{{Short description|English author (born 1942)}} {{Infobox writer | name = Rosemary Aitken | image = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1942 | birth_place = Cornwall | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = Author | genre = {{hlist|Historical novel|whodunnits}} | movement = | notableworks = }} '''Rosemary Aitken''' (born 1942) is an English author, who has written a number of academic textbooks and historical novels under her own name, and a series of ''whodunnits'' set in Roman Britain under the pen name of '''Rosemary Rowe'''.
Her writings are similar to those of Philip Boast, Gloria Cook and Winston Graham.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
==Biography== Rosemary Aitken was born in Penzance, Cornwall but spent much of her early life in New Zealand where she pursued higher education, obtaining a B.A. from Sydney University in 1961 and an M.A. with honors from Victoria University in 1962. Her professional career was spent teaching English Language and she has written a number of textbooks on this subject.
Her first historical novel, ''The Girl from Penvarris'', was published in 1995, the first in a series set in a fictional Cornish village.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raitken.wyenet.co.uk/|title=Rosemary Aitken - Author|work=raitken.wyenet.co.uk}}</ref>
Under the name '''Rosemary Rowe''' she has written a series of historical mysteries, set in and around the Roman town of Glevum, (modern-day Gloucester). The detective in the stories, named Libertus, is a pavement-maker, whose expertise in mosaic patterns parallels his skill in resolving puzzling crimes.
After living and lecturing in Gloucestershire for many years, Aitken returned to Cornwall in 2007. She now resides in a wooded area near Truro and the Fal. She is the mother of two adult children and has grandchildren residing in both New Zealand and Cambridgeshire.
==Bibliography== ===Cornish Sagas=== * ''The Girl from Penvarris'' (1995) {{ISBN|978-0752800653}} * ''The Tinner's Daughter'' (1996)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Tinner's_Daughter_by_Rosemary_Aitken|title=The Tinner's Daughter by Rosemary Aitken|work=thebookbag.co.uk}}</ref> {{ISBN|978-1857976373}} * ''Cornish Harvest'' (1998) {{ISBN|978-0752812106}} * ''Stormy Waters ''(2000) {{ISBN|978-0727857286}} * ''The Silent Shore'' (2001) {{ISBN|978-0727857439}} * ''The Granite Cliffs'' (2002) {{ISBN| 978-0727858542}} * ''A Cornish Maid'' (2010) {{ISBN|978-1847511553}} * ''Flowers for Miss Pengelly'' (2018) {{ISBN|978-0727893444}} * ''The Cornish Blacksmiths Daughter'' (2022) {{ASIN|B09Z69QZX4}}
=== Libertus Roman mysteries === # ''The Germanicus Mosaic'' (1999)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books-dark-doings-in-ancient-rome-1108919.html|title=Books: Dark doings in ancient Rome|date=26 July 1999|work=The Independent}}</ref> {{ISBN|978-0747261018}} # ''A Pattern of Blood'' (2000) {{ISBN|978-0747261025}} # ''Murder in the Forum'' (2001) {{ISBN|978-0747261032}} # ''The Chariots of Calyx'' (2002) {{ISBN|978-0747265191}} # ''The Legatus Mystery'' (2003)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dkennedy.org/C2025243227/E390014864/index.html|title=The Legatus Mystery - Rosemary Rowe|publisher=}}</ref> {{ISBN|978-0747269007}} # ''The Ghosts of Glevum'' (2004)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dkennedy.org/C2025243227/E781973908/index.html|title=The Ghosts of Glevum - Rosemary Rowe|publisher=}}</ref> {{ISBN|978-0755305162}} # ''Enemies of the Empire'' (2005) {{ISBN|978-0755305193}} # ''A Roman Ransom'' (2006) {{ISBN|978-0755327416}} # ''A Coin for the Ferryman'' (2007)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myshelf.com/mystery/08/coinfortheferryman.htm|title=A Coin For The Ferryman by Rosemary Rowe|publisher=}}</ref> {{ISBN|978-0755327430}} # ''Death at Pompeia's Wedding ''(2008) {{ISBN|978-0727866981}} # ''Requiem for a Slave ''(2010) {{ASIN|B004ZGLDXI}} # ''The Vestal Vanishes ''(2011) {{ISBN|978-0727880291}} # ''A Whispering of Spies ''(2012) {{ISBN|978-1847514219}} # ''Dark Omens ''(2013) {{ISBN|978-0727882998}} # ''The Fateful Day ''(2014) {{ISBN|9780727884398}} # ''The Ides of June ''(2016) {{ISBN|978-0727894991}} # ''The Price of Freedom '' (2018) {{ASIN|B077NL5B6F}} # ''A Prisoner of Privilege '' (2019) {{ASIN|B07TVF168K}} # ''A Dreadful Destiny '' (2021) {{ASIN|B09HKKZY9T}}
===Novels=== * ''Against the Tide'' (2004) {{ISBN|978-0727860293}} * ''The Tregenza Girls'' (2006) {{ISBN|978-0727863966}} * ''From Penvarris with Love'' (2008) {{ISBN|978-0727866271}} * ''Flowers for Miss Pengelly'' (2012) {{ISBN|9780727882295}}
===Textbooks=== * ''Make up Your Mind'' (1982) {{ISBN|978-0333322017}} * ''Teaching Tenses'' (2002) {{ISBN|978-0952280866}} * ''Writing a Novel: A Practical Guide'' (2003) {{ISBN| 978-1861266088}} * ''Teach Yourself, Creative Writing Masterclass: Writing Crime Fiction'' (2014) {{ISBN|978-1473601369}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.raitken.wyenet.co.uk/ http://www.raitken.wyenet.co.uk/]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Rosemary}} Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:English crime fiction writers Category:Writers of historical mysteries Category:Women crime fiction writers Category:Writers from Cornwall Category:20th-century English novelists Category:20th-century English non-fiction writers Category:21st-century English novelists Category:21st-century English non-fiction writers Category:English women non-fiction writers Category:British textbook writers Category:Women textbook writers Category:20th-century English women novelists Category:21st-century English women novelists