The Official Site of Author Judy Alter

Note: It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Judy Alter (July 22, 1938—July 13, 2024). As per her wishes, this website will continue to serve as a digital legacy, celebrating her life’s work and literary contributions. We invite you to explore her books, writings, and the impact she made on the world of literature. Thank you for your continued support and for helping to keep her memory alive.

Selected Publications

Mysteries

Blue Plate Café:

Murder at the Blue Plate Café (Louisville, KY: Turquoise Morning Press, 2013; Fort Worth TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2015)

Murder at Tremont House (Louisville KY: Turquoise Morning Press, 2014; Fort Worth TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2015)

Murder at Peacock Mansion (Fort Worth TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2015)

Murder at the Bus Depot (Fort Worth TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2018)

Kelly O’Connell:

Skeleton in a Dead Space (Louisville KY: Turquoise Morning Press,, 2011; Fort Worth TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2016)

No Neighborhood for Old Women (Louisville KY: Turquoise Morning Press, 2012; Fort Worth TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2016)

Trouble in a Big Box (Louisville KY: Turquoise Morning Press, 2012)

Danger Comes Home (Louisville KY: Turquoise Morning Press, 2013)

Deception in Strange Places (Louisville KY: Turquoise Morning Press, 2014)

Desperate for Death (Louisville KY: Turquoise Morning Press, 2015)

The Color of Fear (Fort Worth, TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2017)

Contract for Chaos (Fort Worth, TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2018)

Oak Grove:

The Perfect Coed (Fort Worth TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2014)

Pigface and the Perfect Dog (Fort Worth, TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2017)

Young-Adult Fiction

After Pa was Shot (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1978; E-Heart & Ellen Temple, 1990) available from Eakin Publishing Co., Austin

Callie Shaw, Stableboy (Austin, Texas: Eakin Publishing, 1996)

Katie and the Recluse (Dallas: E-Heart and Ellen Temple Publishing, 1991).

Luke and the Van Zandt County War (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1984); Named Best Juvenile of the Year by the Texas Institute of Letters.

Maggie and a Horse Named Devildust (Dallas: E-Heart and Ellen Temple Publishing, 1989)

Maggie and Devildust–Ridin’ High! (Dallas: E-Heart and Ellen Temple Publishing, 1990)

Maggie and the Search for Devildust (Dallas: E-Heart and Ellen Temple Publishing, 1989)

Sam Houston Is My Hero (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2003) – Available at Amazon

Selected non-fiction books and monographs

Elmer Kelton and West Texas: A Literary Relationship (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1989)

Extraordinary Women of Texas. (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2008)

Texas and Christmas, edited with Joyce Roach (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1983).

Thistle Hill (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 1987)

Unbridled Spirits: Short Fiction about Women of the Old West, EDITED with A. T. Row (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1993).

Columns

A column of local literary news for Aura Magazine, 1992-1994

A column of news about Texas writers, monthly, Dallas Morning News, 1999 – 2008

“Along Publishers Row,” The Roundup (1972-1978) A column of publishing news

“Women’s Lit,” a column of book reviews which appeared at random on a space-available basis in the Fort Worth Star Telegram 1974-1975

A column of medical advice for runners, based on physician interviews, in Texas Runner, (1979-1981)

Honors

Spur Award, Best Western Novel, 1989, from Western Writers of America for Mattie

Best Juvenile Novel of 1984, Texas Institute of Letters for Luke and the Van Zandt County War

Western Heritage (Wrangler) Award, Best Short Story, National Cowboy Hall of Fame, for “Fool Girl,” 1989, “Sue Ellen Learns to Dance,” 1998

Spur Award from Western Writers of America, “Sue Ellen Learns to Dance,” 1998

Past President, Western Writers of America

Former Secretary-Treasurer, Texas Institute of Letters

Named an Outstanding Woman of Fort Worth

Named among 100 Women Who Have Left Their Mark on Texas, Dallas Morning News

Awarded Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Western Writers of America, Inc.

Elected to the Texas Literary Hall of Fame, Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library

Adult Fiction

A Ballad for Sallie (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1992; Leisure Books 1998)

Cherokee Rose (New York: Bantam, 1996)

Jessie [a novel based on the life of Jessie Benton Fremont] (New York: Bantam, 1995)

Libbie [a novel based on the life of Elizabeth Bacon Custer] (New York: Bantam, 1994

Mattie (New York: Doubleday, 1988); Spur Award for Best Western Novel; Leisure Books, January 1997. Available as an e-book at Amazon and Smashwords

So Far from Paradise (Fort Worth: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, serialized in April and May 1986)

Sundance, Butch, and Me. (New York: Leisure Publishing, 2002).

The Gilded Cage (Fort Worth, TX: Alter Ego Publishing, 2016)

Juvenile Non-fiction

Over a 30-year period, I have published over fifty young-adult non-fiction books written on assignments for such companies as Franklin Watts, Scholastic, Editorial Directions, EnslowChilds World, Grolier, Children’s Press, and Compass Point Books. These were written and published for sale to schools and rarely found their way to general bookstores. For a list of complete titles, contact me at

Food Writing

Chili is Texas Country (Texas Tech University Press, 2015)

Cooking My Way Through Life with Kids and Books (Abilene TX: State House Press, 2008).

Great Chefs of Texas (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2008)

Restaurant reviews appeared regularly in Fort Worth, former publication of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, and occasionally in Dallas/Fort Worth Business.

Guest food columns have appeared in Texas Co-op Magazine and the now-defunct Parker County Today.

Short Stories

My short stories have been collected in Sue Ellen Learns to Dance and Other Stories (Spring, Texas: Panther Creek Publishing, 2006) – Available at Amazon (paperback) and Amazon Kindle

“The Art of Dipping Candles,” Louis L’Amour Western Magazine, July 1995. Finalist, WWA Spur Award. Available from Smashwords and Amazon Kindle

Articles

Over 200 articles have appeared in various publications over the last thirty years. The list below is limited to scholarly and/or critical articles chosen to give an idea of the range of topics and publications. Samples are available on request.

Afterword to Wagontongue by Elmer Kelton, reprint. (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 1996)

Section in “Symposium,” Texas Women Writers: A Tradition of Their Own. Sylvia Ann Grider and Lou Halsell Rodeberger, eds. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. Pp. 345-348.

Introduction to Gentle Annie by Mackinlay Kantor (New York: Gregg Press, 1986).

Introduction to Indian Country by Dorothy Johnson (New York: Gregg Press, 1985).

Introduction to Elmer Kelton Country by Elmer Kelton (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press

“The Market for Western Fiction,” Updating the Literary West (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 997%u2014a project edited by the Western Literature Association and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities).

“Notes from an Outsider,” CCTE Studies, Volume LVII (September 1992), pp. 87-89.

“Through a Glass Darkly: An Easterner Looks at Westerns,” Roundup (Fall 1992).

“Women – and Feminists – in the old West,” Cross Timbers Review, 1989.

“Women in the American West: Literary Images and Image-Makers,” Texas Journal, Spring/Summer 1991.

Reviews

Fiction book review editor, The Roundup, 1978-1983

In the last thirty-five years, over 200 book reviews have appeared in such scholarly publications as Southwestern Historical Quarterly,Western American Literature,and Southwestern American Literature as well as in newspapers and popular publications such as Fort Worth Star Telegram, Dallas Morning News, El Paso Times, Texas Woman, and other magazines.

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