Anna Clarke

Anna Clarke (28 April 1919 – 7 November 2004) was a British author of mystery novels popular in the United States and the United Kingdom. The novels belong to a subgenre known as the cosy mystery. Jack Adrian, writing for The Independent, says, "In classic 'cosy' territory the puzzle is all, and the sleuths, of both sexes, tend either to the genteel and spinsterish (variations of Miss Marple from Agatha Christie, and Miss Maud Silver from Patricia Wentworth), or to be fussbudget busybodies with loud, horsy laughs and pushy manners." In many of Clarke's later novels, the sleuth is Paula Glenning, a professor of literature. Glenning has been described as "an intellectual who solves crimes with research, dialogue, and brains rather than muscles and violence." She began writing mysteries after a long illness that interrupted her career, and her first success as a crime writer came in 1968, when she was 49 years old.

Clarke was a member of the British Federation of University Women, the Crime Writers' Association, and the Society of Authors. She married David Hackel in 1947, divorced in 1957, and died in 2004.