Barbara Ninde Byfield (née Barbara Ninde; 28 March 1930 – 8 November 1988) was an American author and illustrator.

Bibliography

She was born in

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...

. Marrying Hugh W. Byfield in 1956, she had her first book published in 1962 ''The Eating in Bed Cook Book'' that she also illustrated. In 1967 she wrote and illustrated ''The Glass Harmonica: A Lexicon of the Fantastical''. It was reprinted in 1973 as ''The Book of Weird'' as there was only a brief mention of the

glass harmonica The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica or harmonica (derived from , ''harmonia'', the Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instrument that uses a ...

in the original work. In 1969 she began writing and illustrating a series of books for young readers beginning with ''The Haunted Spy'' about a retired spy named Hannibel Stern who with his dog Zero retires to live in a castle on an island, making friends with a 400-year-old ghost Sir Roger de Rudisell (Byfield's mother's maiden name) who advises him. The series continued with ''The Haunted Churchbell'' (1971), ''The Haunted Ghost'' (1973), and ''The Haunted Tower'' in 1976. Collaborating with Frank Tedeschi, Byfield co-authored four adventures of a clerical detective Rev. Dr. Simon Bede and photographer Helen Bullock with their investigations recounted in ''Solemn High Murder'' (1975), ''Forever Wilt Thou Die'' (1976), ''A Harder Thing Than Triumph'' (1977), and ''A Parcel of Their Fortunes'' (1978). Byfield also illustrated works for other authors such as Donald Hutter's ''Upright Hilda'' (1968),

Harvey Swados Harvey Swados (October 28, 1920 – December 11, 1972) was an American social critic and author of novels, short stories, essays and journalism. Family and early life Born in Buffalo, New York, Harvey Swados was the son of Aaron Meyer Swad ...

' ''The Mystery of the Haunted Mine'' (1971), William H. Armstrong's ''Hadassah: Esther the Orphan Queen'' (1972) and Herb Caen's ''The Cable Car and the Dragon'' (1972). She died in

Leland, Michigan Leland is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had a population of 377. It was the county seat of Leelanau County, Mi ...

Quotes

''There is a secret, wholesome indulgence to eating in bed which perhaps explains why it has not received the uniformily good press of other things which go on in bed...'' - from ''The Eating in Bed Cook Book''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byfield, Barbara 20th-century American novelists American mystery writers American children's writers American women novelists American women illustrators 20th-century American illustrators Novelists from Texas 1930 births 1988 deaths American women children's writers Women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American women artists