Anne George was an American author and poet, the receiver of Agatha Award for Best First Novel. She is best known for her Southern Sisters mystery series. All of her writing is greatly influenced by her surroundings - making Birmingham, Alabama center stage for her mysteries.
Background
Anne was born Anne Carroll Bell on December 4, 1927 in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. She was raised by her grandparents initially and moved to rural Lowndes County as a young girl. It was in her childhood that she became enamored with the detective stories - from the magazines in her grandparents' house.
Education
Upon graduating high school, Anne attended Judson College in Marion, Alabama and graduated in 1949 from Samford University with a degree in English and Spanish. Later she attended graduate school at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, earning an MA in English and Education in 1971.
Career
After marriage Anne moved to Birmingham, where she taught English for over two decades. She began her writing career with a book titled Wild Goose Chase, published by a small Alabama publishing house, Druid Press, in 1982. Six years later, George teamed up with Jerri Beck to edit the poetry anthology A Baker’s Dozen: Contemporary Women Poets of Alabama, also for Druid. This southern slate is also the setting for George’s mystery novels, which include Murder on a Girls’ Night Out, published in 1996.
She eventually published seven books in the series, with such titles as Murder on a Bad Hair Day, and Murder Shoots the Bull. Ahe was also a contributor to literary journals.
George died in 2001 of complications during heart surgery.