Mysterious deeds, clues and crimes afoot will be the post-dessert offering at the Sixth Annual Friends of the Library Author Dinner on Monday, April 3, at Old Dominion University, as Professor Douglas G. Greene speaks on “The Woman Sleuth: Fictional Female Ferretry from the Genteel Lady Detective of the 1860s to Today's Hardboiled Female Private Eye.”

The author dinner is a sell-out every year, so early reservations are suggested. Reservations must be received by Tuesday, March 28 and may be made by calling Fern McDougal at Perry Library, 683-4141.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the River Rooms of Webb University Center, the event will also feature the presentation of the annual Friends of the Library Outstanding Achievement Award to Robert L. Ash, professor of aerospace engineering and eminent scholar at Old Dominion. Ash is a consultant to NASA and the author of numerous scholarly aerospace publications. Internationally respected for his research and scholarship, he has been a member of the Old Dominion faculty since 1967.

Greene is a professor of history at Old Dominion and the author of many books and articles on mystery authors and their craft, including “John Dickson Carr: The Man Who Explained Miracles,” which was nominated for the Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America in 1995. He will be available to sign books before and after dinner.

In addition to his teaching and writing, Greene, with his wife Sandi, is publisher of Crippen & Landru Books, which has published 21 volumes – first editions – by such authors as Margery Allingham, Bill Pronzini, Peter Lovesey and Margaret Maron.

The dinner is open to the Old Dominion community as well as the general public. The cost is $16; checks should be made payable to Friends of the Library and delivered to Fern McDougal at Perry Library. (Vegetarian meals are available upon request.)