As everyone who read Book 1 in the X-OPS Series (HER PERFECT MATE) will remember, Clayne Buchanan, the wolf shifter with the bad attitude, can be a bit rough-around-the-edges. But as I was getting ready to tell his story in HER LONE WOLF, I discovered that Clayne actually has a sensitive side. Believe me, I’m as shocked as you. I thought I’d pegged him perfectly as the perpetual bad boy who never let anyone get close, and never cared about making friends. But it turns out that I was wrong. I started getting my first indications that maybe I’d gotten him wrong when I sat down with him over dinner (at PF Chang’s, of course!) so we could start outlining his story. Before we even got started, he told me he was a bit concerned that people might have gotten the wrong idea about him in the first book. He even asked if it was possible to have the publisher tweak a few scenes in HER PERFECT MATE to let his nicer side show. I was shocked. Why hadn’t he said something earlier? Of course, it was too late to tweak the book because it was already in bookstores. When…

You know how when you start something new, a job or a hobby, suddenly, everywhere you look, you’re reminded of it? The world hasn’t changed, but your perception of it has. Things your gaze would’ve skipped over in the past command your attention now. Like if you start scrapbooking for the first time in your life, and you begin to notice scrapbooking supplies in every store on the planet. (Seriously, what’s up with that?) That’s what’s happening to me right now. I’ve started a new series—the Fixer-Upper Mysteries—and now reminders are everywhere! Shannon Hammer owns Hammer Construction, specializing in renovating Victorian homes in her hometown, Lighthouse Cove, California. One assumes, despite their phallic shape, that lighthouses are incapable of reproducing themselves, and yet everywhere I look these days, I see lighthouses. In ornaments, paintings, real life… Shannon has a dog and a cat. The dog is a Westie, surely one of the cutest breeds on earth. Before I wrote A HIGH-END FINISH, maybe I caught one of those Little Caesar commercials every now and then, but now, it’s a full-on Westie takeover. Knitted into sweaters, woven into purses. And, of course, actual Westies smiling up at me from all sides….

Sure, we all say we root for the protagonists of books, movies, and TV shows, but let’s be honest: we want to see them put through their paces.  Ideally, horribly tough paces, and ideally, while we are eating chocolate in bed. It’s true that the ideas for my debut historical mystery, SNOW WHITE RED-HANDED, started out as a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too mash-up.  I wanted it all: a heroine who could’ve had a bit part in Little Women AND a castle in the forest.  A cozy whodunit AND intrigue about Snow White and her woodland cottage. But when I sat down to actually write, I had way too much fun putting my heroine in problematic situations.  It’s not very nice of me.  Sigh.  Anyway, the uncharitable checklist for my heroine, Ophelia Flax, looked something like this: 5 Ways A Practical American Girl Could Get Into Trouble in the Black Forest 1. Give her regrettably large feet that no fairy tale princess would ever have, and blisters from the stolen boots she’s wearing. 2. Have her con her way into a maid’s job, and the employer get bumped off soon after.   Will not look good in future letters of reference. 3. Make her realize…