Johanna Lindsey books in order

Johanna Lindsey (1952-2019) was an American author of historical romance whose novels, beginning with Captive Bride in 1977, sold more than 60 million copies. She was born Johanna Helen Howard in Frankfurt, West Germany, on 10 March 1952, moved with her family to Hawaii in 1964, and died of lung cancer in Nashua, New Hampshire, on 27 October 2019, aged 67.

She wrote Captive Bride on a whim; an Avon Books editor asked for the full manuscript after seeing a sample chapter, and Avon published it in 1977. Regular bestsellers earned her a ten-book Avon contract. Her best-known series is the Malory-Anderson family saga, which ran to twelve novels. After 37 bestsellers with Avon she moved to Simon & Schuster in 2001. Her last novel, Temptation's Darling, appeared in July 2019, giving her about 55 novels in all.

Her covers are part of romance publishing history: the model Fabio first appeared on Hearts Aflame (1987), and those covers are credited with launching his career.

For collectors, Captive Bride (Avon, 1977), her debut, is the key title, and the Malory-Anderson novels are collected as a set. Hearts Aflame (1987) is of particular interest as the first book to carry Fabio on its cover, the start of the run of covers credited with launching his career.