Janet Dailey: Author whose determined heroines inspired her many readers to make more of their own lives and careers

The first novel of Janet Dailey (here pictured with her husband) published in 1976 sold more than a million copies (Washington Post)

Janet Dailey was a romance writer who provided lusty escape for hundreds of millions of readers, becoming one of the best-known authors of her genre. Her book covers featured chiseled men, lush beauties, and exotic locations. Titles included The Mating Season, The Bride of the Delta Queen, Separate Cabins and Touch the Wind. Dailey's final title, Merry Christmas, Cowboy, came out in September.

To produce a novels every month or so, she enforced a writing quota of 10 pages per day , with the occasional work turned round in just over a week. She said she didn't reread her books after publication. "I'm not interested in writing the great American novel," she told the Associated Press. "The appeal of romance spans all generations." It also spanned national boundaries. In 1986, the Chicago Tribune reported that her books sold in 90 countries at an estimated rate of 43,000 per day.

A former secretary, Dailey had remarked to her husband that she could write romances like the ones she read. "He said: 'If you're gonna do it, fine; if not, quit talking about it.' I sat down to prove to him that I could write a book."

No Quarter Asked was the first of more than 50 titles for the Canadian press Harlequin Books. The story of a city girl who finds work and love on a Western ranch, it was published in 1976, selling more than a million copies.

Dailey attracted controversy in 1997, when she was accused of plagiarising passages from books by the romance novelist Nora Roberts. Dailey admitted that she had borrowed from Roberts's writing in two novels and blamed her husband's treatment for cancer and other personal pressures. A lawsuit was settled out of court, and Dailey continued her writing.

Janet Ann Haradon was born May 21, 1944, in Storm Lake, Iowa. Her father died when she was a girl, and her mother later married again. In Omaha, she took a secretarial job with Bill Dailey, a construction company owner whom she described as "strong and gruff, older and wealthy – the only man I ever met who was smarter than me." They married in the mid-1960s.

"I have often received letters from readers who say they've decided to finish their college education or that after 20 years of wanting to be a nurse they're training," she said. "Somehow these books have motivated them. That's quite a compliment."

EMILY LANGER

Janet Ann Haradon (Janet Dailey), writer: born Storm Lake, Iowa 21 May 1944; married Bill Dailey (died 2005, two stepchildren); died Branson, Missouri 14 December 2013.

© The Washington Post