Patricia Maxwell

Patricia Maxwell, née Patricia Anne Ponder (born March 9, 1942 near Goldonna, Louisiana) is a best-selling American author of over fifty novels. A member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame and the Affaire de Coeur Romance Hall of Fame, Maxwell has received numerous awards for her writing. Her first novel in the romance genre, Love's Wild Desire, became a New York Times Bestseller.

Maxwell has published books under five different names. Using her real name, Patricia Maxwell, she writes Gothic mystery-suspense romances; she wrote one book in collaboration with Carol Albritton, that was published under Elizabeth Trehearne, under her maiden name, Patricia Ponder, she wrote a murder mystery and a romantic suspense story, as Maxine Patrick, she wrote contemporary romances and as Jennifer Blake she writes historical romances. Many of her books are set in her native Louisiana.

Biography

Early years

Maxwell is a seventh generation Louisianan of English, Irish, Welsh, Scots-German, French and American Indian descent. She was born in a one-hundred-twenty-year-old house constructed by her grandparents near Goldonna. She spent her childhood on a 80-acre (320,000 m²) farm in Northern Louisiana. Through her mother, who belonged to a mail order book club, Maxwell was introduced at an early age to adult mysteries, westerns, historical novels, and romances. As a young teenager, she volunteered at the school library, further cementing her love of the written word.