McGinnis Nine-Nine: “Dragon’s Mount”

Part of a celebration of Robert McGinnis’ XCIXth birthday.



Dragon’s Mount, by “Deirdre Rowan,” aka Jeanne Williams (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1973).

Looking over a list of this author’s profuse works is enough to make an aspiring novelist cringe in fear of never measuring up. Yet I had never even heard of her until now. She was born Dorothy Jeanne Williams in Elkhart, Kansas, in 1930, and spent most of her life penning historical romances set on the American frontier and elsewhere, released under her own name as well as various pseudonyms (including Jeanne Crecy, Kristin Michaels, and of course Deirdre Rowan). According to an obituary published after her death in 2024, Williams “was only the second female to be invited to join the Western Writers of America and she became an active member, serving on the board and as president and membership chair.” During her career, she received four Spur Awards for her fiction and in 2015 was inducted into the Western Writers Hall of Fame.

Dragon’s Mount, with its original cover art by Robert McGinnis, definitely falls into the “elsewhere” category of Williams’ storytelling backdrops. Here’s Goodreads’ plot summary:

Jill Underwood had come from America to England—to Dragon’s Mount, the Regiers’ huge old house near Stonehenge. The Reigers were an ancient family, and there were many dark, scandalous tales about them. Jill tried not to listen to them. The private lives of the family were none of her business. Only her young charge, Kelsey Regier, was her concern. But then frightening things began to happen … the slashed toys, the beheaded doll, the mysterious references to Paul Regier’s runaway first wife. And of course the warnings to Jill to leave at once. Then Jill stumbled upon the terrible secret of the hidden passage and her own life was suddenly in danger!

If you would like to read the whole book, a 1975 UK edition is available here, courtesy of the Internet Archive.

Williams produced at least a quartet of other “Deirdre Rowan” works: Shadow of the Volcano (1975), Silver Wood (1975), Time of the Burning Mask (1976), and Ravensgate (1976), all classified as “European suspense” yarns. In addition to her many adult novels, she penned works for young adults. Judy Alter, a Texas critic and fellow author, applauded Williams for her “careful and accurate research,” and once opined that by her later years, Williams had “moved beyond the confines of historical romance and … may be classified as mainstream fiction.”