#elisesthoughts – Page 24 – Avonna Loves Genres

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Citizen K-9 and Best in Snow by David Rosenfelt

Book Descriptions

Citizen K-9 ‘s plot has a high school friend of the Cold Case Investigative team vanishing. They decide to investigate what happened and are not deterred by threatening incidents. The Paterson Police Department has created a cold case division, and they want to hire the private investigators known as the K Team to investigate the crimes. The team members include Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, German shepherd Simon Garfunkel, recently retired from the force, Laurie Collins, wife of defense attorney Andy Carpenter, who used to be a cop as well, and Marcus, an enforcer type.

Their first cold case hits home for the K Team. A decade ago, at Laurie’s tenth high school reunion, two of their friends vanished. At the time Laurie had just left the force, and Corey was in a different department, so they had no choice but to watch from the sidelines. With no leads, the case went cold. But now they risk their lives to find out what really happened.

Best In Snow has defense attorney Andy Carpenter’s golden retriever, Tara, discovering a body. The murder victim is Mayor Alex Oliva, who had an infamous relationship with the newspaper. Last year a young reporter published an expose and was fired for libel. Now, the young reporter – and prime suspect– has Andy Carpenter agreeing to take the case. As the evidence piles up Andy must get to the truth to prove his client innocent.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Citizen K-9 and Best in Snow by David Rosenfelt have dogs in the background. The former movie executive turned author knows how to create a plot that has a good mystery, some action, and likeable characters. These two series usually come out every year. The “Andy Carpenter series” is more of a legal thriller, while the “Citizen K-9” series delves into Cold Cases and is a spin-off with many characters overlapping between series.

Both these books have an entertaining cast of characters, lots of plot twists and turns, humor, wit, surprises, court room drama, and suspense. Readers will enjoy these reads.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Role of the dogs?

David Rosenfelt: In the Andy Carpenter books they are just pets, although they do find bodies. They are not crucial to the books. In the Citizen K-9 books the dog has a role being a former police dog. One of the books, Play Dead, had a dog that was integral to the plot. For the first time they put a dog on the cover. It sold like twice as many copies because there was a Golden Retriever on the cover. With dogs on the cover there had to be dogs in the book. Usually, a dog gets Andy into the case.

EC: Is Citizen K-9 a spinoff of the Andy Carpenter series?

DF: Yes. It is a third in a series. For some bizarre reason they are selling well so there will be more stories. Laurie, Andy’s wife, a retired police person, works with others to solve cold cases. I never have a eureka moment with ideas. The Andy Carpenter books are legal thrillers, and this book is a conventional thriller with some humor.

EC: The retired police dog is named Simon Garfunkel–are you a fan?

DF: Yes, but that is not why I gave the dog that name. I used the name because I am into dog rescue benefits. I had a character name auctioned off. The person who won the auction wanted their dog’s name, Simon Garfunkel, to be used in the book. Since I liked the name, I used it.

EC: Do you want to tell us about the dog rescue?

DF: Yes. Andy Carpenter started a dog rescue in the second book of that series. My wife and I started a dog rescue while living in California after our wonderful Golden Retriever, Tara, died. We started volunteering in the Los Angeles animal shelters, which are horrible. We did not want to see dogs put down, so we started our own foundation. We ended up rescuing 4,000 dogs. If one of the dogs was unplaceable they came home as our pet. We never had less than twenty-five dogs in our house. We are dog maniacs. Right now, we have thirteen because the rescue shelters in New England are terrific.

EC: Did you have any bad experiences?

DF: Once, a year and a half collie mix came into the shelter with a broken leg. Nobody would fix it, and nobody would adopt her because of her leg. Someone working there had moved the dog from cage to cage so her management thought it a different dog. She brought the dog to a vet. We rescued that dog. She was the greatest dog we had for fourteen years.

EC: How would you describe Corey, a former police dog handler, now a PI and part of the Cold Case Investigative team. He is the main character in your Canine series books.

DF: He had an occasional temper. I was looking for different personality traits from Andy. He is courageous. He likes to be a rule follower. The means is far more important than the end to him.

EC: What about Andy from the Best in Snow book?

DF: Andy is me. He thinks like I do, and we are in the same world. He has a warped sense of humor like me. He believes the end justifies the means. He is independent, sarcastic, sometimes obnoxiously badgering, no understanding of women. He became wealthy in book 1.

EC: How would you describe Laurie, his wife and now PI?

DF: No nonsense, direct, doesn’t take any gruff. She does have a soft side. She is very protective of Andy. In book 4 she received this offer and was pondering leaving Andy. In book 6 and book 7 I brought her back and put them together.

EC: Where did Marcus, the enforcer, come from?

DF: I probably ripped him off from Hawk of the Spencer books. Marcus evolved. He has a lot of idiosyncrasies. He has this whole other life that Andy does not know about. In this book Marcus speaks for the first time. He loves classical movies. No one knew he is married and has a child.

EC: Next book(s)?

DF: Holy Chow is the next book, coming out in July of this year. A woman rescued a dog from Andy, and she is murdered. The other book is titled Santa’s Little Yelpers, a Christmas book coming out in October. In this book Andy represents someone.

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 Darkest Place by Phillip Margolin

Book Description

Robin Lockwood is an increasingly prominent defense attorney in the Portland community. A Yale graduate and former MMA fighter, she’s becoming known for her string of innovative and successful defense strategies. As a favor to a judge, Robin takes on the pro bono defense of a reprehensible defendant charged with even more reprehensible crimes. But what she doesn’t know—what she can’t know—is how this one decision, this one case, will wreak complete devastation on her life and plans.

As she recovers from those consequences, Robin heads home to her small town of Elk Grove and the bosom of her family. As she tries to recuperate, a unique legal challenge presents itself—Marjorie Loman, a surrogate, is accused of kidnapping the baby she carried for another couple, and assaulting that couple in the process. There’s no question that she committed these actions but that’s not the same as being guilty of the crime. As Robin works to defend her client, she learns that Marjorie Loman has been hiding under a fake identity and is facing a warrant for her arrest for another, even more serious crime. And buried within the truth may once again be unexpected, deadly consequences.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Darkest Place by Phillip Margolin brings the reader right into the courtroom. As a former defense attorney, he uses his personal experience to create a suspenseful trial. There he explores the two sides of the Shaken Baby Syndrome and if postpartum psychosis really causes paranoid delusions.

The title plays into the personal story of the main character, Robin Lockwood, when she suffers a devasting loss. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows they can go down to a very dark place. The impact on Robin’s life has brought on depression. She goes home to gain solace from her mother who chastises her and reminds her that she was a prominent defense attorney, Yale graduate, and a former MMA fighter. Her mother sympathizes with Robin’s loss but knows she must make a new life for herself.

As she is recovering, she is asked to assist on a case in her hometown. It involves the defendant being accused of kidnapping, abusing a baby, and assaulting a couple. Marjorie Loman is accused of kidnapping the baby for whom she was a surrogate and assaulting the adoptive parents. Working on her defense Robin gets experts to disavow the Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Robin also discovers that Marjorie has an arrest warrant back in Oregon in connection with the torture and murder of her husband, Joel, with whom she was involved in a contentious divorce and who had wiped out their joint bank accounts. Joel also had been embezzling millions from his company and was being threatened by gangsters.

This story has it all including kidnapping, murder, assault, surrogacy, shaken baby syndrome, theft, divorce, postpartum depression, embezzlement, and stolen identity. Margolin puts some twists in to make the story even more interesting.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Phil Margolin: The Oregon Criminal Defense Organization is a fabulous group that I have been a member of for centuries. Even though I stopped practicing law in 1996 I stayed a member. They have seminars. There was one on junk science which fascinates me. One of the lectures is about the Shaken Baby Syndrome. Because there are two sides, I wanted to write a trial about it where both sides are put on display. I also wanted to have Robin return home to her roots.

EC: Can you describe the Shaken Baby Syndrome?

PM: It is a child who might have brain damage. But there are no bruises on them. No broken bones. How is it explained? After reading about it, I do not think it should be used in court. No one can have any scientific proof because it can never be done. The biomechanical experiments showed that no one can generate enough force to cause those types of injuries. Scientific theory should never be used, and this one can never be tested with actual children. Of course, babies should not be shaken, but that is not the question. What must be asked, will the severity of the shaking cause injuries?

EC: How would you describe Robin?

PM: This is my seventh book with her. All are stand alone. In my first book, she was a young lawyer who gets a dream job with a brilliant attorney that shows signs of dementia. She used to be a professional fighter. She grows up with older brothers who are wrestlers. Robin is brilliant. Now she is grief stricken, depressed, and a survivor.

EC: You also lost a loved one?

PM: Yes, my first wife Doreen. I went through a horrible of 2.5 years being miserable, depressed, and missed her a lot. She was gorgeous, brilliant, and the nicest person. There is not a day goes by that I do not think of her. I am now remarried to Melanie, getting very lucky. She is incredibly smart and built a business into a multi dollar corporation. Yes, I did use a lot of my own feelings.

EC: How would you describe Marjorie, the antagonist?

PM: Hardened, angry, a manipulator, and shows no remorse. She does have this postpartum psychosis after she gives birth to the baby, and it is taken away from her.

EC: Why the Perry Mason reference?

PM: My editor thought it would be interesting to use. This is from my background. I devoured all the adult murder mysteries in elementary school. I read almost every Perry Mason book and decided then I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. It was easy to put into Robin’s background. Her mother watches reruns and now appreciates what Robin does after seeing her in action.

EC: What about the next book?

PM: It will also be a Robin book. It opens with her having a nightmare and struggling with her loss. Then it jumps to a key witness admitting he did the murder to his lawyer. The lawyer knows there is a guy rotting on death row who is innocent but cannot do anything about it because it was a confidential communication. It comes out in November and is titled Murder at Black Oaks. The wife of this lawyer is very wealthy. She recreated a manor house with secret passages and dungeons. Everyone there including Robin and her investigator are sealed off because of mud slides. They found someone stabbed to death in the caged elevator.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Cowboy Meets His Match by Melinda Curtis

Book Description

She could never love a cowboy
Until she does…

Racing boat captain Olivia Monroe never imagined breaking up with the ocean and starting a fake relationship with too-charming cowboy Rhett Diaz. Now her family’s insisting Olivia and Rhett take an adventurous road trip as a “couple.” Only somewhere between zip-lining and rappelling down a waterfall, Olivia’s rediscovering her courage—and dangerous new feelings for Rhett. But how can a sailor love a landlocked cowboy…especially one with secrets?

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Cowboy Meets His Match shows why Melinda Curtis writes great wholesome romances with a lot of humor. Besides romance, this story is about family, second chances, love, compassion, and finding oneself by making new beginnings.

All three main characters, Olivia Monroe, Rhett Diaz, and Sonny are struggling with the direction of their futures, which is why they agree to go on a road trip together.

It all started after Olivia, a famous racing boat captain and champion, had her boat capsized. She is now hiding out with her cousins in Second Chance, Idaho, struggling to find her courage and leave her fears behind. She has hired Sonny, a sports psychologist, to help her regain her self-confidence. But things do not go as planned after she impulsively kisses a handsome former rodeo star turned rancher, Rhett. Her cousins see this and fall for the pretense that Rhett and Olivia are a couple. They promise to invest in a new extreme sports company if he takes Olivia and Sonny on a road trip.

Together the three go on a trip to try out different adventures. Because of a bet between Sonny and Rhett, Olivia is forced to make choices of which extreme sport they will try. This includes zip lining, mountain bike trails, hang gliding with eagles, and rappelling down a waterfall. After each thrill ride it appears that the fake relationship between Olivia and Rhett is turning real.

Per usual, Melinda Curtis does not disappoint. This story of finding one’s inner strength and overcoming fears whether physical or emotional is a great read.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for this story

Melinda Curtis: I knew that I wanted to write about a racing boat captain who had a near death experience and then lost her nerve. She needs to rebuild and retool her life. I wanted a hero that was a good match to her. I did not see her recovery helped by a regular rodeo or ranch cowboy. I added the thrill seeker element to test her courage and limits.

EC: Did you do any of the extreme adventures you wrote about?

MC: No way! In my youth I was a bit more courageous. But as I grew older, I find myself being more careful. I literally married someone who does not like horror movies or roller coasters, so I have stopped even going on them when we go to amusement parks. This is how far I have fallen.

EC: How did you chose the adventures?

MC: I did some research and had some friends who mountain bike. My children have done zip lining, so I asked them about their experiences. I did Google thrill seeking and found rappelling down a waterfall, which I thought was nuts. I found it fascinating to get into the psychology of people that do it. I thought about putting in hang gliding from the times I was younger and flew with my father who piloted small planes.

EC: How did you write the scenes about “getting back into the saddle?”

MC: I was in a car accident when I was eighteen where I was hit by a drunk driver. The car turned over and landed on top of a fire hydrant. I was amazed that nothing happened to me. Thankfully, I had my seat belt on. Yet, I could not drive for a while. I did not have a scratch on me but mentally it was horrifying.

EC: How would you describe Olivia before and after the accident?

MC: Before: She was a little too full of herself. I have heard elite athletes talk and wondered where is their humility? This is how she was. She had the feeling nothing will happen to her. In a previous book she was not a very good sister. Olivia was headstrong, only thought of her career, determined, independent, and assertive.

After: She was lost and was searching for her old self. She was going through a process that in the next stage of her life who was she going to be and who did she want to be, having a character growth. She got in touch with her softer side and was able to relate to people better. Olivia did doubt herself.

EC: How would you describe Rhett?

MC: A headstrong cowboy who decided to step back. He is also searching for his future. He is willing to compromise his morals to get what he wants out of life. He took Olivia on this trip on a misdirection. Rhett is kind, caring, protective, a risk taker, teaser, and an adrenaline junky. He tried to charm ladies.

EC: What about the relationship?

MC: It is alpha to alpha. She was a very strong powerful woman. On some level they understand each other. She is his platform where he can spring from. He encouraged her to go and do these adventures. She gave him a sense of a true partnership. He liked to push her buttons because she constantly put-up fences that he wanted to tear down.

EC: What about Sonny, her sports psychologist?

MC: He is a whack-a-doodle. Like Rhett and Olivia, he is trying to reinvent himself and find his next act. He decides to express his softness through his love of baby goats. Sonny is her surrogate, father-figure, cheerleader, and mentor. He pushes her also.

EC: Why goats?

MC: Growing up I did live on a sheep ranch. I was looking for something enduring, yet, comedic. I wanted something warm and cuddly where Olivia would hold it and have a breakdown moment with tears falling.

EC: Next book?

MC: It is called Healing the Rancher that comes out in May. It is a “Beauty and the Beast” type of story. The heroine is a social media manager who wants to land an account with a beef supplier chain, like “In and Out.” She is a princess type that needs to be with the client on a ranch. The hero is gruff on the outside.

In August will be my next Harlequin. It is going to be a Thanksgiving book titled A Cowboy Thanksgiving. It is book twelve in the “Monroe series” that wraps everything up. There are a lot of themes of family. The bounty of the harvest is upon us. Also, in August due to come out is the third in an anthology I write with three other authors.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: A Killer View by Roy Johansen

Book Description

Kendra Michaels, blind before gaining her sight via a revolutionary surgical procedure, offers her razor-sharp senses to assist her friend Jessie Mercado in a baffling case. An army vet and former bodyguard for the rich and famous, Jessie has faced all kinds of danger but one thing the motorcycle-riding private investigator has never encountered before is an incarceration consultant.

Preparing wealthy people to go to prison is big business. When Owen Blake of Mamertine Consulting hires Mercado to find his missing partner, their suspect list is filled with recently released white-collar criminals, a few drug kingpins, and a couple of murderers to keep things interesting.

As witnesses turn up dead and car chases leave destruction in their wake, Jessie and Kendra learn just how far someone will go to keep the fate of one man hidden. But why? Together they must hunt down the lethal secrets of Blake’s company, hell-bent on staying one step ahead of disaster.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Killer View by Roy Johansen is a spinoff from the bestselling Kendra Michaels series he writes with the legendary author, Iris Johansen, who happens to be his mom. He has gone solo in writing Jessie Mercado’s story, a private investigator who is a friend and colleague of Kendra.

Kendra Michaels is a San Diego music therapist who uses her powers of observation and deduction to help law enforcement investigators solve cases. In the Michaels’ series Jessie helps in solving some crimes using her own rules.

This bookhas Kendra introducing Jessie to a new client. Owen Blake is the co-owner of an incarceration consultancy, which handles financial and personal needs for people serving prison time. After he hires her to find his missing partner, Jessie becomes suspicious that something bad has happened to the partner. She realizes the suspect list is filled with former and current clients including white-collar criminals, a few drug kingpins, and a couple of murderers to keep things interesting. She’s assisted by her new boyfriend, Jake Brice, considered “the hottest actor on the planet,” who puts the skills he has honed working on Marvel Superhero movies. Together they must hunt down the lethal secrets of Blake’s company, hell-bent on staying one step ahead of disaster.

Readers get to know Jessie’s backstory better. They meet her father, James, a veteran, and her “boyfriend” Jake Brice. In the last couple of chapter Kendra is front and center as she helps Jessie solve the case by using her sensory magic.

This is a fast-paced action-packed story. The plot has humor, charm, and suspense, with a smidge of romance.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Roy Johansen: I read an article about a former suspect in a murder investigation who ran a service to help with the logistics of those going to prison. A lot of white-collar people who committed crimes will use someone like that, but also well financed thugs. It is different from person to person regarding the services offered. I had Jessie, a private investigator, have one of her clients who has a similar company, Personal Incarceration Consultant.

EC: How would you describe Jessie Mercado’s resume?

RJ: She has a very colorful past including a war hero in Afghanistan, found fame on this athletic game show, like “American Ninjas,” and became the head of security for a very famous pop star, all this before becoming a PI. Her father is also a veteran.

EC: How would describe her personality?

RJ: Independent, competitive, takes initiative, smart, headstrong, takes risks including driving her motorcycle, very loyal, strong physically and mentally, basically Wonder Woman and Electra. I guess I had DC and Marvel covered.

EC: How about Brice?

RJ: He was a veteran who was tortured in Afghanistan. His new career is a major movie star. He has a sense of humor, independent, determined, persuasive, protective, thoughtful, and sociable. He and Jessie have a lot in common. All these traits also apply to her.

EC: What about the white streak in his hair?

RJ: The white streak in his hair developed after his military service. It is more psychological from his time in the military. It is now a trademark of his. It will be explored more in later books. In a way it is almost a badge of honor for him.

EC: Do they have a relationship?

RJ: They connected originally since they both are US war veterans who fought in Afghanistan. They have mutual respect. He sees in Jessie a lot of his former life. He has a lot of affection and love for her. She cares for him even though she is more hesitant and guarded about stepping into a relationship. She is not ready to admit to herself the way she cares for him. There is more to explore here in future books.

EC: Cameo appearances by Kendra Michaels?

RJ: Kendra plays a significant part in helping crack the mystery. She worked her magic of deductions. She is only in the beginning of the book for a little while, but in the latter part of the book she and Jessie become a team to solve this case. I wanted to take Kendra out of the story for a chunk of the time, so readers get to know Jessie better and those in her life.

EC: You also brought back Delilah (Dee) Winter?

RJ: In the last Kendra book, Blink of an Eye, Dee was kidnapped. In this book, Dee feels the need to keep Jessie safe. I like the relationship between Jessie and Dee. There is a vulnerability there where Jessie is very protective of her. By having Dee around shows the softer side of Jessie, who thinks of herself as Dee’s older sister.

EC: There are a lot of Los Angeles restaurants mentioned in this book?

RJ: Yes. I think because a lot of it was written during the early days of the pandemic when everything was closed. It was my way of visiting them. I did a short video featuring some of these LA restaurants. It is on You-tube and my website.

EC: Next book?

RJ: There will be a new Kendra Michaels book out early next year. It is titled, More Than Meets the Eye. Jessie is not in this one. But characters from previous books are facing some peril. Usually Kendra is a reluctant sleuth, but in this one she goes full tilt to save those who she cares about. There will be a series for Jessie and the next Jessie book will be out in a few years. The next story is hinted at the end of this book.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Lightening Rod by Brad Meltzer

Book Description

Zig and Nola are back in this follow-up to The Escape Artist.

Archie Mint has a secret that he is hiding from his friends and family. To the public, he looks like the perfect husband and father to his son and daughter and is known for his distinguished for his Military Career.

When Archie is shot in his own home things take a huge turn and we suddenly this man has been hiding military secrets nobody could have imagined.

Mortician Zig uncovers some things that were not meant to be found. He goes to the secret unit and uncovers things along with artist, Nola (who saved his life in the first book).

Following her trail, he finds a hidden military base that dates back to the cold war. He learns about a group of military people willing to hide things about the security and safety of the United States.

Zig is not sure who he can trust as many suspects seem to turn up dead. Will he and Nola be able to find and secure our safety of us?

Yes, we all know that Nola is in fact the actual lightning rod. You will not be able to put it down once you start. Surprises till the last page.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer mixes a suspenseful plot with unique characters. What starts off as a thriller whodunit, quickly transitions into a conspiracy theory. Meltzer’s been writing for 25 years but his books keep getting better and better. This story has a game of cat and mouse, danger at every turn, and deep US government secrets.

The book opens with a car theft that quickly turns into a murder after Colonel Archie Mint is killed outside his suburban Pennsylvania home in a supposed home robbery. Jim “Zig” Zigarowski, a mortician who formerly worked at Dover Air Force Base, is called in to conceal Mint’s injuries for the sake of his family. But at the viewing, things happen that make him suspect that not everything is as it should be. When Zig spots Nola Brown at Mint’s funeral he becomes more suspicious. As a former military artist, Nola was called upon not only to paint historic events, but to spot critical things that others missed. Now, for unknown reasons, she’s hunting the people who killed Mint. During the investigation, it is discovered that Mint was connected to a hidden military facility known as Grandma’s Pantry, one of many US government top-secret warehouses across the country dealing with repercussions of a biological attack.

There is also the mystery of Rodney, Nola’s twin brother, who is looking for her. Although volatile, he wants to find her before some would-be-assassins known as the Reds. Joining up with Zig is the only way he will find Nola, so he is also pulled into the investigation.

This story has it all, more plot twists, conspiracies, and action. Meltzer also writes children’s books that will include superheroes Superman and Batman. But in The Lightning Rod, he has created his own superheroes that don’t have any super qualities but have super investigative skills that make for a super story.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: What gave you the vision to write this story?

Brad Meltzer: This idea started with my own fears. I hand my car keys to a valet. They take the car, hit the GPS button, and go to my house. This is a robbery. This is my fear every time I park my car. The story evolves from there, when it is not a robbery at all, but a trap. I really wanted to base the story on the characters, Nola, and Zig, who I am bringing back from the previous book, The Escape Artist. I have more to say about them including having Nola’s greatest secret come out.

EC: What is the theme of this book?

BM: It is a story about dysfunctional families. Some of the new families we form can also be dysfunctional. Zig is someone who will never have what he wants most in the world, to have his daughter back. Nola will never have her father, which is what she wants most. Neither will have what they want, but instead have each other. Now each must build something in that space.

EC: This is your twenty-fifth year as a writer?

BM: Yes. Every day I think how I write things differently today. When I was twenty-five, I used to write about those characters of that age. When I got married, I started to write about married people. When I had children, I stared to write kids’ books. Now I am writing about someone who loves their daughter. All I do as a writer is follow my own life and tell my own story. The reality is I never want to know the ending. The best way to ruin a good story is to know the ending.

EC: Do your characters take a journey with you?

BM: I do not know if I am a better writer, but I am a more honest one. After I buried my parents, one of my heroes is a mortician. I cannot be more obsessed with death. I used to hide myself and hide from myself, and this book is about how the best secrets are ones that people hide from themselves.

EC: How would you describe Nola?

BM: Nola’s profession is based on a real job in the military. Since WWI the army has a painter on staff who paints disasters when they happen, from Normandy to 9/11. I love the idea that she is a strong thrill-seeking insane woman who races into disasters with paint brushes to tell a story. She likes to fight back, does not play well with others, has a nobility about her, and fights for injustice. The psychological report on her is that she has RAD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, where she is incapable of attachments or loving relationships. The readers should challenge whether this evaluation is correct. She can handle murder and violence, but not kindness and personal tragedy. This does not mean she can make a little progress.

EC: Nola is a lightning rod?

BM: There is a quote in the book that describes her as a gun and people must be careful around her because she will go off. Just as with a lightning rod, trouble does find her like a black cat. I love that about her, and it makes it interesting.

EC: Zig and Nola have different views?

BM: She believes that to make sense of the world it should be grabbed by the throat and forced to make sense. Zig believes if there is more kindness and generosity in the world it will be a better place. They’re both completely right and both completely wrong. It takes both things working together to make any real difference. Zig’s idea is completely naïve, but it is worth fighting for. Nola’s idea is completely brutal, but it is worth fighting for. This is me, writing the two sides of myself, both the hopeful and cynical side of myself. Just like myself the characters need to do that job.

EC: What about Nola’s brother Rodney?

BM: He is a walking question mark. He was a bad kid but is he a bad adult? Is he a villain or not? For the first time I wanted to delve into the bad guy aspect. He is weird, socially awkward, with non-existent social skills, detailed, and on his own plane. He has no filters, ferocious, and at times violent. The key part of him is that there is good Rodney and bad Rodney.

EC: Rodney represents those who might consider themselves good but do bad things?

BM: Sometimes people are in-between, not totally good, or bad. I put in this book quote, “We all have a person we were and a person we are. It’s never a straight line between the two – and its certainly never a predictable one.” Every character in this book is designed around this quote and the quote in the beginning of the book by Carl Jung, “In each of us there is another, whom we do not know”.

EC: What about the biological weapons? You must have a crystal ball considering we learned about the US labs in the Ukraine?

BM: The book has these secret warehouses across the country that deal with bioterrorist attacks. The US can bring these antidotes within hours to our doorstep. The warehouses are hidden across the country, so nobody knows where they are. I want to go inside them. I did not make up what is inside them. Grandma’s Pantry was one of those that has a national stockpile that would prepare us in case there’s a bio-terror attack, whether it’s smallpox or anthrax or anything else.”

EC: Next book?

BM: It will be a Nola, Zig, and Rodney book. It takes me a while to write, a couple of years at a minimum for sure. I will be writing children’s books, I Am IM Pei, I Am Dolly Parton, coming out in June. Coming out in September I Am Superman, and I Am Batman. In January of 2023 will be a non- fiction book about a secret plot to kill Winston Churchill, Stalin, and FDR, a triple assassination. It is titled, The Nazi Conspiracy.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Lana’s War and A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel

Elise’s Thoughts

Lana’s War and A Girl During the War by Anita Abriel are heartfelt reads. The stories take place during World War II, the former in France and the latter in Italy. Both books are filled with danger and romance.

Lana’s War begins with a tragedy. In Paris 1943 Lana Antanova is about to tell her husband, Frederick they are going to have a baby when she sees him brutally shot dead by a Gestapo agent. To make matters worse, she loses the child. Knowing she can no longer sit idly by she accepts an offer to join the resistance. As the daughter of a Russian countess, Lana has the perfect background to infiltrate the émigré community of Russian aristocrats in the French Riviera, and socialize with German officers, including the man who killed her husband. Her cover story, being the mistress of Guy Pascal, a wealthy Swiss industrialist and fellow resistance member, allows her to move smoothly throughout the area. Together they gather information on upcoming raids and help members of the Jewish community escape. She has grown attached to a young Jewish girl, Odette, who ends up losing her parents. Both Lana and Guy go to great lengths to protect Odette and protect each other.

A Girl During the War also has a young heroine risking her life to save others as well as valuable paintings. Taking place in Italy 1943, Marina Tozzi comes home to find her father brutally killed by the Nazis. Fearful of the consequences, Marina flees to Villa I Tatti, the Florence villa of her father’s American friend Bernard Berenson and his partner Belle da Costa Greene, the famed librarian who once curated J.P. Morgan’s library. Marina, an art expert, uses her expertise to save valuable pieces and uses her contacts to save a Jewish family. A neighbor, Carlos Adamo, uses his charm to sweep Marina off her feet. But after he disappears at the war ends, she must make a new life without him, traveling to Argentina to help an organization return paintings to their rightful owners.

Both books allow readers to take a journey with these heroic women. The tales of survival and second chances will have people feeling the same emotions as the characters: anxiety, fear, and even sometimes joy.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: You write World War II books?

Anita Abriel: The Light After the War, which came out two years ago, is the one readers connected with. It is my mother’s story. It is a moving book because my mother escaped from a train heading toward Auschwitz with her seventeen-year-old friend. They ended up in Maples, tried to get to Ellis Island but were rejected, from there went to Venezuela, and ended up in Australia where I was born. It is all based on fact. This is when I started to write historical fiction. My second book is Lana’s War and then in March my third book came out, A Girl During the War.

EC: In these three books there is always something about the Jewish peril during the war?

AA: I write these because of my background. I am Jewish. My parents who survived the Holocaust are Jewish. My father’s parents died in a concentration camp. I grew up in Sydney Australia. My mother was a little afraid because of everything that happened to her. My father escaped by fighting in the Red Army. He was extremely Jewish.

EC: The idea for Lana’s War?

AA: I wanted to write another story set during the Holocaust. My mother always talked about the French Riviera. As I was looking online, I saw a plaque in front of a hotel in Nice France saying, “this is where the Gestapo had its headquarters.” For a long time, this was a safe place for Jews until the Nazis occupied it in the last years of the war. Then they were sent to concentration camps. Gestapo Agent Alois Brunner is a real person.

EC: How would you describe Lana?

AA: She is very brave, caring, and gave up a soft life in Paris to join the resistance to put herself in great danger. It is unfathomable about what she went through. While she was grieving, at the same time, she was fearless.

EC: Lana’s first husband, Frederick. Can you describe him?

AA: Frederick is very straight-forward, honest, courageous, and wanted to get involved.

EC: How would you describe the resistance member, Guy?

AA: Guy wanted revenge, very noble, courageous, and sophisticated. His relationship with her was complicated. Lana was not very fond of his manners. He was very authoritarian, bossy, opinionated, and initially did not give her any respect.

EC: How would you describe Lana’s relationship with Frederick versus Guy?

AA: With Guy she was more of an equal. She also wanted revenge. They were very focused on their mission. Their relationship was complicated. Frederick always tried to protect her until he was killed. He was Lana’s first great love, very sweet and innocent, a gentleman.

EC: The role of Odette?

AA: She was a twelve-year-old who represented all those children that were incredibly harmed and scarred by the war. As a child, Odette wanted to return to normalcy, instead of having to hide all the time. She saw her father killed by the Nazis and then she was told about the Nazis killing her mother. Odette had a quote in the book, “If all the Jews ran away the Germans would succeed, what Hitler tried to accomplish. I am French. This is where I belong.” She said this because she wanted to hang on to her identity and not lose it. Very common among the children was that they were wiser than their years and had to grow up too fast.

EC: You also refer to real-life figures such as Coco Chanel?

AA: Some people felt she had to work with the Nazis, while others felt she could have left. Now people think she was a collaborator.

EC: A Girl During the War changes the setting from France to Italy?

AA: A lot of this book is true. I stumbled on the story because I really love Florence Italy. The Ponte Vecchio was the only bridge that was not blown up during the war because it was saved by the German council. I wondered why he did it. I found out information about certain characters such as Ludwig who was a head art historian in Italy. During my research I found out about the Villa I Tatti, where scholars now go to learn about Renaissance art. Bernard and Belle da Costa are also real people and were lovers.

EC: How would you describe Marina?

AA: She is the heroine of the story. Younger and less sophisticated than Lana. She was very protected and attached to her father who was killed by the Nazis. She travels and stays with Bernard. This book is her journey in the middle of a war. I think she probably had PTSD because she found her father’s body and knew had she arrived home a few minutes earlier she could have also been killed. She is also serious, lonely, angry, guarded, and trying to make sense of the war.

EC: How would you describe Carlos versus Luc?

AA: I do not like Carlos. He is despicable. He knows he is good looking and does not love anyone like he loves himself. He is self-centered. He has a magnetic personality and confidant. Luc is the direct opposite, a sweet and a caring person. After the war he tried to return the art to their rightful owners.

EC: Relationship?

AA: Carlos, her lover, is attractive, interesting, and edgy. He does not give her what she needs, to fill her emptiness.

EC: In both books you have children angry at the situation they are placed in?

AA: In this one it is Eli and in the other one is Odette. I cannot imagine how they can be anything other than angry. Eli is a good-looking young Italian male who had a promising life. Instead, he sees death and is held prisoner having to hide in a barn. His little sister cannot even go outside.

EC: In both books’ art plays a role?

AA: I had a quote in this book, “Art is not always about the painting itself, it’s about the joy of sharing important pieces with others.” Art lasts centuries and brings people together. Everybody has their own opinions and ideas. It takes on a life of its own. Therefore, it is horrible to think of what was lost or could have been lost during the war. Bernard and Marina in both books risked their lives because they saw the value of art.

EC: What was real and what was made up?

AA: There were some real artists, such as Giorgione. But I did make up that famous picture by Verrocchio who was a real artist. There are very few of his paintings left. As far as copies I made it up, but I am sure it happened.

EC: What about your next books?

AA: My next book will be historical fiction, out next year sometime. I am not ready to talk about it yet. I also write Christmas books under the name Anita Hughes, with the latest coming out in September, titled Christmas at The Ranch. It is about a heroine who rarely leaves her neighborhood, but her editor has her go to Jackson Hole Wyoming.

THANK YOU!!

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Elise’s Author Interview