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CATHY MAXWELL

LIFE AND CAREER

Bestselling novelist Cathy Maxwell insists it was much more than her appreciation of handsome men in tall boots that attracted her to England’s Regency period and romance novels set there. Having been bitten by the writing bug, she’s enamored by the continual challenge of creating new characters and plots. A storyteller since childhood, writing romance has given her a way to express her belief that “loving well is the greatest adventure of all,” at the same time she explores her fascination with the Regency period, a time in which she says “important new ideas we now accept as common sense were born.”

The author of twenty-four novels and four novellas set in the early 1800s, Cathy’ latest THE SEDUCTION OF SCANDAL, the fifth of her Scandal and Seduction novels, has just been published. The others, A Seduction at Christmas, The Earl Claims His Wife, The Marriage Ring, and His Christmas Pleasure, are quintessential Cathy Maxwell—traditional historical romances with a contemporary sensibility and a touch of humor. They are linked by several shared characters. Each of the Scandal and Seduction titles has appeared for multiple weeks on The New York Times Mass Market Best Seller list.

Cathy’s success is not surprising. She received recognition from the start with her first novel, All Things Beautiful. Published in 1994, it was nominated for Best First Book by the Romance Writers of America and for Best First Historical by Romantic Times magazine. It received first place recognition as Best Read of 1994 from the Reader’s Voice. Since then, she has continued to embrace the romance genre with the same enthusiasm and respect for its traditions that readers bring to her stories. She focuses on what readers want—strong plots and characters, historical accuracy and vivid descriptions of the mores, households, fashion and society of the time—and has introduced her share of virgins, forced marriages, scheming heirs, rogues, and haughty matrons of the ton.

In THE SCANDAL OF SEDUCTION, her heroine is a young, titled woman fleeing an arranged marriage. Her hero is a highwayman coerced into hiding her until her wedding day passes. It’s the sort of plot Cathy relishes, with its suspension of disbelief, unexpected twists and turns, thread of danger and the focus, always, on the developing love story. “It’s the readers of historical romance that keep the genre vibrant, not just the authors” says Cathy. “They have a strong affinity for certain time periods and customs, and for story elements that might not succeed in a contemporary novel.” She notes that “with a historical, the veil of history softens some things. I may be able to pull off a highwayman as hero when The Prince Regent was leading Britain, but it’s doubtful I’ll set one in the present about a convenience store robber.”

Born in Olathe, Kansas—“a picture perfect Midwestern town”—Cathy’s family roots go back to the Mayflower and the Revolutionary War. She has long called Virginia home, noting she is “a Virginian by choice, but a Kansan by nature.” She worked in television news as a broadcaster before spending six years in the Navy. She attended Air Force intelligence school, worked in the Pentagon and did a tour with Naval Intelligence.

“I always wanted to join the Navy,” she says, “and at the ripe age of twenty-three, I made a list of the ten things I wanted to do with my life. Reading the news wasn’t on the list, but the Navy was and so was writing. I have no regrets. My time in the service opened me up to the big world, had me making news instead of reporting on it, and led me to my husband.” Prepared to help protect her country, it nonetheless turned out that the most dangerous thing Cathy did was to begin her own “greatest adventure” and marry a man she’d known less than a month.

Cathy began her writing career in 1991 while her children were still small. “It wasn’t easy,” she says. “I worked full time, my husband travelled, we had three kids, I volunteered and I was writing from four until seven every morning.”

Now, twenty years later, she is the author of ten national bestsellers and her novels appear regularly on The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. A rarity in the book world, Cathy has published every one of her two dozen novels with the same publisher, Avon Books. These include the bestsellers In the Highlander’s Bed, Bedding the Heiress, In the Bed of a Duke, The Price of Indiscretion, Temptation of a Proper Governess, and The Seduction of an English Lady.

Cathy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers,Virginia Romance Writers, and Novelists Inc. She is a frequent featured speaker and panelist nationally and locally at writers’ conferences, libraries and special events, where she focuses on writing, fiction and the romance genre. Recently, she has received requests from a variety of groups to share her own inspiring stories of empowerment, persistence and coping with grief, hard won knowledge earned following the sudden accidental death of her husband.

Cathy lives in rural Powhatan County, Virginia with her rescued dogs Rico and Maya and with her son during college breaks, and is just a few miles from her horses, Duncan and Dinero. Locally, she supports the Free Clinic of Powhatan, Transformation Retreats, a ministry for people with HIV, the YMCA, and Comfort Zone Camp, which supports children dealing with the death of a loved one.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Historical Romances

Scandals and Seduction Novels

The Seduction of Scandal September 2011 ISBN 978-0-06-177212-2

This Christmas Pleasure December 2010 ISBN 978-0-06-135098-6

The Marriage Ring March 2010 ISBN 978-0-06-177192-7

The Earl Claims His Wife October 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-135099-3

A Seduction at Christmas November 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-135098-6

Marriage Novels

The Marriage Contract February 2001 ISBN 0-380-80833-1

A Scandalous Marriage February 2000 ISBN 0-380-80832-3

Married in Haste August 1999 ISBN 0-380-80831-5

Cameron Sisters Novels

In The Highlander’s Bed February 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-112180-7

Bedding the Heiress  April 2007 ISBN 0-06-112180-0

In the Bed of a Duke  May 2006 ISBN 0-06-074058-2

The Price of Indiscretion August 2005 ISBN 0-06-074057-4

Temptation of a Proper Governess September 2004 ISBN 0-06-009298-X

The Seduction of an English Lady January 2004 ISBN 0-06-009297-1

Adventures of a Scottish Heiress May 2003 ISBN 0-06-009296-0

The Lady is Tempted July 2002 ISBN 0-380-81833-7

The Wedding Wager November 2001 ISBN 0-380-81832-9

Because of You February 1999 ISBN 0-380-79710-0

When Dreams Come True 1998 ISBN 0-380-79710-0

Falling In Love Again September 1997 ISBN 0-380-79710-0

You And No Other September 1996 ISBN 0-380-78716-4

Treasured Vows January 1996 ISBN 0-06-108415-8

All Things Beautiful September 1994

Anthologies

The Irish Duke in Four Dukes And A Devil with Elaine Fox, Jeaniene Frost, Sophia Nash, Tracy Anne Warren July 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-178736-2

"Nightingale" in The One That Got Away with Victoria Alexander, Eloisa sJames, Liz Carlyle November 2004 ISBN 0-06-054026-5

"Flanna and the Lawman" in Wild West Brides with Ruth Langan and Carolyn Davidson June 2002 ISBN 0-373-83508-6

"In a Moonlit Garden" in Italic textTea For Two with Liz Carlyle May 2002 ISBN 0-743-44581-3

"A Man Who Can Dance" in In Praise of Younger Men with Jo Beverley, Jaclyn Reding, Lauren Royal 2001 ISBN 1-451-20380-1

EXTERNAL LINKS Cathy Maxwell Office Website

"Author Cathy Maxwell on Craft" Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Cathy Maxwell: Goddess in Progress" Crescent Blues

"Avon Books Tells Readers: K.I.S.S. and Teal to Fight Ovarian Cancer"

"Passionate Writer: Romance Novelist Cathy Maxwell"

SOURCES Author Web Site