RIP Charlotte Macleod

The longtime cozy mystery writer, who also wrote under the pen name of Ailsa Craig, has died at the age of 82:

LEWISTON, Maine– Mystery writer Charlotte MacLeod, whose specialty was the “cozy” mystery and whose protagonists were often amateur sleuths, has died at the age of 82.

MacLeod’s more than 30 novels sold in excess of 1 million copies in the United States and also drew followings in Canada and Japan.

MacLeod died Friday in a Lewiston nursing home, said her sister, Alexandria Baxter of Richmond.

Her books eschewed graphic violence, sex, gore and vulgar language.

“Shewrote specifically for people who did not want blood and guts, at least not a whole lot of it anyway,” said Baxter. “Everybody drank tea and ate molasses cookies. It was that kind of thing.”

She is survived by a sister and a brother.