Linda Howard is the New York Times–bestselling romance and suspense author of Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Cover of Night, Killing Time, To Die For, Kiss Me While I Sleep, Cry No More, and Dying to Please. She is a charter member of Romance Writers of America and in 2005 was awarded their Lifetime Achievement Award. Howard lives in Gadsden, Alabama, with her husband and two golden retrievers. She has three grown stepchildren and three grandchildren.