Madeline Hunter

Madeline Hunter (1952-2025) was an American historical romance novelist, the pen name of an art history professor at Duquesne University, whose debut By Arrangement appeared in 2000.

She was born on 8 June 1952 in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania, and held a PhD in art history alongside her teaching career. By Arrangement, a medieval romance, won the Waldenbooks award for bestselling debut author in 2000 and the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for best first historical romance. She continued with medieval novels including By Possession, By Design, The Protector, Lord of a Thousand Nights and Stealing Heaven before turning to Regency-era settings.

Her later books came in linked series: the Seducer novels (The Seducer, The Saint, The Charmer, The Sinner, The Romantic) and the spin-offs Lord of Sin and Lady of Sin; the Rothwell series, which opens with Rules of Seduction and includes Lessons of Desire; the Rarest Bloom quartet, beginning with Ravishing in Red; the Fairbourne Quartet; and the Wicked Trilogy. Romance Writers of America gave her two RITA Awards, for Stealing Heaven (long historical romance, 2003) and Lessons of Desire (historical romance, 2008). She died of cancer on 15 April 2025, aged 72.

For collectors

Her debut, By Arrangement (2000), and the two RITA winners, Stealing Heaven and Lessons of Desire, are the obvious centrepieces of a Hunter collection. Because her novels sit in tightly linked series, many readers aim to complete a series rather than chase individual first printings.