Marilyn and Maggie Remembered

Friends and fans of Marilyn Wallace will say their final good-byes to the mystery writer and editor at a memorial service in Corte Madera, California, this coming Sunday. Wallace died on July 29, at age 64, after a battle with breast cancer.

The author of the award-winning Goldstein and Cruz mysteries, and the editor of several Sisters in Crime anthologies, Wallace was most recently associated with The Gourdmother, which she penned under the pseudonym “Maggie Bruce.” Writing in the Book Passage newsletter, Wallace’s friend and fellow writer, Judy Greber, recalled:

Marilyn helped chart the course of the contemporary mystery novel by envisioning and then editing the landmark series of Sisters in Crime anthologies which introduced an entire generation of American female crime writers to readers everywhere.

Greber goes on to explain that The Gourdmother features “a protagonist who, like [Wallace], was both a professional mediator and a gourd artist. A sequel, Gourdfellas, will be published in March 2007. While writing these, she edited the Murder Most Crafty short story collection.”

Wallace’s memorial service will be held on November 19th, 5 p.m., at Book Passage (51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera). Wallace had requested that those attending wear bright colors as a way to remember her.

“We hope Sunday’s gathering will be what she wanted,” Greber wrote today on the listserv DorothyL, “a brightly-colored, informal event filled with good memories, good friends, music, pictures, a bit of wine and food, and lots of love.”