I love strong heroines. I love reading them, and I really love writing them. They don’t have to be physically tough (although all three heroines in my Lawmen series for Harlequin Intrigue work for the FBI, so they’ve been through the Academy, including grueling physical training!). Being strong doesn’t mean they aren’t vulnerable, either (a heroine who’s too perfect isn’t very relatable). To me, a strong heroine is someone who is courageous, who does what’s right even when it’s hard, and who has strong values and priorities.
FBI profiler Isabella Cortez, the heroine of my first Lawmen book, has very strong priorities:
- 1. Balance work and play. She’s ready to take an overdue vacation with her two best friends when homicide detective Logan Greer approaches her with a case he wants her to profile. There’s an immediate attraction when they meet and Ella thinks, “Too bad she hadn’t run into him on the beach next week with a margarita in her hand instead of on her last day before vacation, toting a gun.”
- 2. Put your friends first. Ella has every intention of giving Logan a quick profile, then heading off to her vacation. But when the case file he gives her looks like it could be connected to the crime that led her to the FBI in the first place – the attack on her best friend Maggie – she cancels her vacation and heads to Florida, hoping to get justice.
- 3. Trust your gut. Logan’s theory about his case is that there’s a serial killer stalking his small Florida town, but the rest of the police force doesn’t believe him. But Ella’s profiling training is telling her Logan’s theory has merit – and she’s determined not to leave Florida until she’s helped Logan catch the killer.
- 4. Don’t let anyone push you around. When her parents and three brothers wanted Ella to pick a “safe” job, she didn’t let that stop her from fulfilling the pact she’d made with Maggie and Maggie’s brother – join the FBI and prevent what had happened to Maggie from happening to others. Now, it doesn’t matter if it’s fellow law enforcement officers who don’t like her theories, or suspects who underestimate her; Ella doesn’t let anyone push her around. She just gets the job done.
- 5. Try to avoid distractions. The trip to Oakville, Florida was to help Maggie – and to solve Logan’s case. If she hopes to do either, Ella knows she needs to focus. Normally, that’s no problem, but with Logan nearby? She’s seriously distracted, but there’s one thing she knows to be true: “It didn’t matter what Logan Greer did to her libido. She was going to have to figure out how to resist him.”
As you might suspect, resisting the hero of DISARMING DETECTIVE might be one challenge Ella Cortez will fail pretty spectacularly!
ABOUT DISARMING DETECTIVE:
The case that’s haunted one FBI profiler for years may have finally met its match in a sexy—and dedicated—detective…
When FBI profiler Isabella Cortez finds a stranger outside her office, she’s in trouble. Because even though Detective Logan Greer is one of the good guys, their instant attraction is a serious distraction. Ella’s got one mission: to find the criminal who hurt her friend and drove her to become a profiler. But Logan’s appeal isn’t just chemistry. He has a case that bears an eerie resemblance to the crime Ella’s been trying to solve for years. Together, they’re racing to stop a killer, but the closer they get, the more dangerous the search becomes. Falling in love could be deadly…or it could be the only way to survive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
ELIZABETH HEITER likes her suspense to feature strong heroines, chilling villains, psychological twists, and a little bit (or a lot!) of romance. Her research has taken her into the minds of serial killers, through murder investigations, and onto the FBI Academy’s shooting range.
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