CHAPTER ONE   Monday, 0900   It might come as a disappointment to learn that the natural habitat of the intelligence officer is not the shooting range or the gym mat, the departure lounge of a hot and dusty airport, the safe house or the interrogation cell. It’s not halfway up a ladder aimed at the draughty rear window of a foreign embassy. It’s not even the street, the simple street – narrow, damply cobbled, thick with London fog and Russian menace. No, the natural habitat of the intelligence officer is the meeting room. Spies like to talk. “You will have heard of a section called Gatekeeping,” says Charles Remnant. “In simple terms, we investigate the insider threat – the threat posed by our own members of staff, who may have been recruited by hostile foreign powers. What you will not have heard of, however, unless matters have really got out of hand, is the secret cadre of officers we refer to as Gatekeepers.” In this case, not just any meeting room, but one at the top of the building, one at the dead end of a corridor otherwise used to store broken filing cabinets and unused safes. The paint…

Chapter 1 Holly put both her hands flat on the deep sill of the hinged window of her bedroom and leaned out to see the morning light. Then she pulled on shorts and a T-shirt over her head. Flip- flops and bare feet were a common option, but this morning—like most mornings, in the early hours when it was cool—she put on a pair of sneakers so she could walk along the entire length of the seawall before the sun rose too high in the sky. The top of the wall was as wide as a sidewalk and had the most beautiful ocean view she’d ever seen. At points along the way, the waves crashed spectacularly upon the cement pilings before taking a back dive toward the Caribbean. Each big surge made a great brumpfasshh sound that made her heart feel light. Holly loved how the locals smiled their hello as she jogged by. How in the grocery store, shoppers often burst out singing together when a favorite song came on the radio, broadcast by the shop’s sound system. How music seemed to be everywhere. As constant as the competing crash of the waves. She wanted all of her guests…

1–What is the title of your latest release? LOCAL GONE MISSING 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When a local man disappears from a small seaside town, detective Elise King is unwillingly dragged from her sick bed to investigate. She soon finds out that the town is full of secrets and hidden connections that run deeper and darker than she could have imagined. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I love plunging in and discovering a whole new world. And this time I was helped by the fact that my husband and I moved back to the UK from France and found ourselves living by the sea for the first time. Coastal towns and villages look so idyllic – the sea sparkling, the beach busy with surfers and swimmers, ice creams and little cafes with queues of holidaymakers outside. But take a look at the online neighborhood forums for the reality. They are often a masterclass in barely contained fury. In amongst the ads for pre-loved sofas and window replacement are people festering about the things they see every day – fly tipping, dog mess, blocked views, bad parking. And weekenders, of…

1–What is the title of your latest release? When my editor and I were discussing a title for my upcoming suspense thriller, she pulled a phrase from my synopsis and said, “FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW is an interesting title!” Sure, interesting title except…it’s also a command, forget what you know, which to my brain means You are to forget your own book title! And I do. On a regular basis I try to say or write something about the upcoming book, and I can’t remember the title. It’s getting embarrassing. The book is, um, FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW. Pretty sure.   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Car pulled from the bottom of lake! Driver shot in the back of the head! Priceless statue Dragon’s Heart found inside! Greedy collectors converge, and only flower-breeder and unknowing heir Zoey Phoenix stands in their way… Forget what you know…yet the past remembers.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW is the second full-length suspense set in Gothic California, a small town on Big Sur known for its legend: “On stormy nights, Gothic is said to disappear, and, on its return,…

C is for the CAT-BIRD figurine which heroine Kit carries in her pocket O is for the OLIVES grown on the McKittrick’s family farm L is for the LIAR, whose actions kick off the whole plot D is for the DEAD, victims of a serial killer   B is for the BIRDS Harlan McKittrick carves for Kit and Baz every year L is for the LOVE ever-present in the McKittrick household O is for San Diego’s view of the Pacific OCEAN O is for the OBNOXIOUS reporter who follows Kit around D is for DECEPTION, the art of the cold-blooded liar E is for the EVIDENCE which both Kit and Sam collect D is for the state of DECOMPOSITION in which many of the victims are found   L is for the LUMINOL that the forensics team sprayed all over Sam’s bathroom I is for Kit’s INVESTIGATIONS which take killers off the street and that gain justice for their victims A is for AKIKO, Kit’s sister and best friend R is for the killer’s RITUAL     Karen Rose is the #1 International Bestseller of romantic thrillers.  COLD BLOODED LIAR is the first book in her new San Diego Case…

1–What is the title of your latest release? LITTLE PAULA 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The sequel to Eden’s Children in which a father sells the child of his adopted son and daughter. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The Poconos Mountains for the isolation and scenic beauty 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes and no. She’s too young for me, but she is a beautiful and intelligent young woman. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Introspective, caring, and fearful. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Character is strongly influenced by setting and peers. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? Wait until totally done. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Pizza. 9–Describe your writing space/office! A separate, isolated but bright part of my house. 10–Who is an author you admire? James Lee Burke 11–Is there a book that changed your life? Huck Finn 12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish. I have been writing V.C. Andrews…

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 you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Colleen Coble!   Writes: I adore writing stories that involve past secrets that suddenly erupt in my characters’ lives! Law Enforcement Ranger Annie is struggling to find peace with widowhood when old flame Jon Dunstan returns to the small town of Rock Harbor in Michigan’s UP. When a woman claiming to be her sister, abducted at age 5, shows up, the danger spills over to envelope her own daughter as well. The layers keep getting deeper in this story!   About: I’ve lived in a small town in Indiana all my life but love travel, especially to locales where my books are set. I never know what I’m going to discover while researching a new book. Like how roosters crow all night in Kauai or how some crazy people surf Lake Superior in the winter. Brr! When I’m not writing, I’m playing Pokemon Go! with the family or searching out new coffee shops to feed my habit. My favorite way to research a locale…

1–What is the title of your latest release? REEF ROAD 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When a severed hand washes ashore in the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach, Florida, the lives of two women—a lonely writer obsessed with the unsolved murder of her mother’s best friend and a frantic wife whose husband has disappeared with their children—collide as the world shutters in the pandemic lockdown of 2020. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I happened to be in Palm Beach when the pandemic hit in March 2020. So as the world was closing down around me—around all of us—I decided to do two things: one was to finally research the real-life murder of my mother’s best friend, and two, was to write a book about it and set it exactly where I was sheltering in place. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Now that is a fine question! People always ask me if my protagonists are me. The answer is they are and they aren’t. Like the actress I used to be, I always use bits of myself in each character. But would I hang out with…

1–What is the title of your latest release? NO ONE KNOWS US HERE   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The official pitch: A spellbinding novel about a woman’s choice to sign on as an entitled tech billionaire’s paid girlfriend in a desperate attempt to provide for her recently-orphaned half-sister   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I set the book in Portland, Oregon, which is where I live. I moved here when I was about Rosemary’s age, so her first apartment is in the Alphabet District in Northwest Portland, the same neighborhood I lived in when I moved here after college.   4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes. I already feel like I’ve hung out with her for quite a few years now!   5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Troubled, determined, resilient   6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned patience and persistence. From the book’s inception to publication, it took about eight years! On a more practical level, I learned about criminal court cases and police procedure, though some of my “research” may have been from watching The Good…

1–What is the title of your latest release? A LIGHT IN THE FOREST 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A Light in the Forest is a heartwarming and suspenseful tale about resilience and strength. A young mother on the run from an abusive relationship hides in a town with dark secrets, discovers a mystery connected to her in ways she never anticipated, and finds that the love of a family can be found even in the unlikeliest of places. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I lived, worked, and went to school in southeastern Ohio for six years; an Ohio native with roots in Cincinnati and Cleveland too. My other novels have taken place in the mountains of Colorado and Alaska, but my early days in the hills of Ohio were calling to me and I wanted to set a story there that brought out the beauty in the place and the people. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Vega has lived a fairly isolated life during her years on the road, her house a van she shared with her late mother. But she wanted a family, a…