Susan Kay (b. 1953) is a writer.
She is most known for her book, Phantom, which expands upon the history of Erik, the character from Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, in an episodic format of seven chapters from different characters' points of view.
Susan Kay did not travel to Iran to research the novel, although she did research in person at the Paris Opera House.
Her first novel was Legacy, about the life of Queen Elizabeth I and won a Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize and a Betty Trask Award in 1985.
She worked as a primary school teacher until leaving to bring up a family, and now lives with her husband and two children in Cheshire.