Reggie Lee Stafford glanced out the window of her daddy’s Hill Country convenience store just northwest of Austin, Texas. She looked out in time to see the silver BMW cruise slowly by. The top was down and the driver looked as divine as the vehicle. A bronzed god with longish blond sun-streaked hair. He radiated the attitude of a celebrity, hiding behind the lenses of his designer sunglasses. Driving with his elbow stuck out the window, he craned his neck to peer into the small store. He gazed up at the fading sign that proudly proclaimed the establishment to be Stafford’s Mercantile, a name Reggie’s grandparents had selected in 1949 when they’d first opened their doors in Rambling, Texas, and when the wares had included yard goods and hardware. Reggie leaned over the counter to stare back at the hunk in the sports car, surprised when he pulled into the parking lot and climbed out. He shoved the keys in the pocket of his faded denims and continued to gaze through the plate glass window with an air of indecision. She noted that the denims were well filled with one-hundred percent prime American beef. Well, well, well. Eye candy from the city. My lucky day. She…

As I was finishing the last few pages of my upcoming novel, THE DECEPTION, Hawk Maddox and Kate Gallagher’s story, I got an interesting phone call.  I’m fortunate to be represented by a literary agency in New York as well as an agency in Hollywood. Since I love movies, I’ve always wanted to see one of my books made into a feature film.  The Hollywood agency phoned about my novel, BEYOND REASON.  The story is set in Texas and is an action-adventure that revolves around the rivalry between Carly Drake, who inherits her grandfather’s failing trucking firm, and powerful multimillionaire Lincoln Cain, her number one competitor. Worse yet, Carly needs Linc’s help to find the men who are willing to kill to keep her from making Drake Trucking successful again. Big money is involved.  And very big danger. The transaction involving the rights was exciting from beginning to end, with David Haring at TinRes Entertainment making the offer, several agents negotiating the terms, and me–thrilled to have a chance to see one of my books made into a film.  Most likely, the story will be a made-for-TV movie, but it is also optioned with the possibility of a major motion…

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 Terry Shames!  What I write about: A  traditional mystery series set in small-town Texas, and featuring Chief of Police Samuel Craddock. Jarrett Creek is based on a town in central Texas where my grandparents lived when I was a child. It’s populated with characters that I hope readers will love.  I write about people faced with all the issues of small-town life, and I include a healthy dose of contemporary social issues. About Me: I grew up in Texas, and attended UT Austin. Wanderlust took me to Washington, D.C., where I worked for the CIA; Denver, where I was a computer programmer, and finally to the San Francisco Bay Area. I am a reluctant sailor (my husband’s passion), a hiker, and an enthusiastic cook. Find out more at www.Terryshames.com. What I’m Looking for in my ideal reader match: Kirkus says, “A favorite of fans who like their police procedurals with a strong ethical center.” My ideal reader likes: Traditional crime novels. Likes…

Last year Steeple Hill released HOMECOMING, my first western historical with an inspirational theme. The story is set in a fictional Texas frontier town named Glory and I found myself so involved in the characters and the setting that I wrote a second book, THE ACCIDENTAL LAWMAN, set in the same town. The hero and heroine from HOMECOMING make cameo appearances, so readers who missed that book might want to order it as well when shopping for THE ACCIDENTAL LAWMAN. (Okay, enough of the shameless self promotion–for now.) Though I’m known for the emotion and characterization in my books, there is always a touch of humor that sneaks in, too. In THE ACCIDENTAL LAWMAN, humor comes to play in the opening scene, an accident that propels an unassuming writer with the dream of publishing his own newspaper into the unlikely position of the first sheriff of Glory. Hank Larson has moved to Texas to escape his old life, one that continually reminds him of his late wife. He’s spent his entire savings on a printing press to enable his dream and is all set to launch “The Glory Gazette.” He’ll be editor, writer, and publisher. The problem? There is no…

I’ve been lucky in writing. I’ve been in the game 20 years with twenty seven books on the shelf with my name on them. I’ve had a wonderful time, lots of fun, many dear friends and only a few bumps along the road. My brother says we have Irish Luck in our family. He knew it the month after he came home from Viet Nam wounded. Someone said to him, “Man, are you lucky. You were hit bad enough to send you home but not so bad that you won’t recover.” My brother’s one thought was that if he’d been lucky, he wouldn’t have been hit at all. Sometimes I feel the same way about my writing career. Man, am I lucky. Lucky it only took me four or five years to find an editor. Longer to find an agent. Lucky I picked a field, Historical Romance, about the time it died. Lucky my wonderful editor kept getting pregnant and finally quit. But, remember, I have Irish luck. In all those years of waiting I kept writing so when I did sell, I sold five books in 15 months. Lucky I picked Historical Romance and stayed in until finally as…

Hullo! Here it is, January 2nd, the Christmas sales are over, the New Year’s Day buffet has been reduced to a neat stack of leftovers, and BOND OF FIRE, the Texas vampires’ trilogy volume 2, has finally hit the bookstores! Yes, Hélène d’Agelet, the French secret agent and firestarter, just made it into the Texas vampires trilogy. Need I mention that she’s usually very well-groomed, as in very, very fond of designer clothing? No? Yes, I thought you might have guessed that, since she’s a French aristocrat. She enjoys a glass of good sherry but is willing to explore Texas’s unique ways of drinking beer. She’s also very bookish and prefers her flirtations take place in libraries, which isn’t where you’d expect to find one of those rare lady vampires. Oh, and she’s passionately in love with Jean-Marie St. Just, Texas’s chief diplomat, spy, and assassin. They fell for each other across a crowded ballroom at Versailles over two centuries ago. They’ve suffered through a lot of trials and tribulations ever since, including major pieces of nastiness like the French Revolution and the Peninsular Wars. In fact, matters became so bad Jean-Marie and Hélène have spent the past two centuries…

When considering a topic, I’ve decided to go with one few writers talk about–How do we get back up when we fall. In my writing career of nearly twenty years, like most writers I’ve had my ups and downs. Once, just after my fifth book came out, my numbers were so bad my editor assured me I wouldn’t be writing another book for them, except for the fact I’d signed a two book contract. I was down and almost went back to teaching. I’d already written book six, so I decided to try one more time. I won a RITA with that sixth book. Since then I’ve learned to take the ups with the downs. I love the ups—the awards, the lists, the money—but I think it’s been the downs I’ve had that have taught me the most in this game of writing. Sometimes I’ve learned to try harder. Sometimes I’ve learned to trust myself. This year I decided to take another chance. With my next Historical Romance, TEXAS PRINCESS coming out in November, I’m hard at work on something different. In April I’ll have a book of a different kind released. TWISTED CREEK, I can only hope my readers…