Sandra Robbins' Yuletide Defender

We're happy to have Sandra Robbins with us today talking about her book, Yuletide Defender. To learn more about Sandra and her book, read on!


Title: Yuletide Defender
Publisher: Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense
Cover blurb: Is a vigilante responsible for the murders of Lake City gang members? According to reporter Rachel Long’s anonymous source, yes. The goal is to trigger a gang war—and her investigations lead Rachel to the heart of the battlegrounds. Which is where she finds handsome officer Matthew Franklin. The protective cop wants her out of harm’s way. But she needs the raise from a big story to secure care for her special-needs sister. Rachel won’t walk away, even though the vigilante is now aiming at a determined reporter—and a tailing cop—for a showdown just in time for Christmas.

1) How did this story come to you?
The idea for the book popped into my head one day. I think I’d read something about a reporter not wanting to reveal a confidential source, and I thought that would make a good plot. As I thought about it more, the idea of gang murders came to mind, then the vigilante. After I sent the proposal to my editor, she asked if I could incorporate a Christmas theme. I really enjoyed writing my characters into situations that seemed so opposite to all the Christmas cheer that surrounded them.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
This is my third book with Love Inspired Suspense, so I’ve learned what the ediors liketo see in a proposal. I think that understanding the kind of stories that the publisher you’re targeting helps a writer.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I love to play all kinds of board and card games.
When a friend and I were visiting San Francisco once, we hired a limousine and driver to take us on a tour of the city.
I am a big fan of Broadway musicals and was thrilled when I got to attend the London production of Cats.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I am working on two books that are sequels to my Love Inspired Suspense that will release next July. The three books are set on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. I am also working on a historical romance set in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains in 1894.

5) Parting comments?
It’s been a pleasure to be a guest again, and I hope readers will enjoy Yuletide Defender. It releases December 7.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
For more information about me and my books, go to my website at http://sandrarobbins.net/. I always enjoy hearing from my readers at Sandra@sandrarobbins.net

Liz Johnson's "Vanishing Act"

We're happy to have Liz Johnson with us today talking about her book, Vanishing Act. To learn more about Liz and her book, read on!

1) How did this story come to you?
The hero of this story, Nate Andersen, is a minor character in my first novel The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn, and I was really excited to get to tell his story. And while the town is fictional, it was great to set the story in Colorado, where I lived for almost four years.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
The road to publication on this book was a blast! I wrote the book at my own pace because I wasn't under contract on it yet, and when I was done I sent it off to my editor. We'd talked a bit about it as I was working on it, but she hadn't seen any sample chapters or anything. While I'd love to say a few weeks after sending it in, my editor bought it, that wasn't quite the way it went. She asked me to make some changes, which I was happy to do. When I sumbitted the second time, I sat back and waited ... sometimes not so patiently. Then at the ACFW conference in Denver last year, I had a chance to speak with the senior editor for the Love Inspired Suspense Line. About two weeks later my editor called and offered me a contract. And the rest is editing history.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
Three things! I don't know if I have three surprising things. Let's see ... I won my fantasy football league last season, I love nearly everything to do with the Civil War era, and I didn't learn to ice skate until I was 25 when I took lessons through the city of Colorado Springs.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
Right now I'm working on a few proposals for new ideas, including a possible series about military for Love Inspired Suspense. I just finished my third novel for them, which is due out in March 2011. Code of Justice features a Heather Sloan, one of the minor characters in Vanishing Act. Heather's sister is killed in a helicopter crash, and Heather sets out to track down the drug ring that brought the helicopter down.

5) Parting comments?
Thanks so much for having me! It's a pleasure to be here, and I appreciate the support!

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
I love hearing from my readers, and they can find me online at http://www.lizjohnsonbooks.com/ and they can e-mail me at Liz@lizjohnsonbooks.com.

Sharon Dunn's Dead Ringer

Sharon Dunn's "Dead Ringer"

We're happy to have Sharon Dunn with us today talking about her Love Inspired Suspense novel Dead Ringer. To learn more about Sharon and her book, read on!

Dead Ringer
1) How did this story come to you?

I live in a part of the world where there are a lot of fly fisher men and women. I wanted a female character who was fly fishing guide. Once I saw the opening scene where the main character Lucy foils a would-be thief at her home, the book was off and running.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.

This is my sixth published book, but my first with Steeple Hill. I met one of the editors at a writer’s conference, read some of the books in line and after a few failed attempts, sent in a proposal that sold.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I have three cats---that means I am one cat away from officially being a crazy cat lady
My husband said he married me because I made such great chocolate chip cookies
I grew up in the country in a house that had such a bad water pressure we used to take sponge baths

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?

I am working on a mystery novel that has a woman who crochets as the sleuth. I am also working on my next romantic suspense for Steeple Hill which will be out in December 2010. It’s called Night Prey and features a heroine who rescues birds of prey for a living.

5) Parting comments?

The official release date for Dead Ringer is May 11, I can’t wait to see it on the store shelf.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?

http://www.sharondunnbooks.com/ and I will be featured on crafty ladies of suspense

Margaret Daley's Christmas Peril

We're happy to have Margaret Daley with us this week!
Click on the photo to the left to visit the author's website. Read on to learn more about Margaret and her book...

1) How did this story come to you?
I was asked to write a novella with a Christmas theme so I came up with Christmas, OK to be the setting for my story. My heroine is fleeing for her life with her five-years-old daughter and ends up in Christmas, OK.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I’ve been writing for over thirty years. I sold my first book after writing almost three years back in 1981. My first book came out in 1982.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I’m not sure what would surprise my readers, but here are three things about me. I love Christmas music throughout the year. I hate exercising, but I’m doing the treadmill for forty-five minutes every other day. Watching a TV show helps the time pass faster when I’m exercising. I have a neurotic cat and two somewhat normal ones.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m finishing up my third book in my homeschooling series for Love Inspired called A Daughter for Christmas. It will be out next November. After that I have a Love Inspired Suspense book I have to write about a group of female bodyguards. The first book in that series will be out next December called Christmas Bodyguard.

5) Parting comments?
I love to hear from readers. They can contact me at margaretdaley@gmail.com or visit my Web site at http://www.margaretdaley.com/ and read excerpts from my books.