Leslie Ford Books In Order

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Publication Order of Colonel Primrose Mystery Books

Publication Order of Lt. Joseph Kelly Mystery Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Leslie Ford is a pen name used by renowned American writer Zenith Jones Brown for writing mystery and suspense novels. She used to write several other pseudonyms such as David Frome and Brenda Conrad. Author Ford was particularly popular for writing the Colonel Primrose Mystery series. The other successful mystery series written by her include the Major Gregory Lewis series and the Mr Evan Pinkerton Mysteries. Author Ford was born on December 08, 1898 in Smith River, California, United States. She received her education degree from the Washington University in Seattle. Ford got married in 1921 to Ford K. Brown. After her marriage, she took a job at the Washington University in the departments of Philosophy and Greek. At first, she was an assistant and then went on to become an instructor, followed by a teacher of the English subject. Author Ford was involved in the teaching field from 1921 to 1923. After leaving the teaching job, she became the assistant of the Circulation Manager and Editor of the Dial Magazine. For this particular job, Ford had to move to New York City.

It was in the year 1927 that author Ford decided to try her hand at writing stories. She started by working as a freelancer and used to work only in her spare times. At that time, Ford was employed permanently at the US Air Force as a correspondent in England and the Pacific area during the World War II. Author Ford is credited to have created the popular characters of Colonel John Primrose, Lieutenant Joseph Kelly, and Grace Latham. She is also known to have developed the characters of Inspector Bull and Evan Pinkerton, who are depicted as investigators trying to unravel the mysteries in and around London. All of her characters are shown getting involved in the attempts of solving mysteries. Most of her books are set at the time of the Second World War. Almost all the novels of author Ford were widely successful. They were highly appreciated by the readers of mystery stories for their unique contents and intriguing characters. Ford had managed to establish herself among the prominent novelists of the mystery genre. Her expertise in this field was praised by many critics and her fellow writers as well. The death of author Ford occurred on August 25, 1983.

The Colonel Primrose Mystery series written by author Leslie Ford is comprised of 16 books in total published between 1934 and 1952. Each and every novel in this series features the lead protagonist in the role of Colonel Primrose. Over the course of the series, Colonel Primrose is depicted as taking up a number of mysterious cases and solving them. He has the habit of catching the culprits and making them pay for their crimes. Author Leslie has done the settings of the plots mainly in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. In addition to Colonel Primrose, the other essential characters mentioned by the author include Senator Greer, Judy, Cecily Chapman, D.J. Durbin, Cass Crane, Courtney Durbin, Grace Latham, etc. The debut book of this exciting, cozy mystery series is entitled ‘The Strangled Witness’. This book was released in 1948 by the Popular Library publication after its initial release in 1934. Leslie has set the story in Washington and described the central characters in this book as Senator Greer, Lynn Ash, and Colonel Primrose.

As the story begins, Senetor Greer’s dead body is discovered from the study room of his house. He was about to renounce the public utilities’ support, but somebody murdered him before he could do that. After investigation, the Washington police learns that Senator Greer had enemies everywhere around him. It is also revealed that his life had become more of a political intrigue maze. As the investigation proceeds further, Lynn Ash’s name comes up in connection with Senator Greer. Lynn Ash is known to be a secret lobbyist for utility interests and was in association with Greer very closely. As the police approaches her for questioning, she is found dead in her own car. The killer strangled her in order to eliminate all loose ends in the Greer murder case. The case is handed over to Colonel Primrose as he is known to have solved some of the most difficult cases of mystery. He not only ends up solving the mystery, but also catches the killer. The race of cat and mouse finally comes to an end after Colonel Primrose’s involvement in the investigation, and thus, the political situation in the capital becomes stable.

Another exciting mystery book of the series is called ‘Reno Rendezvous’. It was also released by Popular Library in 1967, after its first publication in 1939. The main leads of this novel are depicted as Judy, Colonel Primrose, Sergeant Buck, and Grace Latham, and the setting takes place in Reno. As the story starts, Judy is introduced as a beautiful married woman. She appears to be deeply in love with her husband. But, she is unaware of the fact the man is not right in any sense. And when she finally realizes it, it brings a lot of problems in Judy’s life. She thinks of taking a speedy divorce with the hope that it will prove to be a permanent solution to all the problems. In order to have a change of mood, Judy decides to visit Reno. However, she had not idea that her casual trip would end up in a terrifying murder case. Judy fears the danger to her own life on foreign land. So, she takes the help of Colonel Primrose to investigate the case and eliminate the danger lurking on her head. Colonel Primrose uses all his expertise and hunts the murderer before he takes the life of another innocent person. Colonel Primrose is assisted in this investigation by his friend and faithful companion named Sergeant Buck. The two were headed back home after solving a case in California and had taken a temporary halt in Reno when they came across Judy’s case and learned that she was arrested as the prime suspect in the murder of her escort. When Colonel Primrose offers to help, Judy requests her to find the real killer and save her facing trial for a crime that she had not committed. And when Buck and Primrose succeed in doing so, Judy heaves a sigh of relief.

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