Joan Smith

Joan Smith is a Canadian novelist known for witty Regency romances, many with a mystery element, and the author of more than a hundred books for publishers including Fawcett, Walker, Berkley, St. Martin's and Silhouette.

A graduate of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and the Ontario College of Education, she taught French and English in secondary schools and English at college level before writing full time. Her admiration for Jane Austen and Lord Byron drew her to the Regency period, which she liked for its wit and humour. Her Regencies, many with a mystery background, appeared from Fawcett and Walker, and she also wrote contemporary mysteries for Berkley, historical mysteries for Fawcett and St. Martin's, and 27 novels for Silhouette Romance, the earliest listed being Next Year's Blonde (1983). She has also written as Jennie Gallant. Her books have been chosen by the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, appeared on the Waldenbooks bestseller list, and two of her Regencies were named among Romantic Times' ten best Regencies ever. She has made her home in Georgetown, Ontario, and by 2013 nearly seventy of her Regencies were available as Kindle ebooks.

For collectors

Her Regencies first appeared under the Walker and Fawcett imprints, so those original printings are the first editions of her best-known work; the later ebook reissues are not.