June Drummond

Drummond was born in Durban in November 1923, and was educated at Durban Girls College, where she was dux of the school, and at the University of Cape Town. She lived in London for six years, and was there when her first book, The Black Unicorn , was published in 1959 by Victor Gollancz. Later she became one of Robert Hales stable of authors, writing thrillers and Regency romances. Between 1959 and her death, she saw 29 novels published, with a 30th, Dead Shot , due out later this year. Although her books are available in South Africa, her main market is overseas.

Interviewed by The Witness in 2003 on the publication of her 16th thriller, Loose Cannon , Drummond said that she wrote the kind of books she liked to read. But while they were light entertainment, her research was meticulous.

In her years in London, Drummond worked for the Church Adoption Society, and on her return to Durban she continued in the same field, working for the Durban Indian Child Welfare Society. She was involved in the early days of the Progressive Party, the forerunner of the Democratic Alliance, and was also a lay minister. During the Second World War, Drummond became engaged to a pilot in the Australian Air Force who was killed in action. She never married.