Hugh Crauford Rae (22 November 1935 – 24 September 2014) was a Scottish author of romantic historical fiction novels and thrillers.
[1][2] He wrote fiction using several pseudonyms, including Jessica Stirling,[1] Robert Crawford,[3] James Albany, Stuart Stern and R. B.
[2] 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.
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.
[2] 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.