Where are you going?

Have you ever fallen "in love" with a car? I was certainly crazy about my first one (yes, that's me on the left), but I've also adored cars that have been used as characters in books, tv, and the movies. If you're as old as I am, you may remember Bo and Luke Duke's General Lee, the red and white grand Torino of Starsky & Hutch, the talkative KITT from Knight Rider, or Magnum's Ferrari. To this day I remember Nancy Drew and George driving around in that convertible, two adventurous girls stirring up mysteries to be solved. Cars can serve as character, symbol, or metaphor. All we have to do is recall the iconic last shot of Thelma and Louise to know that.

In my next book, House of Secrets, which comes out in April, my heroine June has an unbreakable attachment to her car, a 1968 Corvette Roadster. She's a widow, and the car was a favored gift from her late husband. In the book, it's part character/part symbol of June's inability to move on with her life. When the car becomes part of the suspense, she has to make some difficult choices. I think her struggle will be familiar to anyone who's had to make a hard change in her life.

But all is not somber for June. She's my feistiest heroine ever; so much, in fact, that the editors had me tone her back a bit. She's funny, honest, outspoken, straightforward and down-to-earth. She hates liars, so, of course, I pit her against one of the slickest, most manipulative sociopaths I've ever written. Two of them...

I loved that Corvette Roadster. But I also love the bright orange Pontiac GTO I use in the next book...

So...do you have a favorite car you'd love to get in and head out to find trouble?