Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller

Born Mittie Frances Clarke Point in Doswell, Virginia, on April 30, 1850, she later became known to readers by the pen name Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. She studied at the Richmond Female Institute and began writing after early personal losses, publishing short stories before moving into the fast-growing world of popular fiction.

Her breakthrough came with The Bride of the Tomb in 1883, and she went on to write around 80 dime novels during a career that lasted about half a century. Her books were known for romance, secrets, reversals, and strong emotional stakes, making her a familiar name to readers of inexpensive mass-market fiction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Much of her later life was tied to West Virginia, where she lived at "The Cedars" in Alderson. After a divorce in 1908, she moved with her daughter Irene to Boston, and she died in Florida on December 26, 1937. Today, she is remembered as a successful and prolific writer from the great age of American popular romance.