Kathleen passed away July 6, 2007. Her son posted the following…

“Hello. I am very sorry to inform you all of the death of my mother Kathleen. She took the death of my brother a bit harder than we thought and the cancer came back with a vengence. She passed away Friday morning at 0630 in Princeton, MN. I just want to thank you all for all of your support and being such great fans. My Mom was amazed at all of the people that supported her. Her final book is done, but not finished. We will be trying to polish it up for her. Her editor at Harper Collins has been a great source of stress for my Mom and the rest of us as well, so I am not sure how that will work out, but we are trying to get the book published as fast as possible. We all want this to be her greatest book ever. Thank you again for all of your support.
Heath.”

It’s my guess that KW was an inspiration to countless romance writers. She blazed a trail and thousands have tried to follow in her footsteps. I read Shanna in my late teens and it was one of the books that hooked me on the romance genre.

Condolences to her friends and family.