Janet Quin-Harkin
British-American writer of children's picture books, YA novels, and (as Rhys Bowen) mystery novels
Janet Quin-Harkin (born 24 September 1941, Bath, Somerset) is an author best known for her mystery novels for adults written under the name Rhys Bowen.
Career
Before she began writing novels, Quin-Harkin worked in the drama department of the British Broadcasting Corporation in London and, later, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney, Australia. She also worked as a drama teacher and a dance teacher.
In 1981, she wrote one of the first six books with which Bantam launched the Sweet Dreams series.
In the 1990s Quin-Harkin began writing mystery novels for adults under the name Rhys Bowen. She has written three series under this name: one featuring British aristocrat Lady Georgiana ("Georgie") in 1930s England; one featuring Irish immigrant Molly Murphy working as a private detective in early 1900s New York City; and one featuring a Welsh police constable named Evan Evans.
She is also author of the Boyfriend Club series for young adults featuring four freshmen girls in Alta Mesa High School (Arizona): Roni, Ginger, Justine, and Karen.
Personal life
Quin-Harkin graduated from the University of London in 1963. She moved to the United States when she married John Quin-Harkin.
She is the parent of four children.
“Janet Quin-Harkin” enters the record as british-American writer of children's picture books, YA novels, and (as Rhys Bowen) mystery novels. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Janet, Quin-Harkin and British-American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6153562. VIAF identifies the subject as 84593111. The Library of Congress control number is n79021669. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1981 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Janet Quin-Harkin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.