Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Elizabeth Heiter! Writes: I write suspense with strong heroines, chilling villains, psychological twists, and a little bit (or a lot!) of romance. My new release, SECRET INVESTIGATION, is a romantic suspense about an undercover agent searching for justice for his murdered friend. In the process, he falls for the CEO of the company to blame. But if he wants the truth, she may pay the ultimate price. About: Caffeine and chocolate-fueled author who often writes with a parrot on my shoulder. I have a penchant for going down the rabbit hole with research (luckily, I’ve had enough security clearances for my various law enforcement research visits that when my bizarre internet history is inevitably discovered, it will be clear that it’s all for fictional crimes!). When I have time in between writing books, I love to read them, spend time with family and friends, and downhill ski. One of these days, I’ll get back to playing my violin. What I’m looking for…

Fourteen years ago, Kensie Morgan watched helplessly as her younger sister was abducted in front of their house. Ever since, her life has been filled with dead-end leads and false hope. But then a note surfaces in Desparre, Alaska, claiming to be from her sister. Kensie ignores the advice of everyone around her and travels to the remote town. Desparre Herald Reporter: Before we get started, I just want to let you know what to expect… Kensie Morgan: I know how this goes. I’ve been talking to reporters about my little sister since I was thirteen. Desparre Herald Reporter: But wouldn’t your parents… Kensie Morgan: After few years go by, a missing child is old news. No one wanted to interview my parents anymore. They couldn’t get attention for her. But talk to the older sister who watched her get taken? That was still newsworthy. Desparre Herald Reporter: Sounds like a tough way to grow up. Kensie Morgan: If any of this means I can bring Alanna home, it will all be worth it. Desparre Herald Reporter: Okay, then, let’s get to why you’re here. Most of the people who come to Desparre are looking to get lost. Either from…

Meet Colter Hayes. He’s 6’2” tall, 180 pounds of mostly muscle, with close-cropped dark blond hair and intense blue eyes. He’s loyal to a fault, loves dogs (he lives with the Combat Tracker Dog who was his partner in the Marines), and can make a woman feel dangerous things. But all he sees is a man who’s damaged. Someone who came home from war with an injury that left him less than whole. Partly it’s his leg, now held together by a rod and screws. It’s accepting that the things he could do in the military police, alongside his K-9 partner Rebel – like tracking an explosion back to the person who set it – are now out of reach. But mostly it’s the way he and Rebel came home. Both forced out of the military because of injuries that would never have them back to “fighting shape.” And alone. Without the teammates he’d come to see as brothers. Overseas, Rebel saved Colter’s life by jumping on him and knocking him down into a bomb crater during an ambush. The rest of his team died that day and the attackers never realized Colter and Rebel were still alive. There are…

In the opening chapter of my upcoming book, K-9 DEFENSE, Rebel – a five-year-old Malinois-German Shepherd mix – saves the life of my heroine, who’s come to the wilds of Alaska in search of her long-lost sister. Rebel doesn’t need to be told what to do – when she sees a car sliding out of control through the town’s snow-covered streets, she leaps on the heroine, knocking her out of the way. It’s a role she knows well – that of a hero. Before coming to Desparre, Alaska, with ex-Marine Colter Hayes, she served beside him as a military Combat Tracker Dog. After serving together for two years, she saved his life during a sniper attack. Both man and dog were injured that day, ending their military careers. Since then, Colter has been hiding – and trying to heal from his emotional wounds as much as his physical ones – and Rebel has stayed by his side. When Harlequin approached me about writing a romantic suspense with a K-9, it didn’t take me long to agree. I’d never written a dog into a main role in a novel before – primarily because in all of my previous mysteries, my hero…

‘Tis the season for family, friends, and fun traditions. If you’re like me, you’ve got some that have lasted since childhood and others that morph every year. This time of year can be frantic and sometimes overwhelming, but I always love it. For me, the season starts at the beginning of December with a newer tradition: high tea surrounded by Christmas lights. Each year, I do it twice: once with a group of friends I’ve (mostly) known since elementary school, then again with my fiancé. Then, the season kicks into high gear with a long-time favorite: holiday shopping for my family. Next up is a newer one: tree and ornament shopping with myfiancé. The way that tradition is going, I’m going to have to buy a bigger tree each year to hold all of the ornaments! Next up are a few traditions that you might expect for a suspense and romantic suspense writer. First is something I do with my critique partner: the annual watching of our favorite holiday movie: DIE HARD (yes, it’s a holiday movie!). Then is a newer tradition – since I sold my first novels in 2012, I’ve either had a book due in December or…

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…

You’ve probably encountered a character in a book who’s one hundred percent convinced she won’t end up with a particular person (or type of person). And as soon as she said it (especially if the book was shelved in the romance section), you probably thought to yourself, “I know who you’ll end up with by the end of the book!” In my Profiler series, FBI profiler Evelyn Baine is extremely talented at her job and extremely serious. She got into it because her best friend went missing as a child and was never found. Now, all these years later, she sees every case as a chance to bring someone else the kind of closure she never got for herself. So, of course, FBI Hostage Rescue Team agent Kyle “Mac” McKenzie is someone she immediately dismisses as an impossibility: not only is dating a teammate forbidden by the FBI (and Evelyn would never put her career in jeopardy), but he also never seems to be serious. But as the series progresses, that “impossibility” becomes reality. In my latest romantic suspense trilogy, The Lawmen: Bullets and Brawn, every set of heroes and heroines has someone who thinks “this could never happen” about…

Writes: Elizabeth Heiter writes both psychological suspense and romantic suspense. Her books feature strong heroines, chillingly realistic villains, and psychological twists. She believes every hero or heroine has the right plot waiting for them (and she believes in making them work hard for their happy ending!). About: Elizabeth doesn’t know how to be bored, so she’s had ten books in two genres (plus three short stories) published in the past four and a half years. She can usually be found with a mocha next to her laptop, writing her work-in-progress, editing the book she’s just finished, and researching the one up next. That research has taken her to the FBI’s firing range, the CIA’s headquarters, and a police academy. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Loves the twists and turns of a good mystery. Appreciates a heroine who can take down a man twice her size. Longs for a hero who can charm a strong woman, without being intimidated by her. Wants their heart to pound relentlessly during a great action scene. Believes that anything worth having is worth fighting for. Knows the best villains are as unwilling to give up as the heroes. Craves a book…

In the past five years, I’ve published books in three distinct series: The Profiler (a psychological suspense series featuring FBI profiler Evelyn Baine, whose job is to get into the heads of killers), The Lawmen (a romantic suspense series about three friends who make a pact to join the FBI after violence tears apart their lives, and what happens ten years later when that violence returns) and The Lawmen: Bullets and Brawn (a romantic suspense series about three foster brothers ripped apart as children, who are determined to unravel the secret of their past). What is it about series that keeps me coming back? As a writer, it’s many of the same reasons that I can’t stay away from series as a reader: I can’t wait to revisit the characters: My Profiler series features one primary character, who returns book after book with new cases to profile for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. While the plot of each story revolves around her work as a profiler, part of what I love about her series is the character growth. In the first book in the series, HUNTED, Evelyn was socially inept and purposely isolated. By the time book four, STALKED, rolls…

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a writer. As a child, before I could write words myself, I used to tell my mom stories and then ask her to do the same for me.  I liked everything about fiction, whether it came from books or off the cuff from someone’s imagination. As I got older, I loved how stories could transport me away from challenges, how they could inform and inspire.  By the time I finished high school, I’d co-written my first completed novel with a friend who’s my critique partner to this day. After college, the journey toward publication began.  And it was quite a journey. There was so much I didn’t know at the beginning about the business side.  Back then, my goal was simple: write a book I loved and then find a literary agent who could sell it to a publishing house. Of course, the goal was easier said than done.  I joined a writer’s organization, which helped me learn how to write stronger query letters – pitches to try and get someone interested in my book.  Eventually, I found an agent and we started shopping my novel. But by then,…