Sheila Mary Robinson (November 18, 1928 – 2017) was an English author of mystery novels. She is perhaps most known for her Inspector Douglas Quantrill series that she published under the name Sheila Radley. She also wrote under the pseudonym Hester Rowan.

Biography

Sheila Mary Robinson was born November 18, 1928, in

Cogenhoe Cogenhoe ( , ) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Cogenhoe and Whiston, in the West Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. The civil parish of ''Cogenhoe and Whiston'' had a pop ...

, Northamptonshire, England. She attended

Bedford College, University of London Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advanceme ...

, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in history, graduating in 1951. She served in the

Women's Royal Air Force The Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) was the women's branch of the Royal Air Force. It existed in two separate incarnations: the Women's Royal Air Force from 1918 to 1920 and the Women's Royal Air Force from 1949 to 1994. On 1 February 1949, the ...

from 1951 to 1960. Before the publication of her novels, she worked in advertising, education, and postal work. She also owned a store."Sheila Mary Robinson." ''Gale Literature:

Contemporary Authors ''Contemporary Authors'' is a reference work that has been published by Gale since 1962. The work provides short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary and near-contemporary writers and is a major source of information on over 116,000 liv ...

'', Gale, 2004. ''Gale Literature Resource Center''. Her first novel, ''Overture in Venice'', was published in 1976. Her final novel, ''Fair Game'', was published in 1994.

Personal life and death

Robinson was a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. She was politically "

right of centre Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalism. Conservative and l ...

". Robinson died in 2017.

Selected works

Under pseudonym Hester Rowan

* ''Overture in Venice''. Collins (London), 1976. * ''The Linden Tree''. Collins (London), 1977. * ''Snowfall''. Collins (London). 1978, published in the US as ''Alpine Encounter''. Scribner (New York, NY), 1979.

Inspector Douglas Quantrill series

* ''Fate Worse Than Death''. Constable, 1985, Scribner, 1986. * ''Who Saw Him Die?'' Constable, 1987, Scribner, 1988. * ''This Way Out''. Constable, 1989, Scribner, 1990. * ''Cross My Heart and Hope to Die''. Scribner, 1992. * ''Death and the Maiden''. Hamilton (London), 1978, published as ''Death in the Morning,'' Scribner (New York, NY), 1979. * ''The Chief Inspector's Daughter.'' Scribner, 1980. * ''A Talent for Destruction.'' Scribner, 1982. * ''Blood on the Happy Highway''. Constable (London), 1983, published as ''The Quiet Road to Death,'' Scribner, 1984. * ''Fair Game''. Constable, 1994.

References

External links

Sheila Radley
on

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...

Hester Rowan
on Goodreads {{authority control 1928 births 2017 deaths English mystery writers British women mystery writers People from Northamptonshire (before 1974) Alumni of Bedford College, London Women's Royal Air Force airwomen English Anglicans