Sara Woods Books In Order

Publication Order of Antony Maitland Books

Publication Order of Richard Trenton Books

Publication Order of Jeremy Locke Books

Publication Order of Stephen Marryat Books

Sara Woods is one of the pen names used by legendary British writer Lana Hutton Bowen-Judd for writing mystery, thriller, and suspense stories. She is best known for writing the Anthony Maitland novels, featuring the main protagonist as an English barrister named Anthony Maitland. A few other pen names used by Woods throughout her career include Anne Burton, Margaret Leek, and Mary Chillis. They were used for writing the Richard Trenton books, Anne Marryat books, and the Jeremy Locke books respectively. Woods received support from her husband, Anthony George Bowen-Judd for writing several of her books. Author Woods was born as Eileen B Hutton on March 7, 1922, in Bradford, Yorkshire. She received her early education at the Sacred Heart Convent in Filey, Yorkshire.

At the time of the Second World War, Woods was employed as a solicitor’s clerk and as a bank clerk in London. These jobs allowed her to gain a lot of information that she later used to develop the plots of her mystery books. In April 1946, Woods married her Anthony G. Bowen-Judd and took his surname. Between 1948 and 1954, the couple was involved in breeding pigs on Anthony’s farm. In 1957, Woods relocated to Nova Scotia, Canada with her husband. There, she was employed as a registrar at St Mary’s University before leaving the job in 1964. Woods came up with her debut novel, Bloody Instructions, in 1961. It was also the first novel to feature the chief protagonist Anthony Maitland, who went on to appear in a total of 49 mysteries penned by Woods.

During the course of her writing career, Woods was an active member of the MWA, the English CWA, the Society of Authors, and the Authors League of America. She had also played an important role in the formation of the Crime Writers of Canada, where she served on the executive committee for several years. The last few years of author Woods were spent in the company of her husband in Ontario’s Niagara-on-the-Lake. She breathed her last on November 6, 1985, in Toronto, Canada. Though Woods lived in Canada for most of her life, she liked to set her books in her native country of England. Her creation of the lead characters Anthony Maitland, Richard Trenton, Anne Marryat, Stephen Marryat, and Jeremy Locke are liked by numerous critics even today. They are used by aspiring writers as inspiration for creating their own lead characters. Woods’s books are read with the same enthusiasm and loved by readers all over the world even today. The worldwide success of her mystery novels has kept her alive in the hearts of her fans and will make them to remember her for many more years to come.

The Anthony Maitland series written by author Sara Woods is comprised of 49 books, released between 1961 and 1987. Each book shows Anthony Maitland in the role of a barrister based in London who solves murders. Several essential characters created by Woods in this series include Joseph Dowling, William Cassell, Nicholas Harding, Gerry, Paul, Roddy Gaskell, Michael Godson, Fran Gifford, Mrs. Randall, Barbara Wentworth, Camilia Barnard, Brue Halloran, and many others. A popular book of this series is entitled ‘The Law’s Delay’. It was released by St. Martin Press in 1977. The book opens by showing that a woman named Ellen Gray is put on trial on charges of murder. Her case is defended in the court by Anthony Maitland. When the verdict of the jury comes out, it shocks both Anthony and Ellen.

The murder happened in 1965 and Anthony thinks the motivation behind the murder was a double-murder that took place in 1946. In that case, a jealous husband had shot dead his wife and her lover after coming from war duty and discovering their love affair. The historical details of the former case make Anthony doubt certain things. He wonders how can two murders take place in the same community in the same manner 20 years apart. To find more, he begins to interrogate the people of the close-knit community, most of whom were in their forties. The more questions he asks, the more intrigued he becomes to know more. As a result, Anthony Maitland ends up taking the role of a detective to get to the bottom of the mystery and save his client from a wrong judgment against her.

Anthony is supported in this task by his beautiful wife Jenny and also gets help from his good friend Roger Farrell. When it keeps getting more and more difficult to find clues and evidence, Anthony decides to take a different approach from the ones that he had used in the previous cases. In the end, he succeeds in finding and the culprit in a convincing and surprising situation, thereby, putting an end the mystery and making the judicial system drop all charges against Ellen Gray.

Another interesting book of this series is called ‘Proceed to Judgement’. It was also published by St. Martin’s Press in 1980. The primary characters depicted in this novel include Kevin O’Brien, Anthony Maitland, and Collingwood. Initially, it is shown that Kevin O’Brien gets a new case in which he has to defend a lady charged with killing her husband. A doctor is also charged with assisting the woman in the murder. The doctor is the family physician’s assistant and the prosecution claims that the woman and the doctor are having an affair. After getting briefed about the case and noting important details, Kevin O’Brien sets himself on an adventurous and unusual course. He approaches Anthony Maitland to ask for his counsel in defending the doctor.

Anthony knows that O’Brien actually wants his detective skills to unravel the mystery behind the murder. He finds the case to be complicated as well as somber. In order to prove the innocence of his client, Anthony needs to find prove that someone is guilty and provide proof. Accordingly, he begins his investigation. First, he starts by studying the personal life of his client and find out if he was really having an affair with the victim’s wife, as claimed in the prosecution report. Then, he goes on to indulge in a long court trial in which evidence and witnesses are provided from both sides. Finally, Anthony Maitland succeeds in uncovering the mystery and helping the authorities in catching the real culprit.