Welcome to our New Faces column, where you can meet some of the newest authors to grace the bookshelves of romance! This time we're visiting with Caroline Linden, whose first book is What a Woman Needs, a Kensington Zebra release.

Caroline, welcome to TRR! Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in a large family; everyone was expected to amuse themselves, so I did, at the local library. Reading was really only my hobby, though. I studied math in college, and certainly never thought Iıd write a book! Now my family and I live near Boston with one wildly energetic Labrador puppy and one deeply resentful cat.

Are you coming to romance writing from another job?

In my former life, I was a software writer. It was easy, well-paying, and actually quite boring. I never tried to write fiction until I was stuck at home during a dark and cold New England winter with two very young children and nothing to read. So I wrote a fantasy about a girl who ran away from home. It was more fun than expected, and so I started a different story, picking up bits of plot ideas here and there and mixing in things I'd always wished to read in a book. What came out was a romance novel.

What led you to write romance? Are you a longtime reader?

Oh yes, ever since I was six years old and desperately wanted to figure out what came next in the books my mother read aloud to me. First grade was a life-altering experience, thanks to Dick and Jane and Spot. I didn't become seriously and irreversibly hooked on romance until after college, when I got a job and could afford a serious book habit.

Tell us about your road to publication.

This is really my third book. The first two were for practice, and only my best friend was allowed to read them. But this one, I thought, was possibly publishable, and so decided to give it a try. After researching the submission process carefully (read: procrastinating like a complete coward), I decided the best thing to do was find an agent first. At my local RWA chapter conference, I pitched my story to a fantastic agent who ended up offering me representation. Then she did all the work of submitting it! It took about a year.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

The largest part of my research was already done before I ever sat down to write. I read and read and read, and had a strong sense of what I liked and didnıt like in characters and plots. And some of that knowledge was gained the hard way, by trying things in my practice novels and deciding they stunk.

But strictly for this book, I spent a lot of time researching lost masterpieces, since a lost work of art plays a key role. The fresco at Anghiari caught my eye both for its glamorous beginnings and for its tragic loss. Leonardo da Vinci has always been a favorite of mine as well, both for his astonishing abilities and for the variety of his talents. Art, science, mathematics, medicineŠ the man did it all, and did it well.

I love research; it leads one on such fascinating diversions. I could research all day long and completely forget to write anything.

Tell us about your debut book.

Stuart Drake is a man in need of money. His father has suspended his income after a scandal, and Stuart's about to lose everything if he doesn't marry an heiress. Fortunately, he's found the perfect girl, a lovely young lady whoıs completely infatuated with him, and he just has to persuade her elderly aunt to give her blessing. Unfortunately, the aunt is not so elderly, and is actually the very sort of woman who sets Stuart's blood racing.

Charlotte Griffolino knows a rake when she sees one, and she's not about to let her niece throw herself away on Stuart. For one thing, he's too handsome and charming to be trusted; Charlotte's had her own heart broken by enough men like that to know. Even worse, he's only after her niece's money, and she'll do anything to keep him from getting it. But when her niece goes missing, and her assumption that Stuartıs behind it turns out to be wrong, Charlotte realizes that Stuart might be the one person she needs to help her save the girlŠ to say nothing of herself.

What begins as a steamy battle of wills becomes a sensual affair as they give in to the attraction between them. But can they find Charlotteıs niece in time? And is there any future for them even if they do?

Who are your influences as a writer?

There are so many, I hardly know where to start. I love Eloisa Jamesıs way with women, Lisa Kleypasıs way with men, and Diana Gabaldon's way with words. Diane Farr and Diana Norman for their beautiful, nuanced stories, and Liz Carlyle and Loretta Chase for the way they put their characters through the wringer and bring them out better than ever. And many, many others, including Julia Quinn, Paula Reed, Julia London, Laura Kinsale, and Helen Fielding, whose books are so good I save them for when I can block off enough time to finish them at one sitting (or maybe two or three, in the case of Diana Gabaldon!), because I just canıt put them down once I start.

What does your family think of having a published romance author in their midst?

They think it's pretty cool! Everyone is very supportive and enthusiastic about it. But the title has led to some interesting questions from my children. What DOES a woman need, my son wants to know. Chocolate, I tell him, as my husband roars with laughter.

Tell us about plans for future books.

My next book will be released in late summer of 2006. It's about a young widow who thinks she's made a marriage of convenience to a reformed rake, only to discover everyone thinks she's just wed his brother instead, who happens to be a rather haughty duke. He's my homage to Mr. Darcy and every other stiff and proper hero who never knows what hit him when the heroine walks into his life.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Visit my website, www.carolinelinden.com , and email me!

Caroline, thank you for joining us, and best of luck with your future books!

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