McIntosh, Kinn Hamilton 1930–

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McINTOSH, Kinn Hamilton 1930–

(Catherine Aird)

PERSONAL:

Born June 20, 1930, in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England; daughter of Robert Aeneas Cameron (a physician) and V.J. McIntosh. Education: Attended school in Huddersfield, England.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Canterbury, Kent, England. Agent—c/o Justin Gowers Gillon Aitken Associates Ltd., 18-21 Cavaye Pl., London SW10 9RT, England.

CAREER:

Writer, novelist, and public speaker. Former chair, Sturry Parish Council.

MEMBER:

Girl Guides Association (chair of finance committee), Crime Writers Association (chair, 1990-91).

AWARDS, HONORS:

A Most Contagious Game was selected by Anthony Boucher as one of the thirteen outstanding mystery novels of 1967; recipient of honorary degree from University of Kent at Canterbury, 1985; made Member of British Empire, 1988.

WRITINGS:

"inspector c.d. sloan" series novels; under pseudonym catherine aird

The Religious Body, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1966.

Henrietta Who? (Mystery Guild selection), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1968.

The Complete Steel, MacDonald & Co. (London, England), 1969, published as The Stately Home Murder, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1970.

A Late Phoenix, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1971.

His Burial Too, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1973.

Slight Mourning, Collins (London, England), 1975, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1976.

Parting Break, Doubleday (London, England), 1977.

Some Die Elegant, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1979.

Passing Strange, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.

Last Respects, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1982.

Harm's Way, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1984.

A Dead Liberty, Collins, 1986, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1987.

The Body Politic, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.

A Going Concern, Macmillan (London, England), 1993, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1994.

After Effects, Macmillan, 1996.

Stiff News, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Little Knell, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2001.

Amendment of Life, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.

Hole in One, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2005.

novels

A Most Contagious Game, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1967.

other

The Story of Sturry (play), produced in Sturry, 1973.

Injury Time (short stories), St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1995.

Chapter and Hearse (short stories), St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2004.

Also editor, under name Kinn Hamilton McIntosh, of Sturry—The Changing Scene, 1972, Fordwich—The Lost Port, 1975, and Villages of the Stone Lathe, 1979.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kinn Hamilton McIntosh is a novelist who writes under the pseudonym Catherine Aird. Her forte is the murder mystery set in a small English village and solved by the diligent efforts of the local police. Although Pearl G. Aldrich in the St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers calls Aird's novels "period pieces," she admits that "there's an audience for period pieces—the leisurely, kinder, gentler crime novel."

Aird's first mystery novel, The Religious Body, tells of a nun who is murdered at a convent in a small English town. Inspector Sloan, unfamiliar with the lives of nuns, must also learn the ways of agricultural institute students when one of them is found murdered as well, apparently by the same killer.

Aird tells Salwak that she conceived Inspector Sloan as "somebody a little bit sarcastic but not destructively so, just enough to keep the edge of authority over his subordinates…. I sort of try to see him as the ordinary man who has had his neck breathed on a bit from above, is a bit disappointed by the chap underneath him. But I see him as filling sort of a symbolic role, a working policeman against all sorts of odds."

Sloan appears in a number of later Aird novels, along with his boss, Superintendent Leeyes, his assistant, Detective Constable William Crosby, and the pathologist Dr. Dabbe. In Henrietta Who? Sloan must discover just who the young girl Henrietta is when the woman she has assumed was her mother dies and the autopsy shows she has never had a baby. In A Late Phoenix, Sloan must identify a skeleton uncovered in a bombedout building left over from World War II.

Aird broke from her usual serious approach to crime with the humorous The Stately Home Murder. In this novel, the murder of a wealthy lord's archivist, who has apparently discovered embarrassing information about the lord's ancestry, sets into motion this parody of the traditional British country manor mystery. Aldrich calls The Stately Home Murder "an opera bouffe, complete with dotty aunts and cousins, three generations of a titled family, including a son born on the wrong side of the blanket—all, in effect, singing fortissimo. It's very funny, particularly the identity of the villain, and a tour de force for Aird."

Aird tells Salwak that, in her novels, "I am trying to postulate the age-old theory between right and wrong. Describing wrong and hoping that right is going to triumph. I think this is one of the reasons that I enjoy … detective fiction. It's very clear-cut….With fiction anyway, you can always have good winning. I don't think it happens in real life by any means, but it's rather nice to be able to have it happen in fiction."

Detectives Sloan and Crosby return in Stiff News, where they ply their sleuthing skills to investigate a series of suspicious deaths at Almstone Manor, a retirement home. A recently deceased resident, Gertie Powell, left a letter stating that a murderer was stalking the halls of Almstone, and Sloan and Crosby have to determine if her cautions were merely senile rantings or fair warnings. Curiously, every resident of Almstone has some connection to a little-known battle of World War II and to the Fearnfshires Regiment that fought there. Despite long-term connections as either family or colleagues, the other residents of Almstone cannot explain Gertie's recent second marriage, nor can they shed any light on her unexpected death. Booklist reviewer Emily Melton called the novel a "slow-paced, literate, witty, entertaining tale best suited for dedicated fans of the genre's intellectual, soft-boiled side." Sloan and Crosby "bring past and present together in a surprising conclusion," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor.

Little Knell is "another lively adventure in an undervalued series," commented Jenny McLarin in Booklist. Sloan and Crosby investigate a freshly-dead body which turns up in a 3,000-year-old mummy case bequeathed to a museum by a recently deceased colonel. The presence of a major drug trafficking ring in the area causes Sloan to suspect connections between the heroin dealers and the recent murder. Sloan eventually identifies the dead woman as Jill Carter, a local accountant who worked for Pearson, Worrow & Gisby. The detectives suspect a more-than-work connection between Carter and one of the firm's partners, Nigel Worrow, the last person seen with Carter. When not looking into Carter's death, Sloan and Crosby try to track a large shipment of heroin seized from fisherman Horace Boller, who is good friends with the seemingly innocent Kirk sisters, who run an expansive wildlife reserve where heroin traffickers could find many places to hide contraband. A local businessman, Howard Air, provides considerable financial support to the Kirk sisters' refuge, a fact which also piques Sloan's suspicions. In a review of the book, Publishers Weekly contributor described series character Sloan as "gently persistent and full of wry observations, no superman but all the more believable because of that." Rex E. Klett, writing in the Library Journal, called the novel "inspiring and entertaining."

Detective Sloan investigates the presence of a murder victim found in the center of a Tudor-era hedge maze in Amendment of Life. The body is first spotted by Daphne Pedlinge, who keeps an eye on the maze from her wheelchair in an upper floor of Aumerle Court. David Collins, partner in the lighting firm contracted to provide light and sound for the maze patrons and the Close of the bishop of Calleford, finds his attention drawn to more immediate matters when his young son falls ill. Worse, the murder victim at the center of the maze is Collins's wife, which throws suspicion on him as a potential murderer. Detective Sloan finds the case to contain every bit as many twists as a maze as he steadfastly plows forward in search of the truth and the murderer. A Library Journal reviewer called the novel an "excellent procedural addition," while Booklist contributor GraceAnne A. DeCandido labeled it "nicely crafted and very winning."

A partially buried corpse found in a sand trap on a golf course confounds Sloan and Crosby in Hole in One. The murder appears to be related to rival factions within the club, all of whom are interested in lucrative development rights to land surrounding the golf course. Klett, in another Library Journal review, called the book a "welcome addition" to Aird's Sloan and Crosby series. Reviewer Bill Ott, writing in Booklist, concluded that the "fans of Aird's Detective Chief Inspector Sloan series will find plenty to enjoy here" in a novel providing "solid series fare."

Chapter and Hearse is a collection of seventeen short stories featuring Detectives Sloan and Crosby. The tales include short police procedurals, espionage stories, and refined British cozies. Melton, in another Booklist review, commented favorably on the "charming diversity and cleverly constructed plots" of Aird's short stories.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

periodicals

Booklist, August, 1994, Stuart Miller, review of A Going Concern, p. 2025; August, 1996, Stuart Miller, review of After Effects, p. 1884; December 1, 1998, Emily Melton, review of Stiff News, p. 652; February 15, 2001, Jenny McLarin, review of Little Knell, p. 1118; January 1, 2003, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Amendment of Life, p. 854; January 1, 2004, Emily Melton, review of Chapter and Hearse, p. 829; July, 2005, Bill Ott, review of Hole in One, p. 1903.

British Medical Journal, October 19, 1996, Sarah Creighton, review of After Effects, p. 1020.

Library Journal, April 1, 2001, Rex E. Klett, review of Little Knell, p. 137; February 1, 2003, review of Amendment of Life, p. 122; January, 2004, Rex E. Klett, review of Chapter and Hearse, p. 164; August 1, 2005, Rex E. Klett, review of Hole in One, p. 59.

Publishers Weekly, July 11, 1994, review of A Going Concern, p. 66; July 31, 1995, review of Injury Time, p. 72; December 7, 1998, review of Stiff News, p. 55; February 19, 2001, review of Little Knell, p. 72.

Times Literary Supplement, June 1, 1990, Patricia Craig, review of The Body Politic, p. 593.