Cassie Edwards is a

best-selling A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cook ...

American author of over 100

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

romance novels A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pr ...

. She has been published by Dorchester Publishing,

Signet Books The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publis ...

Kensington Publishing Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender G ...

and

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Biography

Edwards began writing romances in 1982 and released her 100th novel, ''Savage Skies'', on August 28, 2007. Although her earlier books were classic historical romances, the vast majority of her novels involve Native American tribes. Edwards's grandmother was

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian languages, Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized tribe, federally recognize ...

. Her first 99 books sold a combined 10 million copies as of August 2007, with her more recent novels averaging sales of 250,000–350,000 copies. Edwards has won the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award and the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, as well as being named one of Affaire de Coeur's top ten favorite romance writers. Edwards has a reputation for meticulously researching the proper anthropological backgrounds of each tribe she writes about. Edwards and her husband Charles, a retired high school biology teacher, have been married for over 50 years. They have two sons, Charles and Brian, and three grandchildren. The family lived in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

for over thirty years, but now reside in

Mattoon, Illinois Mattoon ( ) is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 16,870 as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Lake Land College and has close ties with its neighbor, Charleston. Both are principal cities of the Charleston� ...

Plagiarism allegations

On 7 January 2008, the romance-novel review blo
''Smart Bitches, Trashy Books''
ref name="SB" /> accused Edwards of widespread

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and though ...

after finding multiple passages in her novels that appeared to be directly taken from various works by other authors, including novels, poems, reference books, and websites about Native American history and culture. Many of the passages came from old references, many without copyright or with expired copyright protection. One of Edwards' publishers,

Signet Signet may refer to: *Signet, Kenya, A subsidiary of the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), specifically set up to broadcast and distribute the DTT signals * Signet ring, a ring with a seal set into it, typically by leaving an impression in sea ...

, initially defended the passages in question as

fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the intere ...

rather than

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

Nora Roberts Nora Roberts (born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950) is an American author of more than 225 romance novels. She writes as J. D. Robb for the '' in Death'' series and has also written under the pseudonyms Jill March and for publicatio ...

, herself a victim of plagiarism, joined the outcry. Two days later, Signet announced that they would be reviewing all of Edwards' books that they published to determine whether plagiarism had occurred, and, in April 2008, Signet stopped publishing Edwards' books "due to irreconcilable editorial differences.". In an interview, Edwards said that she did not know she was supposed to credit sources, and her husband stated that Edwards gained ideas from her reference works but did not "lift passages".

Partial bibliography

Chippewa

# ''Savage Torment'' (1982) # ''Savage Obsession'' (1983) # ''Savage Innocence'' (1984) # ''Savage Heart'' (1985) # ''Savage Paradise'' (1987)

Savage Secrets

# ''Savage Surrender'' (1987) # ''Savage Eden'' (1988) # ''Savage Bliss'' (1990) # ''Savage Dream'' (1990) # ''Savage Splendor'' (1991) # ''Savage Whispers'' (1991) # ''Savage Dance'' (1991) # ''Savage Persuasion'' (1991) # ''Savage Promise'' (1992) # ''Savage Mists'' (1992) # ''Savage Sunrise'' (1993) # ''Savage Pride'' (2000)

Wild Arizona

# ''Wild Ecstasy'' (1992) # ''Wild Splendor'' (1993) # ''Wild Desire'' (1994) # ''Wild Abandon'' (1994) # ''Wild Rapture'' (1995) # ''Wild Embrace'' (1995)

Savage

# ''Savage Illusion'' (1993) # ''Savage Spirit'' (1994) # ''Savage Embers'' (1994) # ''Savage Secrets'' (1995) # ''Savage Passions'' (1996) # ''Savage Shadows'' (1996) # ''Savage Longings'' (1997) # ''Savage Tears'' (1997) # ''Savage Heat'' (1998) # ''Savage Wonder'' (1998) # ''Savage Joy'' (1999) # ''Savage Fires'' (1999) # ''Savage Grace'' (2000) # ''Savage Devotion'' (2000) # ''Savage Thunder'' (2001) # ''Savage Honor'' (2001) # ''Savage Moon'' (2002) # ''Savage Love'' (2002) # ''Savage Destiny'' (2003) # ''Savage Hero'' (2003) # ''Savage Trust'' (2004) # ''Savage Hope'' (2004) # ''Savage Courage'' (2005) # ''Savage Vision'' (2005) # ''Savage Arrow'' (2006) # ''Savage Beloved'' (2006) # ''Savage Tempest'' (2006) # ''Savage Quest'' (2007) # ''Savage Intrigue'' (June 2007) # ''Savage Skies'' (September 2007) # ''Savage Glory'' (November 2007) # ''Savage Flames'' (February 2008) # ''Savage Abandon'' (September 2008) # ''Savage Sun'' (April 2009) # ''Savage Dawn'' (September 2009)

Wild Tribes

# ''Wild Bliss'' (1995) # ''Wild Thunder'' (1995) # ''Wild Whispers'' (1996) # ''Wind Walker'' (2004)

Dreamcatcher

# ''Running Fox'' (2006) # ''Shadow Bear'' (2007) # ''Falcon Moon'' (2007)

Stand alone novels

# ''Portrait of Desire'' (1982) # ''Rapture's Rendezvous'' (1982) # ''Secrets of My Heart'' (1982) # ''Silken Rapture'' (1983) # ''Passions Web'' (1984) # ''Elusive Ecstasy'' (1984) # ''Island Rapture'' (1985) # ''Desire's Blossom'' (1985) # ''Forbidden Embrace'' (1985) # ''Eugenia's Embrace'' (1986) # ''Passions Fire'' (1986) # ''Beloved Embrace'' (1987) # ''Enchanted Enemy'' (1988) # ''Hostage Heart'' (1988) # ''Passion in the Wind'' (1988) # ''A Gentle Passion'' (1989) # ''Eden's Promise'' (1989) # ''Roses After Rain'' (1990) # ''Passion's Embrace'' (1990) # ''When Passion Calls'' (1990) # ''Touch the Wild Wind'' (1991) # ''Rolling Thunder'' (1996) # ''Flaming Arrow'' (1997) # ''Innocent Obsession'' (1997) # ''White Fire'' (1997) # ''Bold Wolf'' (1998) # ''Lone Eagle'' (1998) # ''Thunder Heart'' (1999) # ''Silver Wing'' (1999) # ''Winter Raven'' (2000) # ''Sun Hawk'' (2000) # ''Midnight Falcon'' (2001) # ''Fire Cloud'' (2001) # ''Spirit Warrior'' (2002) # ''Storm Rider'' (2002) # ''Night Wolf'' (2003) # ''Racing Moon'' (2003) # ''Proud Eagle'' (2004) # ''Silver Feather'' (2005) # ''Swift Horse'' (2005) # ''Her Forbidden Pirate'' (January 2009)

Omnibus

*''An Old-Fashioned Valentine'' (1993) (with Kathryn Kramer and Eugenia Riley) *''Love's Legacy'' (1996) (with Madeline Baker, Mary Balogh, Elaine Barbieri, Lori Copeland, Heather Graham, Catherine Hart, Virginia Henley, Penelope Neri, Diana Palmer and Janelle Taylor) *''Baby on the Doorstep'' (1997) (with Lori Copeland and Susan Kay Law) *''Wild Ecstasy / Wild Rapture / Wild Embrace'' (2003)

References

External links

CassieEdwards.com
the author's official website, as recorded by the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and s ...

, active up to the beginning of 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Cassie American romantic fiction writers 1936 births Living people American writers of Native American descent Writers from St. Louis People from Mattoon, Illinois People involved in plagiarism controversies