LINDA HOWARD, is the pseudonym of Linda S. Howington (born August 3, 1950 in Alabama, United States) is an American best-selling romance/suspense author. Before she became a writer, she was an avid reader and fond of Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

Whether she is reading them or writing them, books have long played a profound role in her life. Linda Howard wrote her first book when she was 10 years old. "Needless to say, it was unpublishable," she says. "It didn't even have a title. I didn't name them back then." In the ensuing 21 years of writing for her own pleasure, Linda worked in the transportation industry following junior college. Writing production reports, however, soon grew tiresome for Linda. But after she sold her first manuscript, All that Glitters (1982), she has been a powerful figure in the romance genre for more that twenty years.

She currently lives in Gadsden, Alabama with her husband, Gary F. Howington, and two golden retrievers. She has three grown stepchildren and three grandchildren.