Lin Wilder's path to fiction did not begin in a writer's room or a university creative-writing program. It began in healthcare. With a doctorate in Public Health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a professional background encompassing cardiopulmonary physiology, medical ethics, and hospital administration, Wilder spent more than three decades in academic healthcare administration before turning, later in life, to storytelling.
Her transition into fiction came after she left her position as Hospital Director at UMass Medical Center. What followed was a second career built around narrative — one that has taken her from medical mysteries involving physicians and healthcare institutions to historical novels set in the ancient world, and a memoir examining her own spiritual journey.
A career rooted in medicine
Wilder's professional background is essential to understanding her fiction. Her doctorate in Public Health and her experience in cardiopulmonary physiology, medical ethics, and hospital administration gave her decades of exposure to the language, structures, and ethical questions of healthcare. Rather than approaching medicine as an outside observer, she entered fiction with professional familiarity with the systems and questions surrounding medical practice.
That experience became the foundation for her Dr. Lindsey McCall medical mystery series, which includes The Fragrance Shed By A Violet, Do You Solemnly Swear?, A Price for Genius, Malthus Revisited, and Plausible Liars. The move from healthcare administration to fiction represented a significant change in form — but not a departure from the subjects she had spent much of her professional life studying.
The unexpected second career
For many writers, fiction begins early in life. Wilder's professional career had already developed along an entirely different path before she turned seriously toward novels. Her subsequent body of work demonstrates how that professional experience could be transformed into literary material: the mysteries draw on the world she knew firsthand, while her historical fiction moves much further back in time, examining identity, belief, power, and human relationships through the lens of the ancient world.
From medical mystery to the ancient world
My Name is Saul: A Novel of the Ancient World represents a different literary direction. The novel approaches the life of the man known to Christian tradition as Saul of Tarsus, later Paul the Apostle, through historical fiction. It uses a framing narrative in which Paul is imprisoned in Rome and reflects upon the person he was before his transformation — exploring Saul's early life, education, relationships, religious convictions, persecution of early Christians, and eventual change.
The distinction between historical record and literary invention matters. My Name is Saul is a novel, not a historical biography. Wilder reconstructs aspects of Saul's life through historical and biblical material while also creating scenes, conversations, and personal details that are part of her fictional interpretation — allowing her to explore the emotional and human dimensions of a figure whose significance extends far beyond the surviving record.
Reimagining Saul
The title points directly toward the central question of identity. Before becoming known as Paul, the figure at the center of the novel was Saul — and Wilder's narrative is interested in the person behind the familiar religious figure. Rather than presenting Saul as the finished apostle of tradition, the novel examines the experiences and convictions that shaped the man before and around his transformation.
The novel operates at the intersection of historical fiction, religious fiction, and character-driven storytelling — asking readers to encounter Saul not only as a figure of religious history but as a human being confronting identity, loyalty, belief, and change.
A broader ancient-world series
My Name is Saul is not Wilder's only exploration of the ancient world. Her ancient-novel series also includes I, Claudia and The Reluctant Queen. The three books reflect a continuing interest in using historical settings as the foundation for character-driven fiction. The Reluctant Queen, described as the third novel in the series, took first place in historical and religious fiction in Feathered Quill's Best Books of 2022, according to the author's published biography.
The author's spiritual journey
Wilder's interest in religious and historical fiction is also connected to her memoir, Finding the Narrow Path, which recounts what she describes as her journey away from God and back again. The novel's exploration of Saul's transformation and the memoir's examination of Wilder's own spiritual journey are distinct projects — one historical fiction, one memoir — but both engage with questions of faith, change, and personal identity.
Recognition across two literary worlds
Since entering fiction, Wilder has received recognition across both series. Her published biography lists awards associated with the Feathered Quill, the Independent Author Network (IAN), the NABE Pinnacle Awards, Literary Titans, NN Lights, and Readers' Favorite. Her career occupies an unusual space in contemporary independent publishing: a writer with a substantial healthcare background who has built a body of fiction extending from medical investigations to stories set thousands of years in the past.
Lin Wilder in focus
- Born: Brockton, Massachusetts, United States
- Education: Doctorate in Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
- Professional background: Cardiopulmonary physiology, medical ethics, and hospital administration
- Former leadership position: Hospital Director, UMass Medical Center
- Primary genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, and Thriller
- Medical mystery series: Dr. Lindsey McCall
- Ancient-world novels: I, Claudia, My Name is Saul, The Reluctant Queen
- Memoir: Finding the Narrow Path
- Residence: Texas Hill Country, United States
Where to find Lin Wilder
My Name is Saul: A Novel of the Ancient World is available from major retailers, and Wilder's official website offers information about her books and signed copies.
