Annie’s Mailbox to take up pen of deceased Landers columnist

Who does America turn to when it desperately needs advice on a wimpy boyfriend? An overbearing mother-in-law? A back-stabbing best friend?

For five decades, the answer was obvious: Ann Landers, the grande dame of advice columnists. But on Saturday, the final column by Esther “Eppie” Lederer, who wrote under the famous pen name before her death last month, appeared in this and more than 1,200 other newspapers.

Lederer made it clear she didn’t want the Ann Landers column to continue after her death. So starting today, the advice will come from a new column written by Lederer’s close associates, Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar. Creators Syndicate calls the Landers spinoff “Annie’s Mailbox.”