{"name": "Vanessa Royall", "bio": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "Pseudonym of Michael T. Hinkemeyer.\r\n\r\nHe was born on Oct. 18, 1940, in St. Cloud, Minn., to Ralph Hinkemeyer and the former Melania Kuhn, and grew up on a 200-acre farm in nearby St. Augusta, where he worked the fields with a team of Belgian draft horses and later a tractor. He attended a one-room schoolhouse with no plumbing, which has since become a museum.\r\n\r\nAfter graduating with a degree in history from Saint John\u2019s University in Minnesota in 1962, Mr. Hinkemeyer served in the Army and was stationed in Germany. Upon discharge, he earned a master\u2019s degree in teaching history, and then a doctorate in education from Northwestern University in Illinois.\r\n\r\nHe met his wife, while at Northwestern. In 1971, he was hired as an assistant professor at Queens College, and the couple moved to New York City.\r\n\r\nThroughout his life, Mr. Hinkemeyer was eager to become a professional novelist. He read the works of classic American writers such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and was inspired by \u201cForever Amber,\u201d a historical romance by Kathleen Winsor.\r\n\r\nHe started writing poetry and short stories, and then graduated to writing novels. In 1974, he sold his first book, \u201cDark Below,\u201d a suspense novel, to Fawcett Books, without the help of an agent. \r\n\r\nTwo years later, he left teaching to write full time. He and his wife moved to Manhasset, where they brought up two children.\r\n\r\nMr. Hinkemeyer published 21 novels, including seven historical romances written under the pen name Vanessa Royall. Two of his favorite novels were \u201cThe Fields of Eden\u201d and \u201cA Time to Reap,\u201d murder mysteries featuring a small-town Minnesota sheriff named Emil Whippletree.\r\n\r\nHis novels have been translated into nine languages, and in 2014 Diversion Books republished his historical romances as e-books. There is a library of his manuscripts and papers at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. \r\n\r\nMr. Hinkemeyer, who lived year round in East Hampton since 1996, was a docent at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs for more than 10 years. He was widely read in history, followed national politics closely, and had a prodigious memory.\r\n\r\n\"Many people say that men don't understand romance. Vanessa Royall and Mike Hinkemeyer prove them wrong.\""}, "birth_date": "18 Oct 1940", "source_records": ["bwb:9781626814080"], "photos": [14575334], "remote_ids": {"isni": "0000000084536742", "wikidata": "Q16889618", "viaf": "79315469", "goodreads": "687532", "lc_naf": "n81042157"}, "death_date": "28 Nov 2019", "alternate_names": ["Michael T. Hinkemeyer: Jan Lara"], "type": {"key": "/type/author"}, "key": "/authors/OL2704673A", "latest_revision": 8, "revision": 8, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2008-04-29T13:35:46.876380"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2025-07-31T21:29:34.939352"}}