Novelist Phyllis A. Whitney, whose romantic suspense tales sold millions of copies and earned her top accolades from the Mystery Writers of America, has died. She was 104.

Whitney died Friday in a Charlottesville, Va., hospital, not far from her home in Nelson County, her son-in-law, Ed Pearson, said Thursday.

Novelist Phyllis A. Whitney, shown at her home in Nellysford, Va., in 1989, wrote mysteries for children and adults.
(Ken Bennett/Associated Press)

Whitney wrote more than 75 books, including three textbooks, and had about 100 short stories published since the 1940s.

Whitney's adult romantic mysteries always had a vulnerable female protagonist, because "that's the point of view I have," Whitney said in 1989.

Among her bestsellers were Feather on the Moon, Silversword, Flaming Tree, Dream of Orchids, Rainsong, Emerald and Daughter of the Stars.

In 1971, Time magazine called Whitney one of "the best genre writers" and the only American woman in the romantic suspense field with a major reputation.

"I've slowed down in that I only write one book a year," she said in a 1989 interview at age 85. "A writer is what I am."

Whitney's last novel, Amethyst Dreams, was published in 1997. She began working on her autobiography at 102.

In 1961, Whitney's sixth juvenile mystery, Mystery of the Haunted Pool, received the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the best children's mystery story of the year.

She won the award again three years later for her book Mystery of the Hidden Hand.

In 1988, Whitney was named a Grand Master, the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, for her adult fiction.

'All my books have happy endings. I don't see any point in letting my readers down at the end.'— Phyllis A. Whitney

In 1990, she received the Agatha award, for traditional mystery works typical of Agatha Christie, from Malice Domestic.

She said her books were successful because "I tell a good story."

"I offer optimism," she said. "All my books have happy endings. I don't see any point in letting my readers down at the end. I'm an optimist — people feel that in my books."

Born in 1903 in Yokohama, Japan, to American parents, Whitney lived in the Philippines and China before coming to the United States at 15, after her father died.

Her early travel influenced her writings, as she used America, Europe, Africa and Asia as backdrops in her novels.

She worked in bookstores and libraries, read manuscripts and lectured before eventually landing a job as a children's book editor for the Chicago Sun and later, a similar job with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The twice-married Whitney had one daughter, Georgia Pearson.