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Portrait of John D. MacDonald Photo: Ray Fisher/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images (1977)

Sample of authors

MacDonald, John D.

The American author John Dann MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania. His father (who was of Scottish ancestry) pursued a career at the Savage Arms Corporation. When he was offered a promotion in 1926, the family moved to Utica, New York, where his son attended high school, graduating as late as in 1932 on account of a bout of scarlet fever in 1928-29. During his illness, MacDonald read...

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Literary figures

Maud Silver

Gender: Female

The former governess has a small pension, so she works part-time as a private detective – with success. She solves cases in a suite of whodunnits by Patricia Wentworth (pseudonym for Doris Amy Dillon Turnbull). Miss Maud Silver is a determined lady with a sharp tongue who can quickly deal with pompous men. She has mouse-brown hair with a bit of grey, smooth skin, neat facial features, is a s...

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