Some years ago the British Library started republishing forgotten Crime Classics and I started collecting them, of course. Since the beginning of this publishing project, I've discovered many new (old) authors and crime novels from the Golden Age of Crime novels. This was how I discovered E C R Lorac's novels.
E C R Lorac also wrote under the name of Carol Carnac and Mary le Bourne. She was born in 1894 as Edith Caroline Rivett, and during her lifetime she wrote almost 100 novels, mostly crime and detective fiction. But what I didn't know was that this excellent and prolific novelist lived much of her life in a village only a few miles away from us. Lorac, or Rivett, lived in Aughton.
Carol Rivett was a popular figure in Aughton, where she lived with her elder sister Gladys, while continuing to work productively as a detective novelist. To this day, she is remembered in the local community as spirited and strong-willed, a woman with a strong social conscience. Earlier this year, the current owner of Newbanks Cottage, Rivett's former home, worked successfully with Lancaster Civic Vision to install a blue plaque commemorating Rivett's life and work, at the Cottage.
On Friday we popped up to Aughton to seek out Newbanks Cottage and the blue plaque, and there it was! I was so thrilled!