Susan Wittig Albert, also known by the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

s Robin Paige and Carolyn Keene, is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

writer from

Vermilion County, Illinois Vermilion County is a County (United States), county in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Illinois, between the Indiana border and Champaign County, Illinois, Champaign County. It was established in 1826 and was the 45th of Illinois' 102 cou ...

, United States. Albert was an academic and the first female vice president of

Southwest Texas State University Texas State University is a public university, public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin, Greater Austin metropolitan area ...

before retiring to become a fulltime writer.

Early life and education

Albert grew up in downstate Illinois, attending Danville High School before moving to the nearby community of Bismarck, where she graduated. She earned a degree from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in English from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. She became a professor of English at the

University of Texas, Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and was a university administrator at

Sophie Newcomb College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, or Newcomb College, was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and vice president for academic affairs at Southwest Texas State University. She also writes a column for ''Country Living Gardener'' magazine. Her writing career has included the

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...

mysteries under the pen name

Carolyn Keene Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery stories and The Dana Girls mystery stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In addition, the Keene pen name is credited with the Nancy Drew spin-off, ''River H ...

in the 1980s.

Career

By the 1990s, Albert wrote ''Thyme of Death'', her first China Bayles novel. The book was nominated for two national mystery awards, the 1992 Agatha award and the 1993 Anthony award in the "Best First Novel" category. The titles of all the China Bayles novels include the names of

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

s and include herbal themes that invoke the title. Albert is a guest speaker at both herbal clubs and women's groups around the country. She describes her books as "cozy mysteries" because they do not contain much violence or gratuitous behavior. Albert and her husband, Bill, have also co-written ''The Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries'', a series of a dozen mysteries set in the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. Albert is also the author of ''The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter'', a series of mysteries featuring author

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was he ...

Personal life

Albert has three children. She lives on a 31-acre plot of land in the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ameri ...

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''A Wilder Rose'' (2013) - The story of

Rose Wilder Lane Rose Wilder Lane (December 5, 1886 – October 30, 1968) was an American journalist, travel writer, novelist, political theorist and daughter of American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Along with two other female writers, Ayn Rand and Isabel Pa ...

, daughter of

Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, mostly known for the ''Little House on the Prairie'' series of children's books, published between 1932 and 1943, which were based on her childhood ...

* ''Loving Eleanor'' (2016) * ''The General's Women'' (2017)

The China Bayles mysteries

The

China Bayles China Bayles is the fictional protagonist of a popular and critically acclaimed series written by educator Susan Wittig Albert. China is a determined woman who quit being a successful, big city lawyer, and decided to settle into a quiet small-town ...

herbal mystery series centers around the title character's deductive reasoning and knowledge as an herbalist and ex-lawyer, who solves murders with her best friend, Ruby Wilcox, owner of a

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

shop. *''Thyme of Death'' (1992) *''Witches' Bane'' (1993) *''Hangman's Root'' (1994) *''Rosemary Remembered'' (1995) *''Rueful Death'' (1996) *''Love Lies Bleeding'' (1997) *''Chile Death'' (1998) *''Lavender Lies'' (1999) *''Mistletoe Man'' (2000) *''Bloodroot'' (2001) *''Indigo Dying'' (2003) *''An Unthymely Death (Short Story Collection)'' (2003) *''A Dilly of a Death'' (2004) *''Dead Man's Bones (2005) *''Bleeding Hearts'' (2006) *''The China Bayles Book of Days (365 Celebrations of the Mystery, Myth, and Magic of Herbs)'' (2006) *''Spanish Dagger'' (2007) *''Nightshade'' (2008) *''Wormwood'' (2009) *''Holly Blues'' (2010) *''Mourning Gloria'' (2011) *''Cat's Claw'' (2012) *''Widow's Tears'' (2013) *''Death Come Quickly'' (2014) *''Bittersweet'' (2015) *''Blood Orange'' (2016) *''The Last Chance Olive Ranch'' (2017) *''Queen Anne's Lace'' (2018) *''A Plain Vanilla Murder'' (2019) *''Hemlock'' (2021)

The Pecan Springs ''Enterprise'' Trilogy

The trilogy of novellas features characters from the China Bayles mysteries, focused on reporter Jessica Nelson and the ''Enterprise'' newspaper. *''Deadlines'' (ebook July 7, 2020; omnibus print edition August 18, 2020) *''Fault Lines'' (ebook July 21, 2020; omnibus print edition August 18, 2020) *''Fire Lines'' (ebook August 4, 2020; omnibus print edition August 18, 2020)

The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter

*''The Tale of Hill Top Farm'' (2004) *''The Tale of Holly How'' (2005) *''The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood'' (2006) *''The Tale of Hawthorn House'' (2007) *''The Tale of Briar Bank'' (2008) *''The Tale of Applebeck Orchard'' (2009) *''The Tale of Oat Cake Crag'' (2010) *''The Tale of Castle Cottage'' (2011)

The Robin Paige Victorian-Edwardian mysteries

These were co-written with her husband, Bill Albert under the name Robin Paige. *''Death at Bishop's Keep'' (1994) *''Death at Gallows Green'' (1995) *''Death at Daisy's Folly'' (1997) *''Death at Devil's Bridge'' (1998) *''Death at Rottingdean'' (1999) *''Death at Whitechapel'' (2000) *''Death at Epsom Downs'' (2001) *''Death at Dartmoor'' (2002) *''Death at Glamis Castle'' (2003) *''Death in Hyde Park'' (2004) *''Death at Blenheim Palace'' (2005) *''Death on the Lizard'' (2006)

The Darling Dahlias mysteries

Takes place in a fictitious town called Darling, Alabama during the 1930s. Centers on a group of amateur, mystery solving women in a garden club called the Darling Dahlias. *''The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree'' (2010) *''The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies'' (2011) *''The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose'' (2012) *''The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star'' (2013) *''The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush'' (2014) *''The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady'' (2015) *''The Darling Dahlias and the Unlucky Clover'' (2018) *''The Darling Dahlias and the Poinsettia Puzzle'' (2018)

Nonfiction

*''Work of Her Own: A Woman's Guide to Success off the Career Track'' (1992) *''Writing From Life: Telling Your Soul's Story'' (1997) *''Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place'' (2007) *''An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days'' (2009)

References

External links

*
''Persevero Press: The Home of Susan Wittig Albert's Author-Published Books''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert, Susan Wittig Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American mystery writers Writers from Illinois Stratemeyer Syndicate Novelists from Texas People from Vermilion County, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty Tulane University faculty Texas State University faculty People from Burnet County, Texas American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Illinois Novelists from Louisiana American women academics