{{short description|American writer}} {{Infobox writer | embed = | honorific_prefix = | name = Isabel Ostrander | honorific_suffix = | image = Isabel Ostrander.jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Isabel Egenton Ostrander<!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = 1883<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = | death_date = 1924<!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | death_cause = <!--should be included only when the cause of death has significance for the subject's notability--> | resting_place = | occupation = | language = | nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per WP:INFONAT --> | citizenship = <!-- use only when necessary per WP:INFONAT --> | education = <!-- use only per MOS:INFOEDU --> | alma_mater = <!-- use only per MOS:INFOEDU --> | period = | genre = <!-- or: | genres = --> | subject = <!-- or: | subjects = --> | movement = | notable_works = | spouse = <!-- or: | spouses = --> | partner = <!-- or: | partners = --> | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | signature_type = | years_active = | module = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.org}} --> | portaldisp = <!-- "on", "yes", "true", etc.; or omit --> }} '''Isabel Egenton Ostrander''' (1883–1924) was an American mystery writer of the early twentieth century who used her own name and the pseudonyms '''Robert Orr Chipperfield''', '''David Fox''', and '''Douglas Grant'''. Christopher B. Booth is falsely credited as a pseudonym of hers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mysteryfile.com/Kiss05.html#Booth|title=Christopher B. Booth, Mr. Clackworthy - FATAL KISS - Reviews by Steve Lewis |date=2005 |quote=To point out that you can not always trust the Internet for factual information, some sites suggest that Christopher B. Booth was a pseudonym for Isabel Ostrander. |website=www.mysteryfile.com}}</ref><ref name="embden11/ostrander">{{cite web |last1=Embden |first1=Nico van |title=Isabel Ostrander |url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~embden11/Engels5/ostrander.htm |website=www.xs4all.nl |access-date=24 May 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040907202040/http://www.xs4all.nl/~embden11/Engels5/ostrander.htm |archive-date=2004-09-07 |quote=Isabel Egenton Ostrander also wrote under the pseudonyms ‘Christopher B. Booth’, ...}}</ref>
== Early life== She was born in New York City to Thomas E Ostrander and Harriet Elizabeth Bradbrook. Her Ostrander pedigree goes back to seventeenth-century Kingston, New York.
==First Blind Detective== In the discussions of which writer invented the blind detective, Ostrander is one of the candidates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://members.aol.com/MG4273/moffett.htm |title=Scientific Detectives - by Michael e. Grost |quote=Isabel Ostrander also created the blind sleuth Damon Gaunt, who appeared in the pleasant-enough but fairly ordinary mystery novel 'At One-Thirty' (1915); |access-date=2012-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719163553/http://members.aol.com/MG4273/moffett.htm |archive-date=2008-07-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The first book publication of her Damon Gaunt is a 1915 novel ''At One-Thirty'', but there might be a misplaced earlier short story: periodical publication of many mystery short story writers is often lost or partial. For example, blind detective Thornley Colton appeared in some short stories in ''People's Ideal Fiction Magazine'' in early 1913 that weren't collected in book form until 1915, while Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah reached the periodicals in 1913, but anthologization in 1914. In no case is bibliography complete for periodicals, and either might be the first, though Max Carrados was the first in book publication.
== Agatha Christie parodies == In the 1920s, Ostrander was notable enough that Agatha Christie parodied Ostrander's work in Christie's Tommy and Tuppence short stories, anthologized in ''Partners in Crime''. We find Tommy and Tuppence modeling their detective skills after Ostrander's characters, ex-Roundsman<ref name="gutenberg/77423">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Twenty-Six Clues |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |date=1919 |via=gutenberg.org |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77423 |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=English}}</ref> Tim McCarty and his friend Dennis Riordan.{{cn|date=May 2026}}
== Personal life== Ostrander married songwriter Arthur J. Lamb in June 1907<ref>{{cite news |title=In Haste to Wed Her Song Writer |work=New York Times |date=8 June 1907}}</ref> and filed for divorce 11 months later.<ref>{{cite news |title=A. J. Lamb Dies in Hospital |work=New York Times |date=12 Aug 1928}}</ref>
Ostrander died of heart disease in Long Beach, NY, on April 26, 1924.<ref name="nytimes/1924/ostrander">{{cite news |title=Isabel Ostrander; Author of Detective Stories, Used Four Pen Names |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/04/27/archives/isabel-ostrander-author-of-detective-stories-used-four-pen-names.html |access-date=24 May 2026 |work=The New York Times |date=27 April 1924}}</ref>
== Works== [[File:Argosy 19171208.jpg|thumb|right|The "Douglas Grant" novel ''The Fifth Ace'' was serialized in ''The Argosy'' in 1917]] {{incomplete list|date=May 2026}} *"The One Who Knew," ''The All-Story'', Oct, Nov, Christmas 1911, Jan, Feb 1912<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/d1253.htm#A60182<!-- http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/d663.htm#A30292 --> |title=Ostrander, Isabel (Egenton) (1883-1924); see pseudonyms Robert Orr Chipperfield, David Fox & Douglas Grant (stories) |access-date=2012-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907152258if_/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/d1253.htm#A60182<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20081120022850/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/d663.htm#A30292 --> |website=The FictionMags Index |archive-date=2008-09-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> *"The Heritage of Cain," ''The Cavalier'', Mar 30, Apr 6, Apr 13, Apr 20, Apr 27, May 4, May 11, 1912<ref name="gbooks/1NoXAAAAYAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Heritage of Cain |date=1916 |publisher=W.J. Watt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1NoXAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> *"The Affair Across the Street," ''The Cavalier'', Sep 13, Sep 20 1913 *"Eyes That Saw Not" [Damon Gaunt], ''The Cavalier'', Feb 14, Feb 21, Feb 28, Mar 7 1914 *"The Man Who Died," ''All-Story Cavalier Weekly'', Dec 12 1914 * ''At One-Thirty'', a Damon Gaunt novel, Grosset, 1915<ref name="gbooks/jUAYAAAAYAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=At One-thirty: A Mystery |date=1915 |publisher=W.J. Watt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUAYAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> * {{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Primal Law |date=1915 |publisher=Mitchell Kennerley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FukdAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |language=en}} * {{cite book <!-- |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |author1-link=Isabel Ostrander --> |title=The Clue in the Air: A Detective Story |date=1917 |publisher=W. J. Watt & Co. |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Clue_in_the_Air.html?id=_yNAAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books <!-- |access-date=24 May 2026 --> |language=en}} *"The Crevice" [with William J. Burns], ''The Blue Book Magazine'', Jan, May, Jun, Jul 1915<ref name="gbooks/7ONEAQAAMAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Burns |first1=William J. |last2=Ostrander |first2=Isabel |title=The Crevice |date=1915 |publisher=W.J. Watt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ONEAQAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |language=en}}</ref> *"Mystery of the Poison Pen," ''All-Story Weekly'', May 5, May 12, 1917 *"Between Heaven and Earth," ''All-Story Weekly'', Jun 9, Jul 7 1917 *"The Fifth Ace," ''The Argosy'', Dec 15 1917 as Douglas Grant<ref name="books/R_IdAAAAMAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Fifth Ace |date=1918 |publisher=W.J. Watt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_IdAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |language=en}}</ref> *"Suspense, " ''All-Story Weekly'', Apr 6, Apr 13, Apr 20, Apr 27 1918<ref name="gbooks/4wc8AQAAMAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=Suspense |date=1918 |publisher=Robert M. McBride & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4wc8AQAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> *"Booty," ''The Argosy'', Nov 16 1918 as Douglas Grant<ref name="books/iF4qAAAAYAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Douglas |last2=Ostrander |first2=Isabel |title=Booty |date=1919 |publisher=W. J. Watt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iF4qAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> *''The Island of Intrigue'', novel, 1918, basis for the 1919 film, ''The Island of Intrigue''<ref name="books/FekdAAAAMAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=Island of Intrigue |date=1918 |publisher=Robert M. McBride & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FekdAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> * {{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Red Glove |date=1918 |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |language=en}}, basis for the 1919 film serial, ''The Red Glove'', directed by J. P. McGowan, written by Isabel Ostrander and Hope Loring *"The Twenty-Six Clues", novel, Grosset & Dunlap, 1919,<ref name="gutenberg/77423"/> *"The Single Trace, ''Argosy'', Sep 13 1919 as Douglas Grant * {{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Single Track |date=1919 |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3h8eAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |language=en}} *"Ashes to Ashes," ''All-Story Weekly'', Sep 27, Oct 4, Oct 18, Oct 25, Nov 1 1919<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=Ashes to Ashes |date=1919 |publisher=Robert M. McBride & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HCRAAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books |language=en}}</ref> *"Anything Once," ''Argosy'', Apr 10 1920 as Douglas Grant<ref name="books/3x8eAAAAMAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=Anything Once |date=1920 |publisher=W.J. Watt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3x8eAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> *"The Shadowers / 1: The Man Who Convicted Himself," ''All-Story Weekly'', May 1, May 8, 1920 as David Fox. * {{cite book <!-- |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel --> |title=Unseen Hands |date=1920 |publisher=Robert M. McBride & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9IdAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books |language=en}} *"How Many Cards?," ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', Aug 7 1920<ref name="gbooks/4wYXAAAAYAAJ">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=How Many Cards? |date=1920 |publisher=A. L. Burt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4wYXAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> * {{cite book <!-- |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel --> |title=The Crimson Blotter |date=1921 |publisher=Robert M. McBride |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FQqAAAAYAAJ |language=en}} * {{cite book <!-- |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |last2=Chipperfield |first2=Robert Orr --> |title=The Man in the Jury Box |date=1921 |publisher=Robert M. McBride |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TfIdAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books <!-- |access-date=24 May 2026 --> |language=en}} * {{cite book <!-- |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel --> |title=McCarty Incog |date=1922 |publisher=Robert M. McBride |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGcpAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books |language=en}} *"Two-Gun Sue," ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', Mar 4 1922 as Douglas Grant *"The Doom Dealer," ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', Mar 24 1923 as David Fox.<ref name="books/8RcccWGUsUwC">{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Doom Dealer: An Exploit of The Shadowers, Inc |date=1923 |publisher=Robert M. McBride |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8RcccWGUsUwC |via=Google Books |access-date=24 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> *"Annihilation," ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', Nov 17, Nov 24, Dec 22, Dec 29 1923 *"Bright Lights," ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', Dec 22, Dec 29 1923 as Robert Orr Chipperfield *"Liberation, " ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', Jul 19 1924<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=Liberation |via=Google Books |date=1924 |publisher=R. M. McBride |language=en}}</ref> * {{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=Dust to Dust |date=1924 |publisher=Robert M. McBride |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DroJK9J9ydUC |via=Google Books |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=The Neglected Clue |date=1925 |publisher=Robert M. McBride |via=Google Books |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Ostrander |first1=Isabel |title=Impulse |date=1925 |publisher=Hurst & Blackett |via=Google Books |language=en}} * ''The Sleeping Cat'', A. L. Burt, 1926. Coachwhip Publications, 2024. * ''The Mathematics of Guilt'', McBride, 1926
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Wikisource author-inline|Isabel Egenton Ostrander}} * {{Gutenberg author |id=33851| name=Isabel Ostrander}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Isabel Egenton Ostrander |birth=1883 |death=1924}} * {{Librivox author |id=1294}} * [https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Isabel+Ostrander%22 inauthor:"Isabel Ostrander"] - Google Books
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrander, Isabel}} Category:1883 births Category:1924 deaths Category:American women mystery writers Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American short story writers Category:20th-century pseudonymous women writers Category:American mystery writers Category:American women short story writers Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers Category:Writers from New York City