 Georgette Heyer / ˈheɪ.ər / ( 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974 ) was an English historical romance and detective fiction novelist . Her writing career began in 1921 , when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth . In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier , a mining engineer . The couple spent several years in the Far East , before returning to England in 1931. She published her first novel , The Black Moth , in 1921 and continued to write for the next 53 years, publishing 56 novels . She is known for her witty sense of humor and