Anne Barton is the pen name of Dr. Florence Barton, a retired veterinarian and flight instructor. She attended university at McGill (Montreal) and Washington State, where she received the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with highest honors in 1957. She has practiced in the United States and in Penticton, BC. She has also worked part-time as a flight instructor for over 20 years.
Anne lives in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of British Columbia with her horse and five cats. She enjoys classical music and Shakespeareís plays as well as camping and stargazing. Anne is a member of the Anglican Church.
Autobiography:
Gone to the Cats. Lewiston, ID: Gem Press, 1984
Short story:
"Trip to Toronto" in Fireworks (an e-zine), 2001
"A Matter of Conscience", Fireworks, Summer 2003.
Awards:
Winner, Bony Pete Award for Best Short Story, Bloody Words Mystery Conference 2001 ñ "Trip to Toronto"
An unpopular man leaves the only tracks in the snow to and from a cabin
when he discovers his neighbor's long-dead body. The neighbor was known to
be alive after it started to snow. Dr. Erica Merrill comes to the man's
defence, even though it adversely affects her fledgling veterinary practice.
Her father, the most influential man in the small Northern Idaho county
seat, wants her to quit her queries into the murder. The county attorney
refuses to listen to her. Rumors and gossip affect her reputation.
But with the aid of her boyfriend, deputy sheriff Clay Caldwell, she is
able to show how the murder was done and finger the killer.
A medical mystery with a twist!
Dr. Erica Merrill, a young vet trying to establish a practice in her
hometown, a small Northern Idaho county seat, becomes involved in a murder
investigation when a drug she has dispensed for a dog is used to poison a
wealthy widow.
Everyone has a motive, money, but only the nine-year-old granddaughter
had both means and opportunity. Erica and her deputy sheriff boyfriend,
Clay Caldwell, don't want to think that a child would murder her
grandmother. They wonder if the child's father could have persuaded her to
do so.
Erica must contend with her father, who wants to run her life, a
disgruntled colleague who reports her to the licensing authority, and a new
physician in town with amorous intentions.
It is Erica's knowledge of the effect of the drug on the dog, not the
victim, that enables her to solve the mystery.
WHO IS THE BOSS OF THIS SHADY GROUP?
A group suspected of criminal activities has established a colony on the outskirts of town. Robin Carruthers, flight school operator, and Rev. Douglas Forsythe, the rector of the Anglican church, become embroiled in a controversy when a bus used by the colony to transport children crashes into a frozen lake. Two women from the colony seek help from Robin and Douglas. One is murdered and the other nearly so, and Robin’s planes are sabotaged.
Robin suspects a problem student of being the saboteur, but she has no proof. If she is right and does nothing about it, she could lose her business and her life. If she is wrong and reports her suspicions, she could ruin the student’s life.
