Armstrong, Lindsay

PERSONAL: Born in South Africa; married; children: five.

ADDRESSES: Home—Australia. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Harlequin, Unit 2/3 Gibbes St., Chatswood, New South Wales 2067, Australia.

CAREER: Romance novelist, horse trainer, and farmer.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE NOVELS

Spitfire, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1981.

My Dear Innocent, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1981, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1982.

Melt a Frozen Heart, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1982, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1983.

Enter My Jungle, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1982, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1983.

Perhaps Love, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1983.

Don't Call It Love, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1984.

Save My Soul from Sin, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1985.

Saved from Sin, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1985.

Finding Out, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1985.

Love Me Not, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1985.

Some Say Love, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1986.

Surrender, My Heart, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1986.

Standing on the Outside, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1986.

An Elusive Mistress, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1986.

The Shadow of the Moonlight, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1987.

When the Night Grows Cold, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1987.

Reluctant Wife, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1987.

When You Leave Me, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1987.

The Heart of the Matter, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1987.

Heat of the Moment, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1988, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1989.

The Marrying Game, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1989.

A Love Affair, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1989.

One More Night, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1990.

The Director's Wife, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1991.

Leave Love Alone, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1991.

Dark Captor, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1991.

An Unusual Affair, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1992, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1993.

The Seduction Stakes, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1992, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1994.

A Dangerous Lover, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1992, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1993.

A Difficult Man, Mills and Boon (London, England), 1993.

Unwilling Mistress, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1993.

An Unsuitable Wife, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1994.

A Masterful Man, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1994, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1995.

Trial by Marriage, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1995, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1996.

When Enemies Marry, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1995, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Sara Craven) Marriage of Convenience: Marrying Game, Marriage Deal (omnibus), Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1995.

Dangerous Deceiver, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1995, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1997.

A Careful Wife, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1996.

Playboy Lover, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1996.

Married for Real, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1996, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1997.

A Marrying Man?, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1997.

Accidental Nanny, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1997, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1998.

Wildcat Wife, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1997.

(With Penny Jordan and Day Leclaire) Christmas Treats, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1997.

In Bed with a Stranger, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1998.

He's My Husband, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1998, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1999.

Outback Mistress, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1998, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2000.

(With others) Nine to Five, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1998.

Wildcat Life, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 1999.

Having His Babies, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1999.

Marriage Ultimatum, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2000.

The Bridegroom's Dilemma, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2000.

The Unexpected Husband, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2000, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2001.

The Hired Fiancée, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2000.

By Marriage Divided, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2001, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2002.

A Question of Marriage, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2001.

Wife in the Making, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2001.

(With Melanie Farrell, Rachel Friend, and Anna Schell) The Yew Tree Collection (omnibus), Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2001.

Marriage on Command, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2002.

The Constantin Marriage, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2002, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Emma Darcy and Miranda Lee) An Australian Christmas (omnibus), Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2002.

His Convenient Proposal, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2002, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2003.

The Unconventional Bride, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2003.

The Australian's Convenient Bride, Harlequin (New York, NY), 2004.

A Bride for His Convenience, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2004.

The Millionaire's Marriage Claim, Mills and Boon (Richmond, Surrey, England), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Australian-based author Lindsay Armstrong is a prolific writer of romance novels notable for their wide variety of plots and characters. As a contributor to Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers noted, since "none of [Armstrong's] heroines resemble each other, the whole arena of 'female experience' is presented to the reader: wives, widows, academics, farmers, and lawyers, all are portrayed with equal vigour, candour and above all understanding."

Lawyers are the progatonists of both The Seduction Stakes and Having His Babies. In the former book, attorney Jane Mathieson confronts sexism almost every day in court. These experiences only reinforce an opinion she has held since childhood: that men are not to be trusted. As the novel progresses, Jane learns that what she thought was her father's abandonment of the family was actually not his fault. As a result, she begins to see that not all men are as bad as she once believed, and decides to give into her attraction to the handsome Liam Benedict. Also featuring a single woman lawyer as its protagonist, Having His Babies follows the attorney as she finds herself confronting a surprise pregnancy. The father of her child is a client who had hired her to handle his divorce.

Like many romance novelists, Armstrong sometimes uses marriages of convenience as plot devices. Such situations are pivotal in Married for Real, which features a widowed mother who agrees to marry a rich businessman because she cannot afford to raise her children on her own; and Marriage on Command, in which Damien Moore and Lee Westwood jointly inherit a piece of property and enter into a sham marriage to solidify their claim to the land. The latter book "is a charming tale with two very unique characters," according to Shannon Short, writing on the Romantic Times Web site. He's My Husband also features a marriage of convenience, but as part of a more unusual plot. The woman who has entered into this particular marriage has decided to leave her husband, but when the man's ex-wife reenters the picture, asking him to consider reconciling, his current wife also reconsiders her choice. Another common plot, that of misunderstandings between two characters that threaten to prevent their love from blooming, occurs in An Unusual Affair, in which a doctor mistakenly believes that the woman he has feelings for is the mistress of an older man.

Several of Armstrong's novels are set in the Outback, the vast, sparsely settled regions of inland Australia. These books include Outback Mistress, about a woman who falls in love with a man with amnesia, only to have his fiancé reappear on the scene; The Unexpected Husband, about a female veterinarian who arrives at an Outback cattle ranch to find that one of the ranch's owners is a former love interest of her sister; and Trial by Marriage, which follows the new owner of a ranch as he falls in love with a local old-maid school teacher. The final book "offers a scenic locale and sharp dialogue," Short declared.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers, 3rd edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1994.

ONLINE

Romantic Times Web site, http://www.romantictimes.com/ (May 27, 2005), Shannon Short, reviews of A Masterful Man, A Question of Marriage, Ac-cidental Nanny, By Marriage Divided, Dangerous Deceiver, Having His Babies, He's My Husband, His Convenient Proposal, Married for Real, Marriage on Command, Marriage Ultimatum, Outback Mistress, The Australian's Convenient Bride, The Constantin Marriage, The Unconventional Bride, The Unexpected Husband, Trial by Marriage, and When Enemies Marry.