Sally Spencer aka Alan Rustage

The greatest mystery about prolific author Sally Spencer may in fact be her real identity! Both the author and the publisher seem to delight in maintaining plausible backgrounds for both Sally and Alan – without really ever confirming which persona is the real one. However, most evidence seems to point to the author’s original name being Alan Rustage. According to one website, when Rustage submitted his first novel, the publisher told him the book seemed written for a female audience – and they would not want to read it if they knew it was written by a male author. When Rustage submitted the book to a second publisher, he used “Sally Spencer” and it was accepted with the proviso he publish it under that name.

In any event, readers of Spencer/Rustage will find clever plots, multidimensional characters and touches of ironic humor. The Inspector Woodend Series is a British police procedural featuring inventive twists. The final book in the series featuring Woodend, Fatal Quest, has the Chief Inspector recounting his first case to his new replacement, DCI Paniatowski – a clever way for the author to “reboot” the series with a new main character. In contrast, the Inspector Blackstone series is set in Victorian England and features a crime-solving Scotland Yard detective.

Rustage was born in Cheshire, England, in 1949, and taught in both England and Iran before becoming a full-time novelist. Currently living in Madrid, Rustage also writes the “Inspector Ruiz” series under the pseudonym James Garcia Woods.

Reviewers for Booklist magazine have praised Rustage’s “Sally Spencer” mysteries, stating that the “characters are diverse, intriguing and believable; her plots never fail to surprise; and the procedural details are grittily realistic.”

Selected Works
E = e-book
L = large print
A = CD audiobook