Tina Appleton Bishop, who became a novelist at age 90 and produced six works of fiction, died peacefully on March 21 after a long battle with cancer. She was 98 years old.
Her first novel, “Fisherman’s Creek,” was published in 2008, though she had been pondering the idea since the age of 21—a 70-year germination. The novel concerns a fashionable young couple who move into a Connecticut mansion with a tragic history. The opening line: “Harry and Laura Bell disliked each other, but loved the house.”
Five suspense novels followed, at a pace of one per year: “The Heiress of Newfield,” “Open With Care,” “Dress Her in Red,” “The Bleached Widow,” and “That Deadly Summer.” All were set in New England except the last, a murder mystery that took place on Long Island’s North Shore, where, in real life, Ms. Bishop spent her teenage summers “swimming, fishing, selling clams, and making friends with the boaters on the cove below my grandparents’ summer home.”
Ms. Bishop was born in New York City on Sept. 25, 1917, the daughter of William H. and Noël J. Appleton. Educated in New York and Pennsylvania, she took courses in drama and writing at Columbia University, but received no graduation certificate until the age of 77, when she earned her GED at Greenwich High School.
She came from a renowned family of writers, editors, and publishers. Her great-grandfather, Daniel Appleton, founded the publishing firm that brought Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” to the United States. D. Appleton & Co. also published Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Darwin.
Ms. Bishop’s brothers, William W. Appleton and John J. Appleton, were both published writers, and her sister-in-law, Myra Appleton, John’s wife, was a senior editor at Cosmopolitan.
Ms. Bishop lived with her first husband, Denis Hendricks, for 39 years in Cos Cob. He died in 1985. Her second husband, Richard E. Bishop, died in 1997. She met him in 1987 as a fellow volunteer at Community Answers, and they were married in 1988.
From 1957 to 1968 Ms. Bishop was the managing editor of The Greenwich Review, the forerunner of Greenwich Magazine. In later years, she edited the Senior Outlook, a quarterly newspaper. Her volunteer activities included the chairmanship of the Greenwich chapter of the American Red Cross Public Information, literacy volunteering, and work at the Cos Cob Library and the Greenwich Arts Council.
In her 80’s, she became a member of the Greenwich Chapter of the Pen Women. Freighter travel, theatre-going, and small boat sailing were enduring interests. Her younger son, Erik, who helped edit her novels, died in 2015. She is survived by her son Peter, who designed her book covers; and by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at St. Michael’s Church on April 7 at 11 a.m., followed by a private burial.
