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American writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Susan Wittig Albert, also known by the pen names Robin Paige and Carolyn Keene,[1] is an American mystery writer from Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. Albert was an academic and the first female vice president of Southwest Texas State University before retiring to become a fulltime writer.[2]
Susan Wittig Albert | |
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![]() Wittig Albert at the 2007 Texas Book Festival | |
Born | Vermilion County, Illinois, U.S. |
Pen name | Robin Paige, Carolyn Keene |
Occupation | Novelist |
Education | Danville High School University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of California, Berkeley (PhD) |
Genre | Mystery |
Notable works | China Bayles Mysteries |
Spouse | Bill Albert |
Children | 3 |
Website | |
susanalbert |
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 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley.
She became a professor of English at the University of Texas, Austin and was a university administrator at Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans and vice president for academic affairs at Southwest Texas State University.[1] She also writes a column for Country Living Gardener magazine.
Albert began writing young adult books in 1983, publishing as Susan Blake. In 1985, she was hired to write Nancy Drew books as Carolyn Keene. She also published two Hardy Boys books.[3][4]
Albert began the China Bayles series in 1991.[3] Her first China Bayles novel was Thyme of Death. The book was nominated for two national mystery awards, the 1992 Agatha award and the 1993 Anthony award in the "Best First Novel" category.[5][6]
The titles of all the China Bayles novels include the names of herbs 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,[7] have also co-written The Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, a series of a dozen mysteries set in the late Victorian era. Albert is also the author of The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, a series of mysteries featuring author Beatrix Potter.
Albert has three children.[2] She lives on a 31-acre plot of land in the Texas Hill Country.[8]
The China Bayles 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 shop.[9]
The trilogy of novellas features characters from the China Bayles mysteries, focused on reporter Jessica Nelson and the Enterprise newspaper.
These were co-written with her husband, Bill Albert under the name Robin Paige.
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.