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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993                   TAG: 9301210169
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

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NOVELIST `VICTORIA HOLT' DIES

The prolific novelist Eleanor Hibbert, who wrote under the pen names Victoria Holt and Jean Plaidy, has died while on her annual cruise, her agent said Wednesday. She was in her 80s.

Mark Hamilton said Hibbert died Monday while cruising between Athens and Port Said, Egypt. He did not give a cause of her death.

The novelist kept her age and background secret and no one knew exactly how old she was, Hamilton said. Her "Who's Who" entry says she was born in London in 1910, but the Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature says it was 1906.

Hibbert wrote historical novels under seven names. The most famous of her pseudonyms were Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt and Philippa Carr, under which she wrote novels at the rate of about three each year.

In the mid-1940s she wrote the first of her 90 novels as Jean Plaidy, fictionalizing English history with an emphasis on royalty. They included "The Captive Queen of Scots," "Katherine of Aragon," "The Widow of Windsor" and "Red Rose of Anjou."

In 1961, with "Mistress of Mellyn," she began writing Gothic novels as Victoria Holt. Thirty more followed, including "The Bride of Pendorric" and "Menfreya." The 32nd Holt novel, "The Black Opal," is scheduled to appear in September.

As Philippa Carr, she wrote more than 17 books, mostly family sagas with a historical background and Gothic romances.

She also wrote as Eleanor Burford, Ellalice Tate, Elbur Ford and Kathleen Kellow.

Keywords:
NEWS OBIT

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