Killer Chocolate: A Valentine Mystery PART 3

PART THREE - Lisa Mondello

"Not so fast. I want answers," Rouen said. "It's been five years of wondering what happened to my brother and if you have any information for me, then I want to hear it now."

Lovey closed her eyes for a brief moment. "But I don't have any information for you."

"I don't believe that. Why else would Ryan send me here?"

"I don't know. I'm wondering the same thing," Lovey said, trying to remember any conversation they'd had during their engagement that may have indicated Ryan had a twin brother. It was so long ago and yet seeing Rouen, and how much he looked like Ryan, made it seem like it was yesterday. "Just like I'm wondering why my fiancé didn't bother to tell me he had a twin."

Rouen swayed. "Fiance? You and Ryan…"

"Yes, we were going to be married." Lovey sat down on the red velvet sofa, feeling the weight of grief she'd kept hidden. "The week after he disappeared."

Looking at her suspiciously, he said, "Then you must know about the Luxor Project he was working on."

Lovey looked at him confused. "Luxor Project? What is that?"

A veil of anger washed over Rouen's expression. His jaw tightened and his eyes turned cold. Cupid seemed to sense the tension in the room and decided to intervene by purring and rubbing up against Rouen's designer pants in an effort to soothe the anxiety in the room. Rouen seemed unaffected by Cupid's attention.

"If this is some joke," Rouen said through clenched teeth.

Lovey grasped the arm of the Victorian sofa and tried to get her bearings. "If it is, then it's being played on both of us."

"I find it hard to believe that you would be a week away from marrying my brother without my even knowing of your existence and without you knowing about the most important project he'd been working on."

He had a point and it became abundantly clear to Lovey that she may not have known Ryan at all. They'd fallen in love in a rush of romance and immediately decided to marry. When you knew, you knew, Ryan had said. And he'd told her over and over again that she was a blessing that God had brought into his life. She felt the same and saw no reason to wait through a long engagement before making their love for each other official. But that never happened. He'd gone missing at sea soon after.

Abruptly, the door to Hearts and Flowers sprang open. Athena raced through the flower shop door along with a rush of cold breeze and then locked the door behind her. She was breathless as if she'd run a marathon to get to the shop.

Taking in Rouen's presence, Athena said, "Good, you're here. I was afraid you wouldn't come."

"You were afraid? Ryan was the one who told me to come here," Rouen said.

Athena shook her head. "No, he didn't."

Confused, Lovey said, "He didn't? If Ryan didn't send Rouen here, then who did?"

Athena looked out the window as if she was searching for something…or someone. Lovey had never seen Athena like this and it was beginning to scare her.

"I did," Athena admitted.

Lovey gasped. "What? Why would you do something like this?" Lovey had known Athena for a long time. Athena was well aware of how much pain Lovey was in when Ryan disappeared. How could she open up a wound that had taken Lovey so long to close?

Biting her bottom lip, tears welled in Athena's terrified eyes. "Because Ryan asked me to, Lovey. I'm sorry, but you're in danger. We all are."

Interview with fabulous suspense author Randy Singer

I'm delighted to welcome my friend Randy Singer. You've heard me rave about By Reason of Insanity, and I'm sitting with bated breath waiting for his next novel. But today, he's stopped by with a great interview filled with great insights into his books and how he balances a crazy life of attorney, author, and pastor.

Now here's the interview...

By Reason of Insanity was a legal thriller that my husband and I both loved. The pages couldn't turn fast enough. How did you get the germ of the idea?

Like many of my stories, the storyline for By Reason of Insanity was not triggered by a single idea but by the intersection of several ideas that together created something I wanted to explore. Looking back, I think there were four little streams that trickled together to form the small river that became By Reason. The first stream was the increase of a strident form of atheism in our culture. These new “atheism evangelists” won’t be satisfied until everyone else shares their lack of faith. They deny anything spiritual. There is no dimension except for the one we can see, touch and smell. The second stream was another cultural trend, somewhat contrary to the first, i.e. the fascination with the paranormal. Shows like Medium demonstrate that even in investigative work, police sometimes seek aid from those who claim an ability to communicate with another dimension. A third stream consisted of reports from the mission field, particularly in Muslim countries, of unbelievers experiencing visions and dreams that pointed them to Christ. Does God still work that way? Just on the mission field or here in America too? And finally, a single Bible verse helped trigger my thinking as well. As Paul is defending himself in front of Agrippa, making some very convincing arguments, Festus blurts out: “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” Acts 26:24

Now you’re starting to see where the insanity came from.

See this is why I'm still struggling to hit upon that great idea publishers will fight over. It's the streams that come together to make a runaway river of a book! This book is filled with so many twists I almost felt like a pretzel at the end...and then it twisted again. What made you kept tweaking the plot?

A “twisted” sense of fun. Sorry, bad pun. My goal is to try and surprise readers two or three times at the end of each book. But I have in mind a certain kind of surprise. Any writer can surprise readers with something out of left field but that will just leave readers with a sense that the writer didn’t play fair. The best kind of surprise is something the reader never sees coming, like a silent train whispering down the tracks, but once the train hits, readers can dust themselves off and say, “I should have seen it coming.”

I so agree. I feel cheated if the device and answer is from left field, but when the author has out thought me I love it. And come back for more, and more, and more...Quinn Newberg takes on the hard cases -- even when he doesn't necessarily believe in his client's innocence. Have you had cases like that in your practice?

Yes and no. Quinn specializes in criminal cases. I primarily handle civil cases. We both practice at relatively large firms. We can both be somewhat choosy about the cases we accept (unlike lawyers who work at a public defenders’ office who must accept anyone who qualifies). I generally represent the plaintiff in civil cases, meaning I’m the one filing suit, so I will simply refuse the case if I don’t think it’s got merit.

There are times, however, when I represent a defendant who I’m pretty sure is “guilty” (we call that “liable” in the civil context). When that happens, I will counsel the client to make a fair offer and we try to settle the case.

I love the complexity of civil litigation, but you're right...there's often a certain amount of "guilt" on each side. Which leads to the next question: If the case doesn’t settle, how can you defend someone that you think is liable?

For the answer to that, I turn to the story in John 8 where Jesus defended the woman caught in adultery (on procedural grounds) even though he knew she was guilty. God is a God of justice. But God is also a God of mercy. Sometimes, as lawyers, our job is to advocate for mercy and let the system be responsible for deciding what constitutes justice. As Christians, we should all be grateful for the fact that Christ became our advocate while we were still guilty and gave his life so that we might have mercy and grace rather than justice and punishment.

You write legal thrillers. Why do you think people are so fascinated with all things legal? And what keeps you writing them?
The courtroom is our modern intellectual version of the Roman Coliseum. It’s where all the big life issues are contested and resolved: When does life begin? How do you define marriage? Should the United States waterboard terrorism suspects at Guantanamo? Etc. Another reason people love the courtroom is because one lawyer, committed to his or her cause, can make a tremendous difference not just for his/her client but for all of society. The courtroom tends to level the playing field between David and Goliath, between Joe Plumber and IBM.

That's frankly why I became a lawyer...watching HSLDA attorneys in action in the political arena. I wanted to do that! If you could write any book you wanted and know it would land on the bestsellers list, what would you write?
The books I’m writing now. When I write, I try to put aside thoughts about who might ultimate read the book, or how I can make it sell better, or what a particular market might demand or expect. I try to write the stories that God has placed on my heart and let all this other stuff take care of itself. Since these are the stories I’m most passionate about, I wouldn’t write a different kind of story if I knew it would make the NYT list.

Great perspective. And timely as I'm evaluating next steps. As an attorney, I know I sometimes find myself analyzing legal thrillers for accuracy. What's your pet peeve legal mistake in novels?

Wow. Great question. There’s not one particular mistake, but I can tell when a legal thriller has been written by someone who is not a lawyer or when a thriller involving a trial has been written by a lawyer who is not a trial lawyer. There are so many nuances in the way cases actually get tried in the real world—attempting to write about it without being there is like trying to write about brain surgery if you’ve never been to medical school. A lay person might enjoy the story but a real brain surgeon will put the book down after the second chapter. Having said that, my “pet peeve” is when fictional attorneys do no pre-trial discovery and are still operating under the old “ambush” system of litigation that disappeared decades ago in this country.

I agree! Makes me think they haven't seen the inside of a courtroom in a LOOONNNGGG time. How do you balance your many hats of author, practicing attorney, and pastor? It makes me tired just typing that!
Probably not as well as I should :-) A few keys that work for me:

1. Have great people on your team and rely on them. It’s especially important to have people whose skill sets complement yours rather than duplicate yours. For example, we have a wonderful administrative pastor at church who takes a big burden off me for the administrative tasks.

2. Put systems in place and stick to the systems. I work collaboratively on my books, cases and sermons. The systems I have in place help me tap into the creativity and thinking of many others so I can merge that thinking into a (hopefully) cohesive product.

3. Protect some alone time with the tenacity of a mama bear. I need time alone during productive parts of the day to write, craft sermons, and work on critical parts of my case. This means I’ve got to have a sanctuary where I can get away from life and people—turn the cell phone off and really concentrate.

4. Manage expectations as tenaciously as you manage time. One of the things that makes my three hats possible is that everybody knows I’m trying to juggle lots of different things. I try to keep expectations low and then exceed them. A related issue is making sure expectations are clear and, in the best case, written.

5. Remember that “no” can be a spiritual word. I try to major on the big items and ruthlessly evaluate every request for a piece of my time by asking whether this is the best use of my time or just a good use of my time.

By the way, I obviously concluded that this blog interview was the best use of my time. Love what you’re doing here. Cara, good luck on the writing and running! One of the things I’ve discovered is that my best plot twists frequently come to me while I’m running. Has that been your experience? (Lawyers have to ask questions—it’s in our blood—not just answer them).

Thanks so much for making the time. I truly am a huge fan...and on the running -- I tend to read or catch up on movies. But it's also a great time to pray and meditate...when I can slow my mind down enough. Thanks, Randy!

April Showers?

PROTECTING HER CHILD
By

Debby Giusti

“What happened to my baby?”

Wealthy heiress Eve Townsend is close to death. But before she dies, she has to know: what happened to the daughter she gave up for adoption twenty-four years before? Did she inherit her mother’s life-threatening disease? Medical researcher Pete Worth is ready to find answers by tracking her down. And when he finally locates Meredith Lassiter, he finds her widowed, pregnant and on the run. The loan sharks who killed her husband want her dead…and Pete is the only one standing in their way.

My area of the country has been deluged with rain. Drastic changes in temperature have spawned tornadoes that force us into our basement as sirens blare a warning to find shelter. Trees have been uprooted, streams have overflowed their banks and hail has caused damage to vehicles and property. All great fodder for a suspense writer to use in upcoming books.

Weather plays an important role in my stories. My first book, NOWHERE TO HIDE, featured a hurricane that trapped the heroine and her son in an ocean cave. In SCARED TO DEATH, a tornado struck while the villain stood over the hero and heroine with a loaded gun. MIA: MISSING IN ATLANTA had a snowstorm that blanketed the city and impacted the hero’s ability to fight off the villain. Wind and rain played a role in COUNTDOWN TO DEATH, and the book I’m currently working on ends with an ice storm.

Writers strive to up the stakes and put their characters in threatening situations. Inclement weather compounds the problem and is a universal danger readers understand. If you want to increase the tension in your story, take a tip from Mother Nature and make the weather miserable. Throw in tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, hail and ice to enhance the suspense and improve your story.

Happy writing!

Wishing you abundant blessings,
Debby Giusti
http://www.debbygiusti.com/

Visit me at http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com/ where I’m also blogging today.

The Lion and the Lamb

This month the Craftie Ladies have applied the saying about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb to writing Love Inspired Suspense. The lion/lamb extremes are especially applicable to the suspense and romance arcs in our stories. On the one hand, we need to put our characters into life-threatening situations, but we also must ensure they fall head over heels in love. Adequately developing each arc can be difficult.

I write stories that take place over a short period of time. The hero and heroine are thrown together and, within the opening pages, embark on an adventure sometimes before they have time to catch their breath. While they need to be aware of the escalating danger, they also need to be aware of that special new person in their lives.

In order to set up a believable romance, the first meeting is important. That initial interaction between the hero and heroine must reveal both the attraction and the danger. Is there apprehension? Rivalry? Wariness? Reservation? Or love at first sight? For me, striking the right balance demands attention to detail and lots of rewrites.

The next time you read a story or write one, focus on the first-meeting scene. Despite the changing conditions of the unfolding story, the reader should recognize the attraction between the characters and the romance that is sure to follow.

May your life be enhanced by the books you read!

Wishing you abundant blessings,
Debby Giusti
http://www.debbygiusti.com/

http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com/

Susan Meissner Comes to Visit & Giveaway

I am delighted that my friend Susan Meissner could join me for an interview. I got to know Susan a bit in 2008 at a couple of writer retreats and conferences. She has an amazingly sweet personality and a beautiful writing style. I have enjoyed reading her books, and am delighted to have a copy of Shape of Mercy to give away. Just leave a comment at the end, and I'll enter you in the drawing.

Your Rachel Flynn series stars and attorney. Why did you decide to jump into the legal mystery arena?

Harvest House was looking for a series from me, and I knew the only kind I could feel good about writing was the kind where there’s closure at the end of each book. Mysteries are great for that because a good one offers a great solution at the end. Even if the recurring characters have some issues that they take with them into the next book, the overall tone of the book is one of closure. I picked the legal genre in particular because I had just spent a couple years as a guardian ad litem for the State of Minnesota. A guardian ad litem is a court-appointed advocate for children involved in child protection and truancy cases. I spent a lot of time with kids, parents, social workers, attorneys and in courtrooms during those two years so I felt like I had the basic knowledge to tell an accurate story.

What was the greatest challenge for you in writing a legal series?

The greatest challenge was getting all the little details to ring true. You can’t just make stuff up when you’re writing about police procedure and legal proceedings. Every time I had a character in a courtroom, in a police station, at the attorney’s office, I had to double check every action to make sure it could actually happen that way. For example, in one of my books, I had a person confess to a murder. A confession alone is not enough to seal a guilty verdict. The evidence must bear that the confessor actually did it. So when my character confessed to killing someone, I still had to take that person through the court process. He didn’t go from confessing in a police station to a prison cell.

How did you conduct research to get the details right?

When I began the Rachael Flynn series and gave my lead character a position with the prosecutor’s office for Ramsey County in St. Paul, I knew I had to talk to someone who knew what that job would entail. My experience was only with county attorneys in a district courthouse in a rural community. I knew it was going to be different in the big city. I called the Ramsey County Attorney’s office and asked if there was anyone, anyone at all, who could spend 10, 20, or 30 minutes with me so that I could pepper them with questions. To my utter joy, a managing prosecutor who dabbled in writing himself offered to do just that. We talked for 45 minutes. When we were done, he asked me if I had to head out right away (I had 100-mile commute home). I said no. He said, “Do you want to go court?” I said, “You bet I do!” He took me to the felony courtroom for the afternoon docket. I got to sit in the front row with the other prosecuting attorneys. It was the perfect way to envision my own character coming into that room from the jail and answering the charges against him. I also sent many scenes to a lawyer friend of mine who works for a public defender’s office in Florida. Between the two attorneys, I had two knowledgeable resources for getting the details right.

Rachel Flynn has a slightly supernatural element to the plot, yet it works. How did you balance her foresight/dreams so that the plot isn't conveniently resolved by that element?
I wanted there to be something unique about Rachael Flynn, otherwise she wouldn’t be different than any other determined young woman in every other legal mystery. Giving her insights that come from God allowed me to make the faith element organic. I didn’t have to force theological issues or concepts into the dialogue and narrative. Those elements came naturally because Rachael was dealing with an obvious gifting by God on a slightly supernatural level.

You've written about ten books. How do you find a fresh angle for each?

It’s actually getting harder, not easier to write new material. That surprised me about writing. Each time I finish a book I raise the bar for myself. Each subsequent book has to have an angle I haven’t touched before and that gets harder! Part of landing on new material is being uber observant. I try to take everything in. I read newspapers and news magazines to stay on top of cultural and societal changes – these often suggest a new premise for a novel. Once I have a new premise in mind I ask myself why it matters. When I know that, then I know what angle to take. Without it, I’ve nothing but an idea.

If you could write any book you wanted and know it would land on the bestsellers list, what would you write?
I guess I am really hoping The Shape of Mercy goes to that special place called the bestseller’s list. That book means a lot to me personally. I think there is so much to be learned from the times in our history when we’ve let snap judgments rule our thinking. If we loved more and judged less we’d find ourselves on a different kind of planet. It would still be flawed, and so would we, but it would be different. We’d be different.

The Shape of Mercy is your latest release and a beautiful story of three women from different times and generations. How did you come up with the germ of an idea and then weave their stories together?

I read an article a couple of years ago about a woman petitioning a Massachusetts court to exonerate her great-times-eight grandmother who was accused and convicted of witchcraft during the witch trials, was released when the hysteria ended, but whose name was never cleared. Reading the article brought back memories of reading The Crucible in high school and being in a play called “To Burn A Witch” when I was in junior high. The men and women hung in Salem in 1692 were all later declared innocent. They died proclaiming devotion to God and refusing to confess to an allegiance with Satan, even though a confession would have kept them from execution. That is remarkable to me. And there was a story there to be told. Heroism is always story-worthy.

What did you learn from Rachel and Mercy as you wrote their stories?
I saw myself often in Lauren as she transcribed Mercy’s diary and she came to realize how much she truly didn’t want to judge people but she did. She just did. We all do. We see a homeless man begging on the streets and we make all kinds of assumptions about how he got there and what he would do if we reached out to help him. We see a pregnant teenager or an obese child or a woman wearing diamonds and Jimmy Choos and we assume the teenager has no morals, the child has no restraint and the woman is wealthy and therefore has no worries. We believe these things because group-think tells us it’s so. Jumping to conclusions seems to permeate culture, regardless of the generation. Whatever the crowd says, we too easily believe. My lawyer character Rachael ran into the same problem with bias because she dealt with people accused of crimes, or suspected of crimes, often because of stereotyping. We assume too much, too often.

You're a big proponent of pre-writing. What is it and why do you think it's so helpful for writers?

Pre-writing is like packing your car for a long trip. You check all the belts and fluids, you put air in the tires, you pack a suitcase, you take some food that travels well, you pinpoint good places to stop for rest along the way and you bring a map with you of where your destination is so you can get there. Pre-writing is envisioning your story before you write it. It’s getting to know your characters on an intimate level before you write a word of story, it’s mapping your plot, figuring our your key transitions, researching your setting, your character’s jobs, their homes, their schools, their personas, before you write. It’s packing your car for a long trip. I didn’t start out to be a writer who pre-writes. In the beginning of my career as a novelist, I really wasn’t aware that I was one.

I wrote my first novel in 10 weeks, my second in eight, and my fifth was written in 30 days. People were asking me right and left how in the world did I write so fast. I needed a better answer than, “That’s just how the stories come out of me.” So I studied how I wrote and I realized how much upfront work I did before writing one word of actual story. And I learned that pre-writing – planning, plotting and preparing – allowed me to write at an accelerated pace. Not only that, but I didn’t hit walls, I didn’t have multiple drafts – just one – and I didn’t have boatloads of edits to do when the manuscript was complete.

When someone approaches you wanting to learn more about writing, what do you recommend they do if they seriously want to pursue the dream of seeing a book in print?

If publication is your goal, there are two things you must do. 1. Write an irresistible book, and 2. Put yourself in places where you can meet editors and agents so that you can show them your irresistible book. For the latter, that’s easy. You need to invest in attending a writer’s conference that’s nationally known and brings in the editors from publishing houses you want to publish for. That’s the place to meet editors and agents face to face. The former is hard, hard, hard. You must be writing all the time, reading all the time, growing in your skills as a writer, writing all the time, subjecting yourself to critique, responding positively to it, honing your craft, listening to experts, and writing all the time. The more you write, the better you become at it. The more you learn from other writers, the better you become at it. I actually suggest this aspiring writer start with an easy goal: “I want to learn more about writing!” Save the goal of, “I want to be published!” for after she or he has mastered some easier ones.

Susan’s bio:
Susan Meissner is a multi-published author, speaker and writing workshop leader with a background in community journalism. A devotee of purposeful pre-writing, Susan encourages workshop audiences to maximize writing time by planning ahead, mapping the writing journey and beginning from a place of intimate knowledge. Her books include The Shape of Mercy, the Rachael Flynn Mystery series, and A Window to the World, named by Booklist magazine as one of the Top Ten Christian novels for 2005. When she's not writing, Susan directs the Small Groups and Connection Ministries program at her San Diego church.

Rick Acker Comes to Visit

I'm excited to welcome a new writing friend, Rick Acker, for an interview. He's an attorney in California who manages to find time to write. Here's more from Rick.

Your two latest books are legal thrillers with a technological twist. How did you find the germ of an idea that got you going?

Dead Man’s Rule literally began with a “germ of an idea.” I’d been following news stories about the old Soviet bioweapons program and the carelessness with which it was shut down. Germ warfare factories were simply abandoned when funding ran out, scientists with only one marketable skill suddenly found themselves without jobs or pensions, and so on. So I started talking to people I knew in the intelligence and bioweapons defense fields to explore story ideas. At first, I asked questions like “How hard would it be to breed weapons-grade smallpox in a high school lab?” By the time I finished, my main question was “Why are any of us still alive?” Scary stuff.

I slept much better while writing my second techno-legal thriller, Blood Brothers. This one was inspired in part by the “berserkers” mentioned in ancient Norse sagas. They were wild warriors with incredible strength and speed who were virtually unstoppable in battle. Most historians think they were real, but the secret to their remarkable skills has been lost. The most common theory is that they took a drug made from some unknown plant, so I started wondering what might happen if that plant were rediscovered and a pharmaceutical company began to make drugs out of it. There would be some impressive benefits, of course, but there might also be a few unforeseen side effects . . .

By day you're a deputy attorney general in California. Did that make writing legal thrillers easier or more challenging? Why?

Both easier and more challenging, actually. Easier because I get to work on fascinating investigations and lawsuits that generate at least one book idea per week. Harder because most of the cases are sealed and I can’t actually use any of those ideas until the seal is lifted (if it ever is).

What made you decide it was time to write a novel? And how did you get the ideas for your initial young adult mysteries?

Back in the days before minivans came with DVD players and iPod jacks, I was the designated entertainment on all our long family drives. I can’t sing and my joke repertoire is limited, so that left storytelling. The most popular stories were mysteries and adventures about kids a few years older than mine, so I told a lot of those.

Most of my stories were forgotten five minutes after we got out of the van, but every now and then my wife would say, “You have to write that one down.” So I’d write it down, send it off to publishers, and wait for the rejection letters. Until one day a publisher decided not to reject one of my books after all.

Why do you think people are so fascinated with all things legal? And what keeps you writing them?

It goes back to the first rule all fiction writers learn: Every good story needs a good conflict. In our society, we tend to resolve most major conflicts (and plenty of minor ones) through lawsuits, which makes them natural springboards for all sorts of stories. If a young man retaliates against a bully and kills him, there will probably be a murder or manslaughter trial. If a widow’s evil in-laws try to cheat her out of her inheritance, a suit in probate court will often follow. If a romance collapses on the eve of the couple’s wedding, they may well sue each other—over ownership of the house they had bought together, for example. Pretty much any good story is a good lawsuit waiting to happen, and vice versa.

Note to nonlawyers: We’re exaggerating a little here about how interesting law really is. Anyone who is really “fascinated with all things legal” has never spent a Friday night researching local court rules to figure out whether footnotes in a brief are supposed to be in 12-point or 13-point font.*

*Correct answer in California federal courts: 13-point. And yes, there are judges who really care about this.

Um, the judges aren't quite that picky here in Indiana. If you could write any book you wanted and know it would land on the bestsellers list, what would you write?

Good question. I’d love to write a novel that captures the essence of the law and tells a compelling story of personal courage--like To Kill a Mockingbird or A Man for All Seasons. Except with a romance and a few explosions thrown in to spice things up.

Love the explosions and romance is always nice. As an attorney, I know I sometimes find myself analyzing legal thrillers for accuracy. What's your pet peeve legal mistake in novels?

Overwrought courtroom scenes. I hate those. Writers know that trials are supposed to be dramatic, but they don’t always know how to create drama without breaking fundamental legal rules. So they insert fiery exchanges between lawyers and judges, surprise witnesses, and heartfelt speeches to juries in the middle of trial. That stuff virtually never happens in real courtrooms, and when it does it usually ends with a mistrial and the dramatic lawyer in jail for contempt of court.

Tell us more about Blood Brothers. What surprised you most as you wrote this book? And what did you learn from your characters?

I was surprised by how much my characters wanted to talk. I had conceived of Blood Brothers as a fast-paced thriller with lots of twists and turns, some hard-hitting courtroom scenes, and a final surprise on the last page. The published book has all those elements, but it also has more character-driven scenes than I anticipated. I’m glad it turned out that way; the story wound up having more depth and resonance than I had expected.

As I got to know the characters better over the course of the book, I realized that most of them were facing the same questions: What do you want more than anything else? What are you willing to do—and sacrifice—to get it? Jesus’ answer to the first question was simple: To love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. His answer to the second was even simpler: Everything. As I pondered how my characters would answer those same questions, I became uncomfortably aware of just how often my own answers differ from Christ’s.

Thanks so much for joining us, Rick! Here's more about Rick:

Rick Acker writes his novels while commuting to and from his "real job" as a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice. His most recent novel, Blood Brothers, is an intense sequel to the legal thriller Dead Man's Rule. Christy award-winning author Randy Ingermanson calls Blood Brothers "an excellent legal suspense novel, with a strong biotech backdrop. It reminded me of Michael Crichton's latest novel, Next, except that Blood Brothers is better." Rick is also the author of the well reviewed Davis Detective Mysteries, a series of adventure/mystery novels for "tweens."

Rick is a transplanted Chicagoan who spent thirty-five years in the Midwest before finally trading the certainty of winter and mosquitoes for the risk of earthquakes. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Anette, their four children, and two cats.

Angela Hunt comes for a Visit

This week, I’m delighted to be joined by Angela Hunt. Her full bio is at the end of this interview, but I’ll summarize by saying she has written over one hundred books and sold millions of copies. Angela’s books have won awards like the Christy and one has been made into a Hallmark Movie. She teaches at many writers conferences and her readers have come to expect the unexpected when they pick up one of her books.

You may wonder why I’m interviewing her when I’m focused on novelists who’ve written legal suspense. Well, next year one of her titles is set in the legal environment. I am delighted to welcome Angela today.

Angela, you're known for telling readers to expect the unexpected. Why step into the legal arena?

Several reasons--first, I've never done a legal book, and the subject fascinates me. Second, I found myself involved in a legal situation, and since I was cramming like mad to learn all about it, I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone. Third, the seminal idea lent itself to a courtroom trial. So I suppose it was the conjunction of all those events.

You're stepping into the legal arena with one of your next books. What was the most challenging part of researching and writing that book? What can you tell us about this book?
I can give you the thumbnail synopsis of LET DARKNESS COME: Briley Lester is worried about her first capital trial—the prosecution has an airtight case and her client has no alibi. She plans on a mitigating defense—one that might get her client’s sentence reduced from first-degree murder to manslaughter—until she stumbles onto evidence that could prove her client’s innocence. In her struggle to achieve true justice, Briley must venture outside her self-protective boundaries to defeat an experienced prosecutor and the forces that are determined to destroy her client at any cost.

As to the most challenging part? Learning courtroom procedure; learning that you can't lead on a direct examination, but you're expected to lead on the cross. I had to learn a condensed version of what a trial lawyer would know, and learn it quickly. Fortunately, I had marvelous help from fantastic friends.

You've written over 100 books that are spread over a wonderful array of topics and issues. How do the ideas for your books come to you? How do you find a fresh angle for each?
Ideas just come--usually through things I read. I'll notice something and let it go, but when I notice it again in another source, that's when I latch onto it. I figure the Lord's bringing it to my attention for a good reason. As to the fresh angle--well, every story is different, but every story also has common characteristics. I usually always feature an intelligent woman in an unusual situation with a unique problem.

If you could write any book you wanted and know it would land on the bestsellers list, what would you write?

Talking dreams here, are we? Well . . . if I could KNOW that it'd be read by tens of thousands, I'd want it to be something that reveals the Father's love.

Take a moment to tell us about one of your current novels. What excites you about this one?
THE FACE is my latest release, and it reveals the Father's love . . . in a metaphorical way. I'm excited about this one because it's high concept and it combines a lot of issues that fascinate me--beauty, faces, the CIA, female relationships, computer science, and psychology. And spying. I love spy stuff.

Last question: If you could go anywhere in the world and take anyone, where would you go and who would you take?
I've really been hankering to go on an African safari, and my husband would never forgive me if I didn't take him. :-)

Well, if he won't join you, feel free to invite me :-). Thanks again, Angela.
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With over three million copies of her books sold worldwide, Angela Hunt is the best-selling author of The Tale of Three Trees (sales of over one million), Don’t Bet Against Me, with Deanna Favre (sales of over 195,000), The Note (sales of over 130,000), and The Nativity Story.
Hunt began her writing career in 1983. After five years of honing her craft and writing for magazines, she published her first book in 1988. Since then, she has written over one hundred books in fiction and nonfiction, for children and adults. In 2007, her nonfiction book Don’t Bet Against Me, written with Deanna Favre, spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Eight of her novels have won Angel Awards from Excellence in Media. Hunt has also won four medals from ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award (for The Novelist, The Justice, The Canopy, and Unspoken), and a Christy Award for By Dawn’s Early Light. Her novel The Note was filmed as a Hallmark Christmas movie in 2007, and her books The Elevator and Uncharted have also been optioned by production companies. Romantic Times Book Club presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

In 2006, Angela completed her Master of Biblical Studies in Theology degree and in 2008 she completed her doctorate in the same field. To keep in touch with her readers, Angela maintains a vibrant web presence through her website and blog.

She and her husband make their home in Florida with mastiffs. In 2001, one of her dogs was featured on Live with Regis and Kelly as the second-largest dog in America. Web page: www.angelahuntbooks.com

eHarlequins 100,000 book challenge

We all read books. And I'll venture a guess that we all read A LOT of books. Why not take our passion for books and turn it into a great cause. As mentioned before on the CRAFTIE Ladies of Suspense blog, eHarlequin is having their 100,000 book challenge. You can read ANY book and post it to their forum in the eHarlequin community. Here's the link. http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge . Read a book from January 2008-December 2008, post it on the eHarlequin forum, and the book counts toward the total 100,000 books. When eHarlequin reaches that amazing number, they will donate 100,000 books to National Foundation for Family Literacy. It's a great cause and easy to help doing something we're already doing. I must admit I have not been good about participating in this great program, but I'm heading over there and posting some great books I've read over the last couple of weeks. And I give you the same challenge! If you've read any books at all, check out the link http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge and participate in the 100,000 book challenge. Remember, you can also leave a comment on this blog for a chance to win all 4 Love Inspired Suspense books for August, including my book, Her Only Protector, which is now available in stores and on eHarlequin. Until next time, many blessings, Lisa Mondello