Jennifer has written over 75 books and anthology contributions that have appeared on both national and international best seller lists. Early in her career, she published under a variety of pennames in the mystery suspense, contemporary romance, and mainstream categories, but is best known for her Blake historical romances that explore the colorful history of her home state of Louisiana. Labeled “the Steel Magnolia of Women’s Fiction, a “Pioneer of the Romance Industry,” and an “Icon of the genre,” she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America and among the first recipients of the RWA Golden Treasure Award for lifetime achievement. She holds an array of other honors, including the Maggie, the Holt Medallion, the Silver Plume, Reviews Choice and Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times, and the Frank Waters Award for Literary Excellence. Her work has been issued in book club editions, in braille, recorded for the blind, and is widely available in audiobook versions. In 1999 she retrieved the rights to much of her work and was among the first romance authors to release it in e-book format. In 2011, she left traditional publishing to concentrate on e-books. Her most recent venture is in the mystery field. Due to her fifty-plus year career and the varied distribution of her work, including in more than 22 foreign translations, it’s difficult to compile numbers sold. A rough estimate would be in excess of 50 million.
