This month’s column is all about the irresistible allure of the villain love interest in paranormal romance. Whether it’s their dangerous confidence, possessive nature, or the smoldering chemistry with their love interests, villains add a level of tension and excitement that heroes can’t match. Think of characters like Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses, Cardan from The Cruel Prince, or Wrath from Kingdom of the Wicked—all of whom combine power, passion, and a touch of danger that make them unforgettable and undeniably hot. The rise of the villain love interest in paranormal romance has captivated readers by blurring the lines between attraction and danger. These characters, often dark, morally ambiguous, and complex, bring a sense of mystery and allure to the story. Readers are drawn to the tension that arises from forbidden love and the internal struggle of loving someone who embodies danger. Villains offer something different from the typical “hero,” allowing the romance to explore themes of power, manipulation, and redemption, often with a twist of irresistible charm. What makes these villains so compelling is their transformation throughout the story. Whether it’s a cold, calculated figure or someone with a tortured past, the villain’s journey is often…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE LAST DAYS OF KIRA MULLAN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? How do you prove a murder when no-one else believes it happened; how can people trust you when you don’t even trust yourself? 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Some of our books need to have rural settings; this thriller, which is about paranoia and intimate dread, had to be urban. It is set in a crowded part of London where people rent rooms in cheaply converted houses that have thin walls, where there are eyes everywhere, where strangers press up against each other and where friends can’t be trusted. We set it in an area of London called Harlesden, that has a diverse, shifting population and felt perfect. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes! Nancy is full of passion and determination. What’s more, she is a very good cook. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Stubborn, courageous, alone 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That many ‘normal’ people hear voices; it is far more common than most of us assume 7–Do you…

The ways we have traveled with our motorhome have changed in the years since 2020 when we began living our on the road adventure. One question we’re often asked is, what do you do with your car, or truck/do you pull it or drive it? Or a variation of this question. We’ve tried several ways.   The day we drove away in our new motorhome to start our adventure, my husband drove the motorhome while I drove my convertible behind him. It’s a different feeling driving away from your old land-based house while following your new home drive down the road. I felt like I was chasing it but never catching up and wanted to be in there with him, going down the road. Since then, I’ve only driven behind him when necessary. Everything we owned was either inside the motorhome or in a storage unit. Our house sold seven days after we listed it, my husband closed his business on a Friday and moved all business equipment and office things into a storage unit the following day. It would take more time to downsize everything.  We would return to finish that process. In the meantime, we were headed down…

Dublin It was the thirtieth of July, 1658, the summer of her twenty-third year, and she couldn’t have asked for a better day on which to start the Plan. The morning had dawned with a brilliant sunrise, scattering the heavy rain clouds that had long plagued the city, filling the sky, the very air around them, with a burst of renewing light. Seven years. Seven long and difficult years she had been waiting for this day. This fated day. And now it was upon them. She wanted to leap with joy and sing with the knowledge of it. Even the air seemed to smell crisper, and the rhododendrons lining the park walkways along St. Stephen’s Green flourished in bright and brilliant bloom as if celebrating the fact that soon she would have her due revenge. It was market day, and the area around Merchants’ Quay was, as usual, a scene of chaos and confusion. Everyone, it seemed, had emerged from beneath their rooftops to revel in the unusual summer clemency. Dockworkers called out to young ladies as they strolled between shop stalls surveying the goods for sale. Hucksters pushing crude wooden carts filled with every sort of notion cried out…

1–What is the title of your latest release? JANE AND DAN AT THE END OF THE WORLD 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A couple out to dinner celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary find themselves in the middle of a hostage situation right out of the pages of a novel. Her novel, to be exact. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I knew I needed to create an isolated restaurant that was off the beaten path, where diners could realistically be taken hostage and there wouldn’t be help for miles. I kept picturing a coastal cliff and liked the idea of the restaurant being frequented by celebrities, so California north of LA made sense to me. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely. Although Jane is neurotic as I am at times, so we’d likely get on each other’s nerves. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Mid-40s, anxious, mom 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That creativity ebbs and flows. And when it ebbs, it’s important to be kind to yourself and find ways back to your creative center. For me, that was taking…

1–What is the title of your latest release? AND THEY HAD A GREAT FALL 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? For fans of Robinne Lee’s The Idea of You, a debut contemporary romance about a celebrity and a single mother who push and pull against each other as they teeter between a carrying on a secret affair and living an authentic life. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I really believe the location can be its own character. The setting of Copenhagen was selected because it reflected my couple – Kat and Jake. Kat and Jake are what I call a Monday/Friday couple. Kat is all business, practical and controlled.  She’s not grumpy, but she certainly has little time for frivolity and does not take risks.  Jake is the exact opposite – he’s fun and takes life in the moment.  He’s not all sunshine, but he believes life is one big exploration.  At times they spar because they can’t really understand each other, but at other times, the very reason they are attracted to each other is their differences. Copenhagen was a very intentional choice because Danish design is all about Form…

For 20 years and more than one million books, readers have watched our Coffeehouse Mystery characters face down cold-blooded criminals, fight past personal failures, and survive the dazzling lights and dark alleys of New York City with the strength of camaraderie and good strong coffee. Why did we last this long? Our readers tell us one reason is because our stories are much more than murder-mystery puzzles. From the publication of our very first Coffeehouse adventure, ON WHAT GROUNDS, our cozy crime fiction has been character driven. Watching our amateur sleuth, Clare Cosi, navigate the peaks and valleys of her personal and romantic relationships, run her charming historic shop, and wrangle her quirky crew of baristas is as much fun as watching her follow clues to solve a perplexing crime. Another reason we’re still going strong is our series’ setting. When we conceived our Coffeehouse world, we took an offbeat approach to cozy crime fiction, which traditionally sets its stories in small towns and villages. We set our series in a village, too, the charming, historically preserved neighborhood of New York’s Greenwich Village. This cheeky choice of setting a cozy series in the Big Apple was quickly embraced by readers and even helped…

The ground was still damp from recent rains when I recognized the ridge where Gitlam and I had rescued the sand kittens. It had been over fifty years since I fled Egypt with my family, leaving me and Gitlam among the very few who remembered crossing the Sea of Reeds. At first, I thought we’d come to the wrong place. The lake was as I remembered, but there were only a few tents on the low hills around it. Instead, there were various permanent residences up on the hillside terraces, many sharing adjacent walls. Those located closer to the lake had olive trees on their terrace level to facilitate moving the harvest to the oil presses, while those higher up the hill had vineyards. Some structures were made of stone, others from mud and straw bricks like our ancestors had slaved to make in Egypt. Gitlam and I stood still in confusion. Some of these must house our adult children and grandchildren who’d remained in Kadesh Barnea while their fathers battled the Canaanites, but I didn’t recognize anyone. Suddenly we were surrounded by children yelling, “Grandfather, Grandmother.” Two of the younger girls grabbed my hands and began pulling me up…

How would you describe your family or your childhood? I never had a childhood. When you’re an orphan, abandoned on the hardscrabble streets of the worst slum in Regency London, you grow up fast—or you don’t survive. I learned to be tough as nails and very good as picking the pockets of rich gentleman . . . a skill which led to an encounter that changed my life, and put my toughness to a more honorable purpose. Where do you live? I tend to move around a lot, but my home—when I’m there—is Mrs. Merlin’s Academy for Extraordinary Young Ladies, though I have to admit, the name makes me and my fellow students laugh. I mean, we are extraordinary, but we’re certainly not ladies! We’re highly trained spies . . . and assassins, if need be. (You really don’t want to mess with us.) What do you do for a living? In a nutshell, I’m called upon to undertake very dangerous and difficult missions to keep King and Country safe from its enemies. While the aristocratic young ladies of London are dancing at Almack’s or flirting in the drawing rooms of Mayfair, I’m matching wits with diabolically clever villains. That…

I love a book filled with mystery, thrills, or suspense. I also love romance. Having a writing career that lets me write all of it? Priceless! I’ve written romantic suspense with undercover operatives and dark secrets as HelenKay Dimon for years. I started writing darker thrillers (no romance!) under the name Darby Kane and have published five of them so far. But for the last few years, I’ve also branched out into what I’d call the romantic caper.  These are lighter mysteries with some humor and romance and lots of family messiness. My newest, THE USUAL FAMILY MAYHEM, is about a woman who approaches her grandmother and her grandmother’s “best friend” with a proposition about their dessert business not knowing Grandma has a secret side venture—making poison pies to get rid of bad men. Oops! Kasey, who hasn’t figured out what she wants to do with her life, and her long-time, totally secret, opposites-attract crush, Jackson, join together to figure out what’s going on and then try to avoid disaster.  Books where the couple tries to solve a mystery while pretending the attraction for each other isn’t about to knock them over are great fun. Good luck running from your…