On this date 200 years ago, two great legends were born into this world: Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. This anniversary falls just barely three weeks after we celebrated the 200th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe--it seems that 1809 was a legendary year. No doubt there will be countless tributes to President Lincoln around the U.S. today, and Janet Rudolph had a birthday preview profiling Lincoln as the author of a mystery short story.
But what of the controversial and often misunderstood Darwin? There are some who say that his On the Origin of Species (which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year with a Darwin Festival in July), is the biggest fantasy of all. Rather than dig into that debate, it seemed more appropriate to highlight the date with a look at scientists in mysteries, particularly those with protagonists (or major characters) who are naturalists, zoologists, biologists, botanists, or geologists, those areas of work Darwin touched upon. (Well maybe just a little bit of digging--check out this official word.)
Perhaps the most appropriate, thematically at least, was a pulp novel titled The Affair of the Scarlet Crab (Dodd Mean, 1937) by Clifford Knight which featured biologist/botanist Professor Huntoon Rogers in the Galapagos Islands. Out of print now, it's difficult to find.
Others include:
- Andrews, Sarah – A series featuring Emily Hansen, sleuth/geologist
- Andrews, Sarah - In Cold Pursuit (St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2007), featuring Valena Walker, a geology student. As you can tell from the author's two protagonists above, she's a geologist herself.
- Basnett, Andrews - Series with retired British botany professor E.X. Ferrars
- Brewer, Steve - Shaky Ground (May, 1997). Although the protagonist is a PI, the story involves a woman who wants to find her missing husband, a biologist with the University of New Mexico.
- Burley, WJ - Death in Willow Pattern (Walker, 1970), featuring Dr. Henry Pym, Dr Pym, a British zoologist and amateur detective.
- Campbell, RT - A series featuring the rotund old Scottish botanist and amateur criminologist, John Stubbs.
- May, Peter - A series with Enzo Macleod, Scottish forensic biologist based in France.
- MacLeod, Charlotte - Series featuring Peter Shandy, botany professor at Balaclava Agricultural College.
- Miller, Susan Cummins - A series featuring Frankie MacFarlane, a geologist based in Tucson, Arizona.
- Riggs, Cynthia – Victoria Trumbull, 92-year-old Martha’s Vineyard native, deputy police officer and naturalist.
- White, Randy Wayne - A series with Marion "Doc" Ford, ex-operative and marine biologist in Sanibel Island, Florida (the latest in the series is Dead Silence to be released in March).
For more, check out this listing of fiction and nonfiction works which feature or hinge upon Darwin and his legacy.
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