Susanna Calkins (born November 3, 1971) is an American writer of historical mysteries, an historian, and a university teacher and administrator.
Mystery author Stefanie Pintoff says of the first novel, A Murder at Rosamund's Gate, "Susanna Calkins makes Restoration England come alive...
"The printing presses, the Quakers’ struggles with the king, the searcher with her bell, the scold's bridle, the societal upheaval after both the plague, and then the fire – all provide a setting that becomes another character in the tale.
"Calkins deftly evokes period attitudes toward mental illness," the reviewer writes, "but with a pivotal character too impaired to generate much suspense or action, the first half of the story doesn’t do justice to Lucy’s resourcefulness or the author’s full gifts.
"[7] Kirkus Reviews says of Calkins' Murder Knocks Twice, "A spunky sleuth and plenty of period flavor enliven the first in a new series...", which is set in a speakeasy in Chicago.