Gorman and Anthony Pass On

In recent days, we’ve been alerted to the deaths of two people quite well-known in the mystery-fiction community. The first was Mary Alice Gorman, who—with her husband, Richard Goldman—founded and owned the Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. She died on October 9, aged 74. As Mystery Fanfare’s Janet Rudolph remembers, Gorman “was a great supporter of the mystery community and a mentor, role model, and friend to so many.” The Gumshoe Site’s Jiro Kimura adds that Gorman and Goldman “were awarded the 2010 Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America as the owners of the Mystery Lovers Bookshop for ‘outstanding achievements and leadership contributions to the mystery genre.’” The store was purchased in 2018 by Oakmont residents Tara Goldberg-DeLeo and Kristy Bodnar.

Also having passed away, in her case at 92 years of age, is London-born British author Evelyn Anthony (aka Evelyn Bridgett Patricia Ward-Thomas). According to The Gumshoe Site,

She started her writing career after World War Two with short stories for women’s magazines. She wrote her first novel, Imperial Highness (Museum Press; U.S. title: Rebel Princess, Crowell), in 1953. After that she produced nearly a book a year, and in 1967 she switched from historical romances to spy thrillers, including The Tamarind Seed (Hutchinson, 1971), which was turned into the 1974 movie starring Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif. She created her series character, Davina Graham, a British spy during the Cold War, who appeared in four novels starting with The Defector (Hutchinson, 1980) and ending with The Company of Saints (Hutchinson, 1983 ...).

Editor Kimura says Anthony “died peacefully on September 25 at her home in Essex, England.”

READ MORE: “Evelyn Anthony Obituary,” by Danuta Kean
(The Guardian).