Strong heroines. Deadly villains. Killer suspense. That’s my brand – three things I promise to deliver readers with every book. But what does it take to create a strong, modern heroine? Sometimes, it’s a FBI SWAT agent, a woman who’s as deadly with her bare hands as she is with an MP-5 submachine gun, like Maggie Delacorte, the heroine of SWAT SECRET ADMIRER. Other times it’s a socially awkward FBI profiler, a woman who struggles with simple small talk but can tell you what a serial killer will do next before he even knows it himself, like Evelyn Baine, the heroine of my Profiler series. Like real women, strong heroines are as varied as the individuals themselves. Yes, I’ll admit it: I have a soft spot for a woman like Maggie, whose teammates get a kick out of letting her “initiate” the new guy – by going to shake his hand and then promptly flipping him over her shoulder and down to the ground. But even the strongest heroines have vulnerabilities. For Maggie, it’s trusting anyone with the truth about her past and what led her to the FBI: being abducted and raped by a serial criminal who’s still out…

I most often write in the sunroom at the back of my house. It’s a cozy space in my South City St. Louis home that faces out into my backyard. My desk sits in the middle of a wall of windows overlooking a remarkable magnolia tree that flowers a little bit at a time from spring to fall. In the room with me when I write, undoubtedly, are my dogs, Nala and Hazel, and my cat, Owen. Hazel is usually content to doze on the couch while Nala and Owen compete to see who can end up closer to me. Owen is often on my lap or trying to take over my keyboard, while Nala worms her way underneath and often naps on my feet, putting them to sleep and making it difficult to get up for a break. On my desk near my monitor is a collection of meaningful trinkets related to whatever story I’m working on. Over the years, I’ve found this helps me quickly connect to my work in progress. For this series, I started with a Schlilich German shepherd who reminded me of Sledge in A New Leash on Love. When I was writing Sit, Stay,…