Pan Mac re-publishes mystery novels by Columbia academic

Pan Macmillan will re-publish books from the Kate Fansler series, penned by American feminist and academic Carolyn Gold Heilbrun under a pseudonym.  

The mystery novels inspired by Belibrun's own career at Columbia University will be published through Pan Mac’s digital imprint, Bello, from Thursday (22nd March). Eight titles in the series are being republished, retailing at £10.99 through print on demand, and £3.99 as e-books.

Publisher of Bello and the Macmillan Collector's Library, Harriet Sanders, acquired rights to the series from Trident Media in the US. 

Heilbrun, was born in 1926 and became a renowned feminist scholar and theorist and academic at Columbia University, where she would moonlight as the mystery writer Amanda Cross – shrouding her identity a secret in order to protect her academic career.

Her protagonist Kate Fansler, like Heilbrun, was an English professor, and all the mysteries explore issues of literature, feminism, academic politics, women’s friendships, and other social and political themes. The books were published between the 1960s and early 2000s “but the themes remain important topics today”, according to a Pan Mac spokesperson. In the UK the titles were originally published by the Virago in the 1970s and the 1990s.

Sanders said that in a "year of strong women" now was the right time to reissue the series.

She said: "Bello are always on the lookout for really high quality crime writers who have gone out of print but who deserve an audience and The Kate Fansler series ticks all the boxes.  And now is absolutely the right time to publish her.

"Kate Fansler is a professor and an amateur sleuth who uses her intellect to solve crimes. She’s a strong, feminist female character who’s successful in all walks of life. So in a year of strong women, she fits the bill as does the author herself." 

The full list of eight books being re-released include: In the Last Analysis, The James Joyce Murder, Poetic Justice, The Theban Mysteries, The Question of Max, No Word From Winifred, A Trap for Fools and The Players Come Again.