Mary Josephine Dunn was born September 22, 1947 in Lancashire, England. At the age of eleven she went to an all-girls boarding school, Layton Hill Convent, Blackpool. At sixteen, she wrote her first romance, with a medieval setting, completed in installments in an exercise book. She read history and American studies at Keele University in Staffordshire from 1966 to 1970. The broad-based learning of Keele’s foundation year and the availability of archived Regency-period newspapers were useful resources to enable her to develop her fiction writing.

On June 24, 1971, she married Ken Beverley, whom she met at Keele. After graduation, she quickly attained a position as a youth employment officer. She stayed in this profession until 1976, working first in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, and then in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire.

In 1976, Beverley moved to Canada where her scientist husband was invited to do post-doctoral research at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. When her professional qualifications proved not to be usable in the Canadian labour market, Beverley decided to develop her early interest in creative writing. Many of her "Rogue" characters were created in an initial manuscript entitled A Regency Rape. At this point, Beverley did not have a fixed idea of the narrower literary boundaries drawn by the traditional Regency romantic novel and thus created a literary hybrid. A precursor of the Regency historical novel, the work had a more varied cast of characters which, while respectful of the world of Georgette Heyer, broadened the scope and intensity of the genre. At this time she was still unpublished but devoted her time to caring for her two young sons and participating in the woman-centered childbirth movement which made her especially careful to portray births in her novels realistically but positively.

The turning point in Beverley’s writing career came when her move to Montreal led to her attendance at a talk on The state of romance in fiction by Janet Adams at Beaconsfield Library on 23 May 1984. The executive advisor of the Writers' Association for Romance and Mainstream demystified the creative process for the budding author and was sufficiently impressed by Jo’s writing to act as her agent. That same year, the family moved to Ottawa where Beverley became a founding member of the Ottawa Romance Writers’ Association. Formed in 1985, ORWA became her “nurturing community” for the next twelve years.

In 1988, Beverley, who was actively writing science fiction as well as romance, was a finalist in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. That same year, she sold her first romance novel and with her ensuing success in the genre, speculative writing was allowed to slide, though elements of it appear periodically in some of her romances and novellas.

Traditional Regencies

• Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed (ISBN 0-8217-3082-7)
• The Stanfourth Secrets (ISBN 0-380-71438-8)
• The Stolen Bride (ISBN 0-380-71439-6)
• Emily and the Dark Angel (ISBN 0-380-71555-4)
• If Fancy Be the Food of Love (ISBN 0-449-22081-8) (see Novellas below)
• The Fortune Hunter (ISBN 0-380-71771-9)
• Deirdre and Don Juan (ISBN 0-380-77281-7)

Company of Rogues Series

• An Arranged Marriage (ISBN 0-8217-6401-2) Nicholas and Eleanor
• An Unwilling Bride (ISBN 0-8217-6724-0) Lucien and Beth
• Christmas Angel (ISBN 0-8217-3976-X) Leander and Judith
• Forbidden (ISBN 0-8217-7599-5) Francis and Serena
• Dangerous Joy (ISBN 0-8217-5129-8) Miles and Felicity
• Dragon's Bride (ISBN 0-451-20358-5) Con and Susan (A Three Georges Story)
• Skylark (ISBN 0-451-21183-9) Stephen and Laura
• The Rogue's Return (ISBN 0-451-21788-8) Simon and Jancy
• To Rescue a Rogue (ISBN 0-451-22011-0) Dare and Mara
• Lady Beware (ISBN 0-451-22149-4) Darien and Thea

In the Rogues' world:

• Hazard (ISBN 0-451-20580) Race and Anne
• St. Raven (ISBN 0-451-20807-2) Tris and Cressida
• The Devil's Heiress (ISBN 0-451-20254-6) Hawk and Clarissa (A Three Georges Story)
• The Demon's Mistress (ISBN 0-451-20380-1) Van and Maria (A Three Georges Story)

Medieval Romances

• Lord of My Heart (ISBN 0-451-20642-8)
• Dark Champion (ISBN 0-451-20766-1)
• The Shattered Rose (ISBN 0-8217-5310-X)
• Lord of Midnight
• Day of Wrath (see Novellas below)
• The Wise Virgin (ISBN 0-373-83417-9) (see Novellas below)

The Malloren Series

• My Lady Notorious (ISBN 0-451-20644-4) Chastity and Cyn
• Tempting Fortune (ISBN 0-8217-7347-X) Portia and Bryght
• Something Wicked (ISBN 0-451-21378-5) Elf and Fort
• Secrets of the Night (ISBN 0-451-21158-8) Rosamunde and Brand
• Devilish (ISBN 0-451-19997-9) Diana and Rothgar
• Winter Fire (ISBN 0-451-22346-2) Genova and Ashart
• A Most Unsuitable Man (ISBN 0-451 21423-4)
• A Lady's Secret (ISBN 0-451-22419-1) Petra and Robin
• The Secret Wedding (ISBN 0-451-22651-8)
• The Secret Duke (ISBN 0-451-22953-3) Bella and Thorn

===The Georges Series=== (related to the Company of Rogues)

• Demon's Mistress (ISBN 0-451-20380-1)
• Dragon's Bride (ISBN 0-451-203585)
• Devil's Heiress (ISBN 0-451-20254-6)

Novellas and Short Stories

• "The Fruit Picker" in Writers of the Future Vol. IV 1988 (ISBN 0-88404-314-2)
• "If Fancy Be the Food of Love" in A Regency Valentine 1991 (ISBN 0-449-22081-8)
• "Twelfth Night" in Five Golden Rings 1991 (ISBN 0-8217-7062-4)
• "Lord Samhain's Night" in All Hallow's Eve 1992 (ISBN 0-8027-1252-5)
• "The Demon's Bride" in Moonlight Lovers 1993 (ISBN 0-451-177223)
• "A Mummer's Play" in A Regency Christmas 1995 (ISBN 0-451-18014-35)
• "Forbidden Affections" in A Spring Bouquet 1996
• "The Determined Bride" in Married at Midnight (Georgian) 1996
• "A Gift of Light" in The Christmas Cat 1996
• "The Lord of Elphindale" in Faery Magic 1998, Reissue 2006
• "The Wise Virgin" in The Brides of Christmas 1999 (ISBN 0-373-83417-9)
• "Day of Wrath" in Star of Wonder 1999 (ISBN 0-515-12653-5)
• "The Demon's Mistress" in In Praise of Younger Men 2001 (ISBN 0-451-20380-1)
• "The Trouble With Heroes" in Irresistible Forces Trade 2004, MM 2006
• "The Dragon and the Virgin Princess" in Dragon Lovers" 2007
• "The Raven and the Rose..." in Chalice of Roses 2010

Single Novels

• Forbidden Magic (ISBN 045121613X)

Her works have been translated into many languages and have won her many awards including five RITAs, two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times, The Golden Leaf Award and the Readers’ Choice Award. A member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) Honor Roll, Beverley is the sole Canadian romance author inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame.