I recently discovered that my mother had a half-sister whom I have
never met.  Mary Gough was born before 1921 (most likely in El Paso,
Texas), the daughter of John T. Gough and Leona Williams. I heard that
she was a writer. This interested me since I am also a writer and
no-one else in my family is. My family is from Texas, but it is
believed that Mary Gough moved to California.

I would like to find out if this particular Mary Gough (who might have
a different married name) is still living, and what she has written. I
did a couple of Google searches, which turned up one book by a Mary
Gough (“Alahan : An Early Christian Monastery in Southern Turkey”,
Publisher: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Department of
Publications, Published Date: 01/01/1985, ISBN: 0888440731) but I am
not sure if this would be the same person. One reference I found
(http://www.turkishdailynews.com/old_editions/11_17_97/feature.htm)
referred to the author of “Alahan” as a “British writer” who in 1949
“accompanied her archaeologist husband on a reconnaissance of Turkey's
Cilician coast”.

So my questions are: Is my relative Mary Gough still alive? If so, in
what city? If not, when and where did she die? Under what name did she
write? What did she write?

I don't know if this will help you or not, but in looking up the
catalog record of the book you cited, I found that particular Mary
Gough is given a birth year of 1930.  The other author of that book is
a Michael Gough, which would seem to support what you found on the
website.  I did a search in Contemporary Authors, but turned up
nothing.  As your relative may have written under a married name, that
doesn't mean she's not there.

As it's against Google's policy to have us answer questions requiring
personal information, you may want to try consulting your local
library.  They may be able to point you in the right direction.  You
could also consult a pay service.

Regards,
luciaphile-ga

Go to www.helplist.com

There you can find folks who volunteer to look up any genealogy info
you have for free. They do it by state and county. So, if you go to
the Texas page, you can ask someone to look up the county of birth for
Mary Gough, and they may be able to get other info like marriage info.

www.randomactsofgenealogicalkindness.com 

does the same thing as the HelpList. Do a Google on that address
though, as it may not be exact.

Go also to www.genforum.com

There you can leave a message under the Gough family pages and read
all the messages other Gough family members may have left.

I use both in my genealogy research, and have found many many answers
to questions