Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My latest thriller is Carrie Sue’s Diary: Atlanta crime writer Carrie Sue Justice is engaged to marry powerful publisher Marcus Handley until she learns his late wife is not dead.
This book can stand alone, but it features many of the same main characters as my third book A Message in the Roses, which is also set in Atlanta. A Message in the Roses a love story, but it is loosely based on a murder trial I covered in Atlanta.
My second book is Hurricane House. It’s a murder mystery: A hurricane strikes a Florida fishing village with a murder at large.
My first book is a murder mystery set in New Orleans, Sex, Love & Murder: A journalist on her way to New Orleans during Mardi Gras week is drawn into a series of murders involving the President of the U.S.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I was inspired to write Carrie Sue’s Diary, because I missed and my readers missed the characters in A Message in the Roses.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My stories and characters live in my imagination for months before I begin writing them down.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
A few of my favorite books are To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, Iliad and Odyssey, Lolita, the Grapes of Wrath, Gone with the Wind, and White Oleander. Some of my favorite authors are Homer, Shakespeare, Lee Childs, Harlen Coben, Stephen King, John Updike, Henry Miller, John Grisham, Sandra Brown, Mary Higgins Clark, James Anderson and many others that I’m sure I’m leaving out.
What are you working on now?
A sequel to Carrie Sue’s Diary
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still trying to figure out, but first I concentrate on writing a great book.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
To be a great writer you must be an avid reader. To write well you must read well, and learn the craft of writing by continuing to write with a passion.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up. You only fail if you give up.
What are you reading now?
Thick as Thieves by Sandra Brown
What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep writing and promoting the novels I’ve written
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The complete works of Shakespeare, a journal to write in, Where the Crawdads Sing (because I’ve been meaning to read that book).
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