Famed romance author Janet Dailey died Dec. 14 at her home on Lake Taneycomo, according to her obituary and published reports, including a write-up in the New York Times. The reports say the cause of death was complications from heart surgery and a recent aneurysm.
Beginning her writing career with a Harlequin romance novel in 1976, Dailey authored more than 100 books and became the third-largest selling female author worldwide, according to her
biography with publisher HarperCollins. Her books sold 300 million copies in 19 languages throughout 98 countries.
Her most recent bestsellers – “Masquerade,” “Rivals” and “Heiress” – have sold more than 1 million copies apiece, and her latest, “Merry Christmas, Cowboy,” ranked 13th on Publishers Weekly’s adult mass market best-seller list in October, the New York Times said.
A funeral service is scheduled 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Williams Memorial Chapel on the College of the Ozarks campus, and visitations will be held 6–8 p.m. tonight and beginning at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the campus chapel. The Skaggs Foundation is accepting memorials in Dailey’s name, the obituary said.
She and her husband, Bill, moved to Branson from Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1978, according to her obituary with
Snapp Bearden Funeral Home. They were involved in the business community and owned multiple properties in the lakes area around Branson.
The Daileys built the Wildwood Flower Supper Club in 1985 and developed the $2.9 million
New Shanghai Theatre in 2005, the year Bill Dailey died. She sold the Americana Theatre
in 2008, and in 2010, she owned downtown Hollister’s Ye Old English Inn.
The two married when she was 19 and worked as secretary for his construction company.
She has said the southwest Missouri culture enabled her to focus on writing.
"The people around me are more interested in their problems and their lives, and that sort of keeps me in touch with reality. They think it's nice that I write, but they really couldn't care less," Dailey said.
According to the
New York Times, her writing reputation took a hit from a copyright infringement lawsuit in 1997. Dailey admitted two of her novels borrowed ideas and passages from works by Nora Roberts, another best-selling author, and the suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, the Times said.
Dailey began her writing career before the age of 30 and wrote between three and seven books a year. She told the Times in an early 1980s interview she usually wrote between 4 a.m. and late afternoon and traveled and researched extensively for her works.
About her writing, Dailey said in her bio: “Accuracy is important in genre fiction; you have to get it right, zero in on the real details. That’s the way to make writing come alive and not irritate the readers with carelessness.”
She is survived by children Jim Daily and his wife Mary, of Blue Eye, and Linda Scheibe and her husband Bob, of Hollister.[[In-content Ad]]
