Tag: #amandaquick

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: When She Dreams by Amanda Quick

Book Description

Maggie Lodge, assistant to the reclusive advice columnist known only as Dear Aunt Cornelia to her readers, hires down-but-not-quite-out private eye Sam Sage to help track down the person who is blackmailing her employer. Maggie and Sam are a mismatched pair. As far as Sam is concerned, Maggie is reckless and in over her head. She is not what he had in mind for a client but he can’t afford to be choosy. Maggie, on the other hand, is convinced that Sam is badly in need of guidance and good advice. She does not hesitate to give him both.

In spite of the verbal fireworks between them, they are fiercely attracted to each other, but each is convinced it would be a mistake to let passion take over. They are, after all, keeping secrets from each other. Sam is haunted by his past, which includes a marriage shattered by betrayal and violence. Maggie is troubled by intense and vivid dreams–dreams that she can sometimes control. There are those who want to run experiments on her and use her for their own purposes, while others think she should be committed to an asylum.

When the pair discovers someone is impersonating Aunt Cornelia at a conference on psychic dreaming and a woman dies at the conference, the door is opened to a dangerous web of blackmail and murder. Secrets from the past are revealed, leaving Maggie and Sam in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance.

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Elise’s Thoughts

When She Dreams by Amanda Quick, is a story with lies, murder, blackmail, and drugs. This series takes place during the 1930’s in the small town of Burning Cove, California with some recurring characters.

The opening scene sets the atmosphere for the rest of the plot.  Maggie Lodge enters the office of Dr. Oxlade for a session about her lucid dreams. Unbeknownst to her, he gives her a drug called the enhancer. He is hoping to control her dreams, actions, and mind. As Maggie is fighting the effects of the drug, she barely escapes from the office.

Lucid dreams become almost a character in the story. People dreaming are aware that they are dreaming. During the dream someone may gain some amount of control over it to try to become aware of their consciousness.

Maggie must also deal with the fact that someone is blackmailing her employer, Dear Aunt Cornelia, an advice columnist. She hires private eye and former policeman Sam Sage to help find the blackmailer.  The investigation leads them to a conference on psychic dreaming where Maggie realizes Dr. Oxlade is also attending. It seems some women who were lucid dreamers are being killed.  As tensions rise and the murders increase, Maggie and Sam realize they are in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance. They enlist the help of the series recurring characters Raina Kirk, a private detective and investigator, plus Luther Pell, to find information that will help to connect all the murdered women.

The relationship between Maggie and Sam is a delight. Their snarky, intimate, verbal fireworks conversations are enjoyable. But they also realize there is a passionate chemistry between them. What they must overcome are the secrets kept from each other. Both are haunted by their pasts.

Once again readers will not be disappointed with this 1930s mystery. This intriguing and suspenseful story is full of twists. A bonus is how Quick intertwined the information about lucid dreaming into the story.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Amanda Quick: The story idea comes from the fact that I am personally intrigued with dreaming. One of the most interesting types is lucid dreaming where someone knows they are dreaming.  The goal is to control the dream and solve problems that someone could not solve while awake. For example, rewrite nightmares or sad dreams to find peace. This was a hot topic in the thirties. Now on online there are many people looking it up.  It is like waking up before falling off a cliff or in my case learning to fly.

EC: There are all types of dreams in the book, what are the differences?

AQ: Lucid dreaming is real. Astral projection is junk science, pure fantasy.  It is when someone thinks they can travel in their dreams as their soul moves to another location. Latent psychic senses have someone believing they have a psychic vibe yet are not aware of it. This is also a scam.

EC:  How would you describe Maggie?

AQ:  Maggie is a lucid dreamer who can control her dreams, which allows her to see things in a different light.  She is adventurous, outgoing, and a modern woman. She is very smart, independent, bold, a little reckless, unpredictable, and confident. Maggie wants to do the right thing and wants to find answers.

EC:  Why does she have an aversion to marriage?

AQ: She had a very close call when her fiancé wanted to marry her for her money and then he was going to send her off to an asylum. In those days it was not hard to get a woman committed against her will. This is why she is wary of marriage.

EC:  Sam Sage versus Sam Spade?

AQ: I did not even try to hide it and had fun playing off the character.  I was going for the iconic 1930s hardboiled private eye.  My character Sam Sage is much nicer and a lot more honorable. Sam Spade is from The Maltese Falcon, an American icon.  I put this quote in the book, Sam Spade is “arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic ass, with the moral code of an alley cat…he isn’t interested in justice…and a lousy detective.” His goal is to prove he is the smartest guy in the room. I wanted my character to be in the same occupation but with better personality traits.

EC:  How would you describe Sam Sage?

AQ:  He is really interested in justice and doing the right thing.  Sam is the classic good guy, very protective.  Some people see him as world weary and wise cracking.

EC:  What about the relationship between Maggie and Sam?

AQ:  They play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  She is reckless and he is a ‘by the books guy’.  They are very passionate about each other.  Each sees the underlying strength of the other and trusts each other.

EC:  Next books?

AQ:  It will be another Jayne Castle Dust Bunny book, a futuristic romantic suspense novel, titled, Sweet Water and the Witch, coming out September 30th.  The next Amanda Quick book is out a year from now, titled The Bride Wore White.  A woman wakes up in the honeymoon suite with a dead body next to her. Raina Kirk and Luther Pell have become the anchor characters for the series and will be in every book as cameo players.

Thank you!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Lady Has a Past by Amanda Quick

Book Description

Beauty and glamour meet deception and revenge in this electrifying novel by New York Times bestselling author Amanda Quick.

Investigative apprentice Lyra Brazier, the newest resident of Burning Cove, is unsettled when her boss suddenly goes on a health retreat at an exclusive spa and disappears without another word. Lyra knows something has happened to Raina Kirk, and she is the only one who can track her down. The health spa is known for its luxurious offerings and prestigious clientele, and the wealthy, socialite background Lyra desperately wanted to leave behind is perfect for this undercover job. The agency brings in a partner and bodyguard for her, but she doesn’t get the suave, pistol-packing private eye she expected.

Simon Cage is a mild-mannered antiquarian book dealer with a quiet, academic air, and Lyra can’t figure out why he was chosen as her partner. But it soon becomes clear when they arrive at the spa and pose as a couple: Simon has a unique gift that allows him to detect secrets, a skill that is crucial in finding Raina.

The unlikely duo falls down a rabbit hole of twisted rumors and missing socialites, discovering that the health spa is a façade for something far darker than they imagined. With a murderer in their midst, Raina isn’t the only one in grave danger—Lyra is next.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Lady Has A Past by Amanda Quick (the pen name for Jayne Krentz) is another winner. This historical novel explores California in the 1930s with riveting characters and a suspenseful mystery.

The plot has private investigator Raina Kirk disappearing after spending a night with her boyfriend Luther Pell.  Her apprentice, Lyra Brazier, Luther, and his private investigator Simon Cage realize that Raina has traveled to the plush spa resort of Labyrinth Springs Hotel.  Simon and Lyra team up, posing as a honeymoon couple, and check in to the hotel to try to find Raina. They become suspicious of those working and staying at the hotel, discovering that the health spa is a façade for kidnappings and ransoms.  Both must watch each other’s back and race with time to find Raina before it is too late.

Lyra is a great character with an uncanny intuitive nature.  She is fearless, smart, and works well under pressure. She realizes that she and Simon make a good team considering he senses emotions from objects.  Although he gives off an aura of nerdiness, he is nothing of the kind and is very good at connecting the dots.

Readers will enjoy not one, but two relationships in the book.  Raina and Luther’s feelings about each other are explored, while Lyra and Simon realize they care for each other deeply.  Besides the double romance people will be treated to a gripping mystery, tidbits of 1930s California, and very captivating characters.

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Elise’s Author Interview

 Elise Cooper: Why 1930s?

Amanda Quick: The whole fantasy side of California at that time was sold to the public by the movie studios.  I have in my head the quick lines that were in the movies and the brilliantly written plots.  I love that fast repertoire and the quick wit. This suits my style because I am a very dialogue driven writer.  Everybody has a sense of what the 1930s California setting looks like.  They are iconic.

EC:  Did you do research?

AQ:  I enjoy going through books and newspapers about that time-period, and picking up odds and ends, bits and pieces. I stumbled across what happened in the spas and cosmetic industry that were quite the rage in the 1930s.  These made perfect settings for a murder.  I got an interesting question in my mind, looked for an answer, and then one thing led to another.

EC:  You explore the backstory on Raina?

AQ:  A lot of people including myself have been curious about her.  I have never explained her background until this book where it becomes an issue.  She wants a sense of belonging after being in an abusive marriage. After coming to Burning Cove she wanted to leave the past behind.  Raina must resolve her past to be free to really love Luther. 

EC:  How would you describe Lyra, Raina’s apprentice?

AQ: She is the siter of Vivian, the heroine of Close Up. Lyra is optimistic, smart, curious, and genuinely interested in people who respond and speak with her.  She is also calm, sophisticated, and intuitive.  Although coming from wealth and society she is now looking to be a private investigator.  Basically, she is a half full person who is positive with good energy. When needed for the investigation she played a role of being dipsy, shallow, arrogant, and self-centered, but this is not really her.

EC: How would you describe Simon?

AQ:  He was raised as an orphan and was shattered by the father figure who raised him. He is lonely, in control, and responsible. Simon has a talent for sensing emotions and finding energy left behind.

EC:  How would you describe the relationship?

AQ:  Simon considered Lyra unpredictable.  They had to learn to trust each other to survive.  Because of his past he is afraid to have a close relationship.  Lyra is looking for someone who can accept her true personality and not see her as a society girl. 

EC:  What about the relationship between Luther and Raina?

AQ: They both have secrets they must give up, and then they need to understand how those secrets played into their past life. Physically they are a couple, but emotionally they tip toe around each other.  In this story they make a giant step and move forward in their connection.

EC:  You delve into the psychic, but it seems very believable?

AQ: There is nothing supernatural about it, but an extension of intuition on Lyra’s part.  People who do not like reading about the supernatural are OK with the psychic element in the book.  It is just one step beyond having it feel real.

EC:  How about the setting?

AQ:  It is a fake Palm Springs.  In the 1930s, the Hollywood crowd discovered it.  It had a resort atmosphere.  There were therapeutic springs. 

EC:  What about your next books?

AQ:  Out in November is the totally futuristic book I write as Jayne Castle. It has the Dust Bunnies, pets of the human inhabitants of the planet Harmony. I think they captured the hearts of many fans of this series, and I would not be surprised to see on my tombstone “the creator of the Dust Bunnies.” The book’s title is Vuild Voss.

The Jayne Krentz book is titled Lightning In A Mirror and comes out in January.  It is the third book in the “Fog Lake Trilogy.” It is about a mysterious government project involving psychic experiments.

The Amanda Quick book comes out next May.  I am working on it now.  There will be a new set of characters except for the core characters Raina and Luther. The hero and heroine from previous books could make a cameo appearance but I do not repeat them as characters because their story is settled.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.