“Where do you get your ideas from?” It’s one of the more common reader questions I receive. The truth is, it varies. The spark of an idea usually begins with something small (and sometimes completely unrelated). The idea for the Lucie Rizzo Mystery series started with my much-loved dog, Buddy. He’s a Wheaten Terrier who is affectionately known in my house as Buddy-the-Wheaten-Terrorist. He was six months old when my husband bestowed the terrorist title on him. At the time, Buddy was in full-blown puppy mania and was A.) driving us insane with his energy  B.) eating our furniture C.) eating our clothing (while we were wearing it). Those of you who have had a puppy know the feeling. After a particularly long day of dealing with my lovable pup, it occurred to me that I should write a book about a woman who went insane (or dropped dead from exhaustion) due to her dog. At first, I laughed the idea off. Something kept nagging at me though. I knew readers loved books with dogs in them and I was so strung out from Buddy, I needed to find a way to channel the endless aggravation into something funny. I…

Call me crazy, but I love to write alpha males. There’s something a whole lot of fun about a guy who can walk into a room, not speak a word and still let everyone know he’s the big dog. As much as I love alphas, they are challenging. They can be stubborn and arrogant and bossy. Most of the time, the good ones listen to reason. The good ones also march into battle with no idea if they’ll come out and they don’t care. All they want is to fix whatever problem lies in front of them. For me, that strength is the lure of the alpha male. When I began plotting my new Harlequin Intrigue, THE PROSECUTOR, I knew I wanted an alpha as the hero, but I wanted someone…well…different. This hero would be a prosecutor in his early thirties and wouldn’t have a military background. He wouldn’t know how to clean a gun or survive in a jungle for extended periods. But he had to be strong. Strong, but not overly-aggressive. He had to be ambitious, but not to the point where that ambition became a negative. In short, I wanted a guy who craved a courtroom battle…