NICHOLSON, Peggy

PERSONAL:

Born in TX. Education: Attended Brown University.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—eHarlequin.com, P.O. Box 5190, Buffalo, NY 14240-5190.

CAREER:

Author. Taught art to public high school students for ten years.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Bookseller's Best Award (long contemporary), Greater Detroit Romance Writers of America, 2002, for True Heart.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE NOVELS; PUBLISHED BY HARLEQUIN (TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA)

Run So Far, 1984.

The Darling Jade, 1984.

Dolphins for Luck, 1985.

Soft Lies, Summer Light, 1985.

Child's Play, 1987.

The Light Fantastic, 1988.

Tender Offer, 1989.

Burning Dreams, 1991.

Checkmate, 1992.

Pure and Simple 1993.

The Truth about George, 1994.

You Again, 1996.

The Twenty-third Man, 1997.

The Scent of a Woman, 1998.

Don't Mess with Texans, 1999.

Her Bodyguard, 1999.

The Baby Bargain, 2000.

True Heart, 2001.

The Wildcatter, 2002.

Kelton's Rules, 2003.

More Than a Cowboy, 2004.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS; "KERRY HILL CASECRACKERS" SERIES, WITH JOHN F. WARNER; PUBLISHED BY LERNER PUBLISHING GROUP (MINNEAPOLIS, MN)

The Case of the Furtive Firebug, 1994.

The Case of the Lighthouse Ghost, 1994.

The Case of the Squeaky Thief, 1994.

The Case of the Mysterious Codes, 1994.

SIDELIGHTS:

Peggy Nicholson is a prolific writer of romance fiction and a former art teacher with a penchant for sailing. Born and raised in Texas, Nicholson had an adventurous childhood. Her father was a "wildcatter" (an oilman who drills wells in areas not known to be productive) and her mother an eccentric southerner. Nicholson's childhood aspirations included plans to become a wild animal collector, an astronaut, and a director. After studying art and English at Brown University, she taught art to public high school students for ten years. Her background in art has had a significant influence on her writing style and choice of locations. She noted on the Harlequin Web site: "Romance and visual delight are very closely associated in my mind … and now I paint pictures with words. In general I've a weakness for geographical extremes—ocean, mountains, the desert. Also for dramatic weather, tropical downpours, wrath-of-God thunderstorms, outrageous sunrises."

Nicholson's first two novels, Run So Far and The Darling Jade, were published in 1984 by Harlequin. She went on to publish books with Harlequin nearly every year after, with a total of twenty-one by 2004. Her favorites among the books she has written include You Again, a story about a woman in a coma whose soul inhabits a cat and attempts to communicate with her ex-husband, and The Scent of a Woman, about an attractive perfumer and the man who goes undercover at her company to sniff out a possible conspiracy. You Again was described by Candy Tan of the All about Romance Web site as "probably the most unusual and one of the most well-written mainstream series romances I've read." Renae Dryer of the Romantic Times Web site praised The Scent of a Woman, stating that the author combines "good characterization with an original, well-paced plot."

Examples of Nicholson's twenty-first-century works are The Baby Bargain and Kelton's Rules. The Baby Bargain, a tale in which the single mother and father of two teens who are expecting a baby together become attracted to one another, is highly recommended by Nancy J. Silberstein of Romance Reader. Calling Nicholson's greatest strength "her delineation of the four main characters," Silberstein also praised the use of location to benefit the story. Cynthia Penn of WordWeaving described Kelton's Rules, a story of an unlikely romance between a newly divorced mother and a single father of a challenging daughter, "an irresistible look at love and family.… A wonderfully realistic, delightfully playful read."

Nicholson also cowrote a series of detective books for preteen readers. The Case of the Furtive Firebug, the first of the "Kerry Hill Casecrakers" series, follows thirteen-year-old Hally and her younger brother Jason as they try to prove that a friend did not cause a fire in a local building. Marry Harris Veeder of Booklist called The Case of the Furtive Firebug "standard young-detective fare," but praised the novel's "contemporary features."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1995, Mary Harris Veeder, review of The Case of the Furtive Firebug, p. 1243.

Publishers Weekly, December 5, 1994, review of The Case of the Furtive Firebug, p. 77.

ONLINE

All about Romance,http://www.likesbooks.com/ (September 1, 2004), Candy Tan, review of You Again.

Harlequin Web site,http://www.eharlequin.com/ (September 1, 2004), biography and interview.

Romance Reader,http://www.theromancereader.com/ (August 12, 2004), Nancy J. Silberstein, review of The Baby Bargain.

Romantic Times,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (August 12, 2004), Cindy Whitesel, review of The Twenty-third Man and You Again; Renae Dryer, review of The Scent of a Woman; and Pamela Cohen, review of The Wildcatter, True Heart, The Baby Bargain, More Than A Cowboy, Kelton's Rules, Her Bodyguard, and Don't Mess with Texans.

WordWeaving, http://www.wordweaving.com/ (March 24, 2003), Cynthia Penn, review of Kelton's Rules.*