Patricia Maxwell Books In Order

Publication Order of Classic Gothics Books

Publication Order of The Graces Books

Publication Order of Italian Billionaires Books

Publication Order of Louisiana Gentleman Books

Publication Order of Louisiana History Books

Publication Order of Louisiana Knights Books

Publication Order of Louisiana Plantation Books

Publication Order of Love and Adventure Books

Publication Order of Masters at Arms Books

Publication Order of No Ordinary Lovers Books

Publication Order of Royal Family of Ruthenia Books

Publication Order of Sweetly Contemporary Books

Chronological Order of Sweetly Contemporary Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Jennifer Blake Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Jennifer Blake Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Patricia Maxwell is the pseudonym of the author better known as Jennifer Blake. She is a bestselling author with more than fifty novels to her name published under different names. She has received many awards and been recognized for her writing. She was inducted into the Affaire de Coeur Romance Hall of Fame and the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. She has been called the “Steel Magnolia” of women’s fiction and has sold more than 30 million novels in more than eighteen languages. She is an honorary and charter member of the Romance Writers of America and the University of North Eastern Louisiana granted her a Writer in Residence Position.

She was born Patricia Ann Ponder in Goldonna, Louisiana in 1942 and is a seventh-generation American with English, American Indian, Irish, French, Welsh, and Scots-German ancestry. She was born in a century-old house that had been built by her grandparents on an 80-acre farm in Louisiana. As a child, she was introduced to mysteries, romances, historical novels and westerns as she read her mother’s novels from the mail-order book club. During her early teens, she volunteered at the school library where her love for storytelling was further reinforced. Aged fifteen, she got married and became Patricia Maxwell a housewife and mother. When she was 21 she got tired of the boring housewife role and decided to become an author after she had an intense dream set in ancient Scotland. She made the decision to study via correspondence and after a six-week course, she started writing.

For the next several years she wrote articles, poems, and short stories before she decided to write a full-length novel. Her husband supported her dream of becoming an author and bought her a typewriter on which she typed the manuscript that she sold as her debut novel in 1970. “The Secret of the Mirror House” her first novel sold to the first publisher that she submitted it to and she has never looked back since. She started out writing Gothic novels as Patricia Maxwell before she decided to venture into mystery suspense too. When these types of novels lost their popularity, she tried her hand in historical romance where she wrote her first bestseller “Love’s Wild Desire.” During this time, she would write her contemporary romances as Maxine Patrick. She would then begin publishing her historical romance under the pseudonym Jennifer Blake under which she wrote several bestsellers. Patricia Maxwell’s novels are contemporary and historical romances set in the period between 1830 and 1850. The bulk of the novels are set in Louisiana where Maxwell spent much of her childhood. Maxwell currently averages about a book a year. When she is not writing her novels you can find her collecting antiques, quilting, and growing antique roses. She lives with her husband in Northern Louisiana though she also does spend some time in Colorado, where they have a second home.

Patricia Maxwell’s “The Secret of Mirror House” is a Romantic gothic suspense novel set in 19th century Deep South Louisiana. The novel is about Amelia Harveston a woman that lost her mother in heartbreaking circumstances and now dreads being forced into the position of desperation and poverty. As such, when she gets the invitation to go live with relatives at the Mirror House, she cannot say no. She had expected to be welcomed into a warm family embrace, where she could get the protection and love she craved but none of that is forthcoming. Mirror House is a dark and cold home haunted by the dark secrets, its past and the cruel games its residents love to play. She tries to unearth the secrets that the house holds but has no one to confide in. But when the accidents start happening, she believes she is the target for the hate that pervades Mirror House. Out of the despair, she manages to make two allies and at last there is hope for a sanctuary from two marriage proposals. Both men claim undying love but she knows one is not good for her. She needs to go with the man that will provide safety and love but the house will not let her go quietly.

“Stranger at Plantation Inn” is another retro gothic romance with something of an Agatha Christie flavor. The lead is Lilian Newton a woman whose father has been meddling in her life and trying to get her married to George, a semi-local traveling preacher. As an adventurous spirit and die-hard feminist, she does not like the man’s preaching which she finds sexist. As they are returning home, they are caught up in a huge storm that floods the river forcing her to find refuge at the Plantation Inn. There are many other travelers at the inn but she does not care much for anyone and keeps to herself. But she is forced to pay attention when rumors of an escaped killer start swirling around. The man had been terrorizing the countryside spreading fear and anxiety and the old house where they have taken shelter is no exception. Then weird things start happening; a mysterious cry of an infant, a shadow stalking the trees and a dead cat with its throat slit. Lilian does not know who to trust. She thinks Jean Marsh the arrogant yet handsome Frenchman has something bizarre about him that arouses fury in her she cannot explain. The killer is among them but she does not know how to flush him out yet it is certain that he plans to strike again.

Patricia’s third novel was the 1973 published “The Bewitching Grace.” The lead is Anne a woman that has been the guardian to Miranda a childhood friend for years. Miranda had been left all alone since her father died and her mother had abandoned her. She seems to attract all manner of melodrama and trouble and so when she gets married to Louis Blackwell, Anne could not be happier. Five months later, Anne heads to Indian Mound and stays with Miranda and Louis while she works on a story on antebellum houses. Anne is very new to the world of journalism and is suddenly thrown into a world full of voodoo magic and danger when she has to investigate the grisly killing of a girl. Investigating the case takes her on a path of witchery, voodoo, and mysticism to a strange plantation in Louisiana, where she thinks someone evil is channeling dark forces. Could it be Lena the Voodoo expert or maybe the obtuse Greek poet Nico? No one is free of suspicion including her crush Steven with his dark evil eyes and her old friend Miranda despite having a horrendous past that has mangled her soul. To get to the truth, she has to face the love that kills and confront the heart of darkness itself.