When
psychic Trudy Tucker hears this plaintive cry in her mind and then connects
psychically with a little girl’s kidnapper, she is drawn to a small town in
Missouri where everyone is suspect – including herself and her lover,
celebrated psychic detective Levi Wolfe. As she and Levi work together to sort
through whom and what to trust, an innocent life hangs in the balance.
INTERVIEW:
1) What is your favorite
quote and why?
My
favorite quote is, “Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim for it.”
I
love this because I have a tendency to sit back and tell myself, If I’m good enough or what I do is good
enough, someone will notice and give me my just desserts.
I
have found this not to be true. Any
time I sat back and waited for good things to happen to me – nothing happened!
I’ve always had to make an effort, beat my own drum, and wave my arms
frantically in the air to get someone to notice me! So, I like that saying
because I need to swim as fast as I can. Otherwise, the ship will sail right past
me or – worse – right over me!
2) Who is your favorite
author and why?
My
favorite author is Mary Stewart. When I was in eighth grade, I read “The
Moonspinners” and I loved it – mainly because a movie was made from it starring
Haley Mills and I loved her. However, I read all of Mary Stewart’s books after
that. Reading her books made me begin to think that, just maybe, I could be a
novelist, too. I began to write my own romantic stories, inspired by her books.
I’ll always love her and “The Moonspinners” for pointing me in the direction of
being a real writer and not simply a dreamer.
3) What, in your
opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?
Showing,
not telling is the Golden Rule. A writer should put you in the skin of the main
character in each scene and keep you there! You should not know, sense, feel,
smell, taste, see, or think anything that the main character can’t. And you
should not be “told” things about the character. The writer should show or
reveal things about characters through them. I hate it when the author steps
into the story and tells you stuff about the characters! I want to yell – “get
out of the story—you don’t belong in here!” I also think there should be a
sufficient conflict. I get angry when I read books that have conflicts that
could be ironed out if the main characters would simply talk to each other –
ask questions and get answers. Those “misinterpreted remarks” should only last
a chapter or two – not for a whole book! It makes the hero and heroine look
stupid.
4) Where did you get the
idea for this book?
I’ve
had the idea for this series for around a decade, but never could interest any
editor or agent in it. After reading “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I was inspired to
just write it and put it on Amazon to let readers decide if it was worth
reading or not. Personally, I thought the editors and even my agent were being
short-sighted. Some of them were put off by the psychic element. Others were
worried that it was too graphically sexy for a romantic suspense. It didn’t fit
in a “box” or “category” and they just wanted me to stick with what I was
already doing – contemporary romances and historical romances set in the
American West.
When
I read “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I decided to quit worrying about making my story
“fit” some pre-conceived category and just write it. Let the readers decide
what box they want to put it in!
EXCERPT:
Levi shifted his shoulders as if a weight had
settled on them and his black brows knitted. His thick, sooty lashes tapped his
cheeks as he squirmed a little. After taking a lung-filling breath, he let it
escape in a long hiss. Trudy wondered what he was experiencing, what was going
on in that brilliant mind of his. What did he see? Shadows moving in the distance?
Souls stepping forward? A young girl emerging and answering his call? From the
movement of his eyes behind his closed lids, she knew he was there . . . there
among the spirits.
“Gregory,” he whispered.
His spirit guide! She sat forward, watching,
waiting. He hadn’t connected with Gregory very much during the past few months.
He’d told her that it bothered him, but that Gregory had reminded him that he
only appeared when Levi needed guidance or centering. So, why had he appeared
now? Was Levi having trouble? Had she been wrong to prod him into looking for
Rachel over there?
“What’s going on?” Levi asked, his raspy voice
carrying a sliver of doubt. “Who’s that? Is it . . . that’s not . . . no. No!”
His eyes opened, wide and wild. He gasped for breath and emitted little grunts
of panic with each exhale.
Trudy’s heart and spirits plummeted. “You saw her
there? Rachel’s there?” A sob tore at her throat. How could she tell AmyLynn?
Did the FBI know already?
“No . . . I . . .” Levi shot to his feet and scrubbed
his face with his hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“She’s there? Oh, my God, she’s dead. He killed
her.” Trudy wrapped her arms around herself as she began to shake with the
horrible knowledge. She’d failed. She’d been useless. Ineffective. A bad joke.
The little girl . . . gone. Gone!
“I didn’t see Rachel.”
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Author of more than 40 novels, Deborah
lives in Oklahoma. She has been a full-time writer since she graduated from the
University of Tulsa. She worked for a few years as a reporter for newspapers
before becoming a freelance writer. Deborah’s first novel was published in the
late 1970s and her books have been published by Jove, New American Library,
Harlequin, Silhouette, and Avon. She has been inducted into the Oklahoma
Authors Hall of Fame and she is a charter member of the Romance Writers of
America. She is widely published in non-fiction and writes and edits for a
magazine focused on small businesses. Deborah taught fiction writing for more
than 10 years at a community college. She is currently working on a series of
novels featuring two psychics who work with police nationwide to identify and
track serial murderers.
Book Video: https://youtu.be/7AFG88e98eM
All of her novels are available on
Amazon as ebooks
GIVEAWAY:
Deborah will award a $50
Amazon or BN GC to one randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
