Phyllis A. Whitney

Phyllis A. Whitney (1903 to 2008) was an American novelist of romantic suspense and children's mysteries, born in Yokohama, Japan, to American parents and twice winner of the Edgar Award for juvenile mystery.

She spent her early years in Asia, then worked in Chicago libraries and bookshops and edited children's books in the 1940s. Her first book, A Place for Ann (1941), was written for young readers; her first adult novel, Red Is for Murder, followed in 1943 and was later reissued as The Red Carnelian (1965). Over a career lasting into her nineties she produced 73 novels: 39 for adults, 20 for teenagers and 14 for children. Adult titles include The Trembling Hills (1956), Thunder Heights (1960), The Winter People (1969), Listen for the Whisperer (1972) and Woman Without a Past (1991), with Amethyst Dreams appearing in 1997 when she was 94. The New York Times called her "The Queen of the American Gothics", a label she disliked; she described her books as romantic novels of suspense. She also wrote guides to fiction writing, served as President of the Mystery Writers of America in 1975, received its Grand Master Award in 1988 and died in Faber, Virginia, on 8 February 2008, aged 104.

For collectors

Her two Edgar-winning juvenile mysteries, The Mystery of the Haunted Pool (1960, awarded 1961) and The Mystery of the Hidden Hand (awarded 1964), are the most notable books of her children's output. Adult collectors should note that Red Is for Murder (1943) and The Red Carnelian (1965) are the same novel, so the 1943 title marks the true first appearance.