* Patricia Moyes; Wrote Henry Tibbett Mysteries

Patricia Moyes, 77, British mystery writer who created the character Inspector Henry Tibbett. Moyes wrote 19 mysteries featuring the exploits of a Scotland Yard detective and his wife. She was once described by the New York Times Book Review as “one of the brightest contemporary practitioners of the puzzle-and-plot whodunit.” With her solid plotting and ingenious twists that were more amusing than vicious, she was praised by critics as a worthy standard-bearer for the classical British mystery genre exemplified by Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham. Her books included “Dead Men Don’t Ski,” “Murder Fantastical,” “Death on the Agenda,” “Murder a la Mode” and “Death and the Dutch Uncle.” “Many Deadly Returns,” published in 1970, won the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Born in Dublin, Moyes grew up in England. Twice married, she moved to the Virgin Islands in the late 1970s. On Aug. 2 at her home in Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.