Early life and education
Ann Granger was born inTeacher and visa clerk
Realizing that it would take some time to develop a steady income as a writer, Granger instead taught English for a year in France. She then went to work in the visa sections of BritishWriter
After returning to England, Granger turned her hand to writing, and produced the historical romance ''A Poor Relation'' in 1979. Between 1982 and 1991, Granger produced several more historical romances.Mitchell & Markby
In 1991, Granger made the decision to switch to crime novels, saying, "Basically, there is only one plot in love stories: You can describe it in different ways, but you always come back to the subject of man and woman. Crime fiction opens up a world of possibilities for the writer. It lets you tackle deep and difficult issues." Her first crime novel, ''Say it with Poison'', centred on the protagonists Meredith Mitchell, a consular clerk, and police officer Alan Markby. The book proved popular and Granger wrote 14 more Mitchell & Markby novels between 1991 and 2004. During the series, Mitchell and Markby became romantically involved, but Granger resisted marrying them, believing that Meredith Mitchell could only work best as an independent woman. She finally married them in the final novel of the series, ''That Way Murder Lies'' (2004). A young police officer, Jessica Campbell, made an appearance in this novel — Granger would make her the protagonist of a new series four years later. In 2022, Granger added one more Mitchell & Markby novel featuring the now-retired couple, ''Deadly Company''.Fran Varady
In 1997, Granger began her second detective series with ''Asking for Trouble'', featuring a very different protagonist, Fran Varady, an out-of-work and temporarily homeless actor. Granger explained, "I wanted to write about someone who is in a completely different situation than Meredith Mitchell: Meredith has a great job, a house, a car, a nice boyfriend, etc. - Fran has nothing. She is totally unattached." Over the next ten years, Granger wrote seven Fran Varady novels.Lizzie Martin & Ben Ross
In 2006, as Granger was winding down the Fran Varady series, she wrote ''A Rare Interest in Corpses'', set in Victorian England in the 1860s and featuring Lizzie Martin, a companion to a wealthy widow, and Ben Ross, a police inspector. Although Granger had resisted marrying Mitchell and Markby in her first crime series, she had Martin and Ross marry very early in this series, reasoning that "Due to the restrictions on single women at the time, Lizzie wouldn't have had the freedom to be a detective in a whole series of books. Likewise, she and Ben shouldn't be allowed to spend much time together unsupervised." From 2008 to 2023, Granger added eight more novels to the series.Campbell & Carter
In 2009, Granger returned to the modern world with ''Mud, Muck and Dead Things'', a novel set in theShort stories
In 2021, in recognition of thirty years of crime novels, Granger released a collection of eighteen short stories, ''Mystery in the Making''.Awards and recognition
In 1999, Granger was inducted into the prestigiousBibliography
Historical romances (selection)
*'' A Poor Relation'' (1979) *'' Summer Heiress'' (1982) *'' The Garden of the Azure Dragon'' (1986) *'' The Unexpected American'' (1989) *'' A Scandalous Bargain'' (1990) *'' False Fortune'' (1991)Mitchell & Markby mysteries
*''Say It With Poison'' (1991) *'' A Season for Murder'' (1991) *'' Cold in the Earth'' (1992) *'' Murder Among Us'' (1992) *'' Where Old Bones Lie'' (1993) *'' Flowers for His Funeral'' (1994) *'' A Fine Place for Death'' (1994) *'' Candle for a Corpse'' (1995) *'' A Word After Dying'' (1996) *''Fran Varady mysteries
*'' Asking for Trouble'' (1997) *'' Keeping Bad Company'' (1997) *'' Running Scared'' (1998) *'' Risking It All'' (2001) *'' Watching Out'' (2003) *'' Mixing With Murder'' (2005) *'' Rattling the Bones'' (2007)Ben Ross & Lizzie Martin mysteries
*'' A Rare Interest in Corpses'' (2006) *'' A Mortal Curiosity'' (2008) *'' A Better Quality of Murder'' (2010) *'' A Particular Eye for Villainy'' (2012) * ''The Testimony of the Hanged Man'' (2014) * ''The Dead Woman of Deptford'' (2016) * ''The Murderer's Apprentice'' (2019) * ''The Truth-Seeker's Wife'' (2021) * ''The Old Rogue of Limehouse'' (2023)Campbell & Carter mysteries
*'' Mud, Muck and Dead things'' (2009) *'' Rack, Ruin and Murder'' (2011) *'' Bricks and Mortality'' (2013) *'' Dead in the Water'' (2015) *''Rooted in Evil'' (2017) *''An Unfinished Murder'' (2018) (featuring Mitchell & Markby) *'' A Matter of Murder'' (2020) *''Death on the Prowl'' (Audio book released Dec 2024 in UK)Short story collections
*''Mystery in the Making'' (2021)References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Granger, Ann 1939 births Living people English crime fiction writers Alumni of the University of London Members of the Detection Club English women novelists British women mystery writers