Sergeant, Elizabeth "Liz" Finley; Archibald "Archie" Alexander, John McPhee, Fred Harper; Dexter Kincaid, English Department Chair & his wife Margie; Assistant Professors Guy Peyton, John Pope, Ursula Barnes, Bob Dewey, Guadalupe Hutchinson, Grady Schuyler; Stephanie West, administrator of English Department; Jim Macy, public relations officer; Dr. Winchester.
b. McLeod's students: Ben True; Daisy Wood; Marcy Flowers; Lyle Cramer; Courtney Philips; Valentina "Tina" Martinez;
c. Law Enforcement: Public Safety on Campus - Sean O'Malley the director, Mr. Culkin the proctor; Borough Police - John Ives the chief of Borough Police, Captain Nick Perry chief of detectives, Officer Phil Vaccarella; Dr. Luther Scott the medical examiner;
d. Two attempts of murder happen on McLeod. And none could be confirmed as to who did that.
e. Media, Books & Cooking references:
i. Books: Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson's works; Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope;
ii. Waldron gives the readers four simple Faculty Brunch recipes at the end of the book; all of which had been made by her characters during the course of the plot. Of all of them I felt like trying Baked Grits. And Voila! The Baked Grits turned out pretty good.
2. Sub-Plots:
a. McLeod's colleagues and friends from the Star of Florida newspaper: Charlie Campbell, her boss, & his wife Prudence; Jim "Toe Sack" Burlap, oldest reporter; George Mackintosh, reporter from Newsweek; Oliver "Ollie" Hunt, New York Times reporter; Dr. Phyllis "Phil" Meriwether;
b. McLeod's family: daughter Rosie, a journalist; son Harry; mother;
c. McLeod is interested in writing a book on the works of John and William Bartrams, father-son pair of intrepid naturalists of Colonial times
3. Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:
a. On Pg. 30, one of the characters Daisy Wood is shown to have a piercing in her lower lip. However, On Pg. 76, Daisy shows her piercing on her chin instead.
b. On Pg. 48, Line 14, an extra open quote is seen in that line which is not needed.
c. On Pg. 81, in the beginning we see that four students take up the assignment - Ben, Marcy, Daisy & Tina - other than Lyle. However on Line 8 from bottom, Waldron writes that five students had taken up the assignment other than Lyle.
d. On Pg. 204, Mimi Howell mentions that she went back to Rome on Thursday. However in the following page, 205, she says that she went back to New Haven on Thursday.
e. On Pg. 256, Line 14, an extra open quote is seen which is not needed.
My Recommendation: A cozy knit plot like a sweater that gives you a itch here and there but still keeps you warm. A straightforward mystery with some petty unique quirks, expected twists, mildly amusing, and pleasant read for those dull days.
The Princeton Murders in the first book in the McLeod Dulaney series by Ann Waldron, first published in January of 2003. It introduces the readers to McLeod Dulaney the protagonist of the series, and sets a stage for the future books in the series.
McLeod Dulaney is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist from Florida who comes to Princeton University in Princeton, NJ as a visiting lecturer. The stories in this series are the various cases that Dulaney investigates.
McLeod Dulaney arrives at Princeton University in New Jersey as a visiting lecturer. She gets invited to a string of faculty gathering during which she meets the rest of the department folks. She starts having a grand time knowing them as well as her students and her classes. All seems to go well until professors are dying like flies in a honey pot. And although no one believes her, she thinks they are being murdered. So McLeod with help of her students sets upon investigating the deaths.
We had a second outdoor social distancing book sale at the local library and I found a few treasures in the form of new authors and a few books of the authors I collect. Best part was it was a bag sale - meaning you buy a bag for $5 or $10 and fill as many books as you want in that bag. Me and my friend hauled three bags in total. I guess we are set for 2021 to entertain ourselves if this pandemic continues.
Ann Waldron was one of the new authors that I picked in that sale. In the beginning, it started off well, and to the way I expected a cozy mystery would be. Then few things happened that made me pause at continuing to read.
For instance, I found it a bit surprising that Waldron made her character McLeod a little shallow with regards to external appearances of other people. Several times she had McLeod critiquing a character who was fat or had some odd features in their face.
Then, I also felt that she was introducing a new character every couple pages and it felt hard to keep track of them. I have read book in long-running series by other authors where characters keep appearing from past books, or new ones crop up. But they seldom created as much confusion as Waldron did for me.
And then just before I tried to put it aside, I checked on the author. It came as a surprise to me that she started writing The Princeton Murder mystery series in her late seventies. She had been an accomplished writer until then but not in this genre. That actually cinched it for me to pick the book again as it made me wonder how one could begin a new path in their career at that very prime age. Made me rethink about my career path as well.
Waldron's McLeod at first reminded me of Jessica Fletcher from the famed Murder, She Wrote TV Show and later books (https://inspirethoughts.livejournal.c...). Specially when some portion of the plot resembled closely to a few of the episodes in the series - 1991 Night Fears, episode 2 from season 8; 1989 Class Act, episode 10 from season 6. But as the book progressed she morphed into Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple (https://inspirethoughts.livejournal.c...).
All in all the plot is tight and well-written despite the plethora of characters Waldron kept throwing at the readers. A cozy knit plot like a sweater that gives you a itch here and there but still keeps you warm. A straightforward mystery with some petty unique quirks, expected twists, mildly amusing, and pleasant read for those dull days.
Spoiler Alerts:
1. Plot Reveals:
a. Staff at Princeton University: Ginger Kingsley, executive director of the Council of the Humanities, & her husband Cliff; Frieda, Ginger's secretary; Mystique Alcott, novelist and a playwright; English Department professors Gertrude "Trudy" Sergeant, Elizabeth "Liz" Finley; Archibald "Archie" Alexander, John McPhee, Fred Harper; Dexter Kincaid, English Department Chair & his wife Margie; Assistant Professors Guy Peyton, John Pope, Ursula Barnes, Bob Dewey, Guadalupe Hutchinson, Grady Schuyler; Stephanie West, administrator of English Department; Jim Macy, public relations officer; Dr. Winchester.
b. McLeod's students: Ben True; Daisy Wood; Marcy Flowers; Lyle Cramer; Courtney Philips; Valentina "Tina" Martinez;
c. Law Enforcement: Public Safety on Campus - Sean O'Malley the director, Mr. Culkin the proctor; Borough Police - John Ives the chief of Borough Police, Captain Nick Perry chief of detectives, Officer Phil Vaccarella; Dr. Luther Scott the medical examiner;
d. Two attempts of murder happen on McLeod. And none could be confirmed as to who did that.
e. Media, Books & Cooking references:
i. Books: Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson's works; Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope;
ii. Waldron gives the readers four simple Faculty Brunch recipes at the end of the book; all of which had been made by her characters during the course of the plot. Of all of them I felt like trying Baked Grits. And Voila! The Baked Grits turned out pretty good.
2. Sub-Plots:
a. McLeod's colleagues and friends from the Star of Florida newspaper: Charlie Campbell, her boss, & his wife Prudence; Jim "Toe Sack" Burlap, oldest reporter; George Mackintosh, reporter from Newsweek; Oliver "Ollie" Hunt, New York Times reporter; Dr. Phyllis "Phil" Meriwether;
b. McLeod's family: daughter Rosie, a journalist; son Harry; mother;
c. McLeod is interested in writing a book on the works of John and William Bartrams, father-son pair of intrepid naturalists of Colonial times
3. Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors:
a. On Pg. 30, one of the characters Daisy Wood is shown to have a piercing in her lower lip. However, On Pg. 76, Daisy shows her piercing on her chin instead.
b. On Pg. 48, Line 14, an extra open quote is seen in that line which is not needed.
c. On Pg. 81, in the beginning we see that four students take up the assignment - Ben, Marcy, Daisy & Tina - other than Lyle. However on Line 8 from bottom, Waldron writes that five students had taken up the assignment other than Lyle.
d. On Pg. 204, Mimi Howell mentions that she went back to Rome on Thursday. However in the following page, 205, she says that she went back to New Haven on Thursday.
e. On Pg. 256, Line 14, an extra open quote is seen which is not needed.
Read
September 8, 2014Mildly amusing, pleasant read set in the university of Princeton. I wonder what the university thinks?
This is a candy floss book suitable for dull days in bed with 'flu.
Well written with a tight plot and interesting characters it is a nice read for those who like whodunits without all the gore and four letter words.
Small town reporter, McLeod Dulaney, has won the Pulitzer prize fo journalism. Life plods on and the she is invited to Princeton to teach a class in writing journalism. The professors seem friendly until one and then another drop dead. How did they die and why? Our eager journalist investigates.
no star rating given until I can have a private system which does not affect the author's rating.
This is a candy floss book suitable for dull days in bed with 'flu.
Well written with a tight plot and interesting characters it is a nice read for those who like whodunits without all the gore and four letter words.
Small town reporter, McLeod Dulaney, has won the Pulitzer prize fo journalism. Life plods on and the she is invited to Princeton to teach a class in writing journalism. The professors seem friendly until one and then another drop dead. How did they die and why? Our eager journalist investigates.
no star rating given until I can have a private system which does not affect the author's rating.
June 21, 2011
I told my family at Christmas not to buy me new books, that they could wrap up a book they had read or buy a used book at a discount and give it to me and I'd be very happy. So my sisters thought to mock me by doing just that (in addition to giving me "real" presents). This was one of two used books they gave me.
I'm always wary of books that include recipes or knitting patterns; I always wonder if it's a way to make up for a weak story or poor writing. I'd say this book was okay-plus -- certainly better than the knitting mysteries I've read (although NOTE that the protagonist, McLeod Dulaney, does knit a sweater in the book) -- but I still nailed the killer very early on.
I'm always wary of books that include recipes or knitting patterns; I always wonder if it's a way to make up for a weak story or poor writing. I'd say this book was okay-plus -- certainly better than the knitting mysteries I've read (although NOTE that the protagonist, McLeod Dulaney, does knit a sweater in the book) -- but I still nailed the killer very early on.
August 22, 2011
I mourn the death of Ann Waldton. . . I just 'found' her Princeton Murders' series and know that, after I read the four remaining books, there will be no more. This book is set in New Jersey at Princeton University. The intricate plot keeps the reader guessing throughout the book. Pulitzer Prize winning reporter McLeod Dulaney of the Tallahassee Star is invited to teach a course at Princeton. She happily accepts. Intriqued by the quaint town, she settles in and makes friends. . . Unfortunately one friend dies unexpectedly with another within the week of liver damage. No one even thinks it could be murder except the Professor and her students. And the sleuthing begins. . .
November 9, 2013
A friend gave me this book (#1 in a series) to read. McLeod DeLaney is a Pulitzer-winning writer for the newspaper Star of Florida. She is asked to teach a one-semester course in investigative writing at Princeton, and somehow gets herself and her students involved in hunting down the killer of several faculty members. This is an easy-to-read straightforward mystery that you might enjoy.
December 12, 2019
This was pretty fun. I loved the fact that it was set in NJ. It could be a bit simple at times, but the mystery was good.
June 16, 2021
This is a real find at my used book store. Great mystery and wonderful background. I went back to the store and found 2 more of the mysteries. Really a good read.
October 19, 2021
Better than Ann Waldron's Unholy Death at Princeton, but not that much better. Enjoyed it, though, mainly because of the Princeton, NJ locales I know so well.
March 8, 2009
This was a lot of fun. Don't know anything about the campus at Princeton but the campus politics sounds a lot like any college campus I've ever been on, just on a bigger scale. The method of murder was a bit scary, and a little to easy to do and get away with, but our heroine manages to solve it all in good time. I'll be going on with this series, I like her writing and her characters.
August 12, 2010
The setting was the most interesting part of this droll mystery. I found it at a garage sale and picked it up because my son is off to Princeton this fall to pursue his doctorate. Learned a bit about NJ in the fall and the campus; the typos in the book were atrocious and the plot was cheesy!
August 18, 2008
What a disappointment. The premise was good, the location was great, the writing was ... horrible. The characters' reactions to their situations was completely unbelievable.
June 18, 2011
I finally went back and read the first one. Somethings make a little more sense, some don't. I will read some more of them.
July 31, 2014
Nice job of keeping the reader guessing and describing Princeton.
July 30, 2008
Great mystery.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews