death_date death_place birth_place pseudonym nationality birth_date image article_title name occupation
22 december 2003 norwalk , connecticut , united states crossville , tennessee , united states mercedes lambert american 17 february 1948 douglas anne munson.jpg douglas anne munson
 douglas anne munson attorney , teacher , novelist
douglas anne munson

douglas anne munson -lrb- february 17 , 1948 - december 22 , 2003 -rrb- was an attorney , teacher , and author of four critically acclaimed novels .
she published three of those novels under the pseudonym of mercedes lambert .
douglas anne munson was born in crossville , tennessee on february 17 , 1948 .
she was named douglas by her father in honor of his brother douglas who died in world war ii .
as the daughter of a newspaperman , douglas 's childhood was spent moving from town to town before her family finally settled in southern california .
douglas attended the university of new mexico , where she majored in latin american studies , and lived for a year in ecuador .
after attending law school at ucla , douglas became an attorney in the los angeles criminal courts .
most of her legal career was spent in dependency court .
dependency court is where children who have been removed from their parent 's custody because of severe abuse , neglect or abandonment move through the legal system .
it 's a niche of the judicial system with a high burn-out rate .
in 1990 , douglas published a novel called `` el niño '' with viking press .
the book was well received by critics and douglas went on to publish two mystery novels with vikingunder the name of mercedes lambert , `` dogtown '' in 1991 and `` soultown '' in 1996 .
these books feature two women detectives : whitney logan , fresh out of law school , and lupe ramos , a chicana prostitute .
drawn into webs of corruption and deceit , whitney and lupe move through the multicultural landscape of southern california .
their relationship underlines the cultural friction in los angeles at the end of the 20th century .
`` los angeles is the greatest city for crime fiction because of all the conflicts and potential for conflict .
we start out on a precarious footing , trembling on the brink of natural disaster .
then we take hundreds of thousands of people who did n't get along in their countries of origin , add that to an entrenched , angry and frightened group of people who do n't want them here , throw in a santa ana , a few random insane murderers and pedophiles and then turn the whole thing over to studio executives and the lapd .
it 's like a woman with bad skin piling on a lot of makeup .
things are going to get ugly before the night is over . ''
douglas anne munson , los angeles magazine , 1996 in the mid-1990s , douglas had three well-regarded books published .
she was teaching creative writing and journaling at ucla .
los angeles magazine , in an article on the hottest la mystery writers , included her in a group composed of michael connelly , walter mosley , james ellroy , and robert crais .
despite growing recognition and accomplishment , douglas was struggling to stay afloat .
as the caseload in dependency court grew , she became less able to endure the suffering she witnessed daily .
in 1996 , douglas resigned from the courts and quit teaching .
she moved briefly to bainbridge island in washington state to complete the third whitney logan novel , `` ghosttown '' .
during this time she traveled back-and-forth to san francisco to earn a credential to teach english abroad .
after completing `` ghosttown '' , douglas sent it to her agent .
she learned a month later the publisher had rejected the book , mainly over creative differences .
after trying unsuccessfully to reshape the book into a completely different work , douglas stopped writing completely and accepted a position in the czech republic teaching english to soldiers , missionaries , and mink farmers .
in 2001 , douglas discovered a lump in her breast .
she had successfully fought breast cancer while writing `` el niño '' in the late 1980s .
fearing the cancer had returned , douglas returned to the united states to seek medical treatment in connecticut .
when the tests were conclusive , she was given six months to live .
she outlived that prediction , and was able to make one last visit to the czech republic in december 2003 before dying on december 22 , 2003 at a hospital in norwalk , connecticut .
four years after her death , `` ghosttown '' , the third and final whitney logan mystery , found a publisher with five star mystery ; in the spring of 2008 , the first two whitney logan mysteries -- `` dogtown and soultown '' -- will be reprinted in a single edition by stark house .
