Hugh Crauford Rae (22 November 1935 – 24 September 2014) was a Scottish author of romantic historical fiction novels and thrillers. He wrote fiction using several pseudonyms, including Jessica Stirling, Robert Crawford, James Albany, Stuart Stern and R. B. Houston.
Life
Rae was born in Knightswood, outside Glasgow, in 1935, the son of a riveter. He lectured in creative writing at Glasgow University adult education classes.
Writing
Rae was known for writing fiction, such as the thriller The Marksman later televised by the BBC. He was better known for his romantic historical novels written under the name Jessica Stirling.
Jessica Stirling novels
After Rae had written a few crime thrillers, a publisher suggested he collaborate with a romantic short story writer, Peggy Coghlan, to produce a historic romantic novel set in the Victorian period. The publisher required this to be published under a female name, and the writers picked the name Jessica Stirling at a meeting in a Stirling coffee shop.
Rae and Coghlan wrote seven Jessica Stirling novels together. Then, Rae went on to write another 30 such saga novels on his own, at a rate of two a year, published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Rae's real identity first became widely known in 1999, after 25 years of writing Jessica Stirling novels, when The Wind from the Hills was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year prize.