The woman behind 'Princeton Murders'

"Halloween dawned bright and clear. ... every shade of orange and yellow and red and scarlet and pink... The whole thing added up to an autumnal palette that astonished McLeod every day. It was worth coming to Princeton for a semester just to see this, she thought."

It's no surprise that McLeod Dulaney, the fictional protagonist of "The Princeton Murders," should be so enamored of the gorgeous vistas of a fall day in Princeton. After all, her creator, novelist Ann Waldron, has spent the past 30 years reveling in the beauty of the campus and of the town. Princeton made the perfect setting for a series of mysteries, Waldron said. She explained that the notion of crime taking place in Princeton makes for a tantalizing possibility because it is seems to be the last place in the world where there could be any disruption to the serene mode of life. "It's so contradictory," she said. "It's a peaceful place, with the connection to Fitzgerald, the battlements ... There's been one murder in Princeton Borough since I can remember, and I've lived here for 30 years."

Waldron is the author of a series of five mystery books set in Princeton. "The Princeton Murders" was first published in 2003; since then, Waldron has published one "Princeton mystery" a year through January 2007, when she released "The Princeton Imposter."

All five novels feature the same protagonist: McLeod Dulaney, a journalist from Tallahassee invited by the Humanities Council to teach a special seminar at Princeton. Dulaney is a sharp woman with a soft Southern accent and a flair for writing not only articles but also recipes — quite similar, in fact, to Waldron herself.

When I asked Waldron about her resemblance to her protagonist, however, she laughed and responded in a sugary drawl, "McLeod is not me. She's younger and cuter and smarter than I am."

Still, Waldron is, like Dulaney, a true Southern lady displaced in a Yankee's world. Originally from Birmingham, Waldron graduated from the University of Alabama in 1945. After college, she wrote for the Atlanta Constitution, where she met her husband, Martin Waldron. The Waldrons both worked as reporters for many years in Tallahassee and in Houston, and Ann began writing children's books on the side in the '60s. In 1975, when Martin was transferred to the New York office of The New York Times from his previous post at the Times' Houston bureau, the couple and their four children moved to Princeton.

Waldron said that she and her husband considered settling in other New York suburbs, but when they drove into Princeton from a motel on Route 1 on a spring morning to meet with a real estate agent, they knew that Princeton was the right place for them. It was a Saturday, she said, and driving past Lake Carnegie they saw the crew preparing for a regatta. "We were such hicks, we had never seen anything like that," she laughed. "It was just beautiful, and the pear trees were in bloom. We adored it."

Waldron continued to have accomplishments as a writer after her move to Princeton; she wrote more children's books and biographies of Caroline Gordon and Eudora Welty. Waldron also took classes at the University through the Continuing Education Program, and following her husband's death in 1981, she accepted a full-time job at the University's Communications Office.

It was not until Waldron published her first mystery novel, "The Princeton Murders," however, that she finally brought to fruition her childhood dream. "I always wanted to write a mystery," she said. "When I was a little girl in Birmingham, I used to slip into the adult room at the library, and I hid from the librarian at the desk. I discovered Agatha Christie and Nero Wolfe."

Waldron works dutifully to ensure that she paints Princeton as accurately as possible in her novels. "They take more research than I thought they would," she said. Waldron has spoken to the chief of Borough Police to understand their procedures. She's gotten to know the staff of the Rare Books Collection in Firestone, where "A Rare Murder in Princeton" takes place. For the setting of the closing scene of "Death of a Princeton President," she's taken a private tour of the University Chapel. Both the police chief and the chapel sexton have also suggested plot developments. "They're like community novels," Waldron laughed.

The mystery books have become popular in the Princeton area. "Most of my sales apparently are in Princeton," Waldron said. "At one point, four of my books were on the bestseller list at the U-Store."

Waldron is currently working on a non-mystery book project, but "it's bad luck to talk about it," she said. Still, she does plan to go back to mysteries eventually. "I'll always write. As long as I can have a keyboard I'll write."

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I asked Waldron as we concluded our interview what a mystery writer does on Halloween, and she responded with a bright, sunny laugh. "I like to have a pumpkin," she said. "And I like trick-or-treaters. Oh, and I have a witch's costume! I made it when my children were small. It's beautiful."

It somehow is just as contradictory to picture this sweet Southern dame turned into a witch as it is to envision Princeton's peaceful campus transformed into the scene of a mystery crime. Still, the contradiction just makes Waldron — and her novels —all the more enticing for those who know and love Princeton.