Location is an extremely important part of writing a successful story. For me, if a book takes place in a state, city, or part of the world I’m interested in, I’m more likely to buy the book. New Orleans happens to be one of those cities I not only love to visit—I love to write about it, as well. It’s also one of those cities that, if you do decide to use it as the backdrop for your story, you’d better do your research and get it right. If you make a mistake and put a famous hotel or restaurant on the wrong street or a musician’s name wrong, or a historical event or figure in the wrong time, your readers will let you know about it. In RUE TOULOUSE, I placed Ma Cherie on Royal because there are other similar establishments located on that street. Remi and Caterine eat at The Chartres House, which is a favorite of my husband and me. In fact, I had my characters order what David and I usually have ourselves.  I knew they’d like it! Caterine meets her grandmother at Brennan’s for brunch. Again, this is one of our favorite places to eat….

I guess I am the classic example of the woman who couldn’t decide what she wanted to do when she grew up.  Well, I did settle on “writer.”  But I started off with newspaper articles, then slopped into novels with a kids’ science-fiction book for Scholastic. Since I’d read mostly science fiction and mystery, I didn’t even know the romance genre existed.  But when a friend asked me if I wanted to try writing one, I found that these were novels all about the relationship thread that I’d loved in the books I had read, like The Puppet Masters, by Robert Heinlein, which is almost classic romantic suspense. After writing straight romances, I found I wanted to do stories with more plot, which was why I gravitated toward romantic suspense, like the Rockfort Security books, which all feature a man and a woman falling in love while determined killers threaten their lives.  And I also love creating a community of people like the Rockfort agents who will go the extra mile for each other. You see both these characteristics in PRIVATE AFFAIR, where Olivia Winters and Max Lyon have to pose as an engaged couple to investigate the murder of…