Rosemary Aitken

Rosemary Aitken, born as Rosemary Rowe in Penzance, Cornwall, is an accomplished author with a strong academic background. She was born during World War II and moved to New Zealand with her parents while still a young girl. Aitken received her education in New Zealand, attending Sydney and Wellington Universities, as well as the Auckland Training College. She also holds a diploma in Educational Management from Bristol, LTCL’s in Speech, Drama, and TESOL, and an RSA Diploma in TEFL.

Aitken has had a distinguished career in higher education, spending over two decades teaching and publishing numerous textbooks on communication and the English language. She has authored twelve such textbooks, demonstrating her expertise and dedication to the field. After many years of living and working in Gloucestershire, Aitken returned to her native Cornwall, where she currently resides in the woods near the Fal and Truro. She is a proud mother of two and has four grandchildren in New Zealand and Cambridge shire.

In addition to her academic work, Aitken is well-known for her historical, mystery, and romance novels. She began writing historical fiction with the publication of her first novel, "The Girl from Penvarris," in 1995. This novel was the first in a series set in a fictional Cornish village, showcasing her love for her home county. Under the name Rosemary Rowe, she has also written a series of mysteries set in and around the Roman town of Glevum, or modern-day Gloucester. The detective in these stories, named Libertus, is a pavement-maker with a talent for solving puzzling crimes through his expertise in mosaic patterns.
Cornish Sagas Books
# Title Year
1 The Girl from Penvarris 1995
2 The Tinner's Daughter 1996
3 Cornish Harvest 1998
4 Stormy Waters 2001
5 The Silent Shore 2001
6 The Granite Cliffs 2002
7 A Cornish Maid 2009
Libertus Mystery of Roman Britain Books (as Rosemary Rowe)
# Title Year
1 The Germanicus Mosaic 1999
2 A Pattern of Blood 2000
3 Murder in the Forum 2001
4 The Chariots of Calyx 2002
5 The Legatus Mystery 2003
6 The Ghosts of Glevum 2004
7 Enemies of the Empire 2005
8 A Roman Ransom 2006
9 A Coin for the Ferryman 2007
10 Death at Pompeia's Wedding 2008
11 Requiem for a Slave 2010
12 The Vestal Vanishes 2011
13 A Whispering of Spies 2012
14 Dark Omens 2013
15 The Fateful Day 2015
16 The Ides of June 2016
17 The Price of Freedom 2018
18 Prisoner of Privilege 2020
19 A Dreadful Destiny 2021
20 The Rewards of Treachery 2023
Standalone Novels
# Title Year
1 Against the Tide 2004
2 The Tregenza Girls 2006
3 From Penvarris with Love 2008
4 The Blacksmith's Girl 2017
5 Flowers for Miss Pengelly 2018
6 The Cornish Blacksmith's Daughter 2022
Non-Fiction Books
# Title Year
1 Writing a Novel 2003
2 Masterclass: Writing Crime Fiction 2014
Rosemary Aitken Anthologies
# Title Year
1 Shakespearean Whodunnits 1997