Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Mini Book Reviews for book #2 HighStakes and Book #3 High Ground in the High Mountain Trackers series. These books not only feature two hot alpha heroes but also the two Freling sisters who captured their hearts.
Below you will find the book descriptions, the mini book reviews, the author’s bio and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book #2 Description
When her sister, Pippa, goes missing, Nella Freling tells her boss she’s taking time off from her job as a research librarian, hops in her sensible van, and heads south of the border to Montana. However, local police don’t seem too concerned about a missing woman living in her motorhome. So Nella will have to look for Pippa by herself, unless she can convince a highly recommended tracker to help her, but sadly the rude and angry cowboy won’t even listen to her at first. But Nella can be persuasive.
The first time High Mountain Tracker, Fletch Boone, laid eyes on Nella, her ass was stuck in his grocery cart. The next time was at the ranch; she was wearing mud, head to toe. But when he catches sight of her a third time, hanging off a cliff, he can’t turn his back again. What Nella lacks in survival skills she makes up for in sheer determination. Unfortunately, neither of those is enough protection when bullets start flying.
Fletch has no choice but to jump in before the woman gets herself killed. And that would be a damn shame.
As Nella and Fletch search for the missing sister, Fletch has his hands full with the head-strong Nella who will do anything to find her sister even as she places herself in danger.
This book is another exciting romantic suspense in the High Mountain Trackers series. Nella and Fletch have a slow burn romance intertwined in a search and rescue and crime suspense plot that is full of twists. I found Nella and Fletch to be believable in their dance from self-protection to trust and love. All the characters from book one are back to watch Mr. Grumpy fall and provide some entertaining dialogue. This is a cast of characters that pull you right into their stories and I cannot wait for more.
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Book #3 Description
Not much has gone according to plan for mechanic, Pippa Freling, recently. With lots of bridges burned behind her, she decides to stick close to her sister and give Montana a try.
Things are looking up when she joins a local group of animal activists, buys an auto shop for a steal, and even tries her luck with the opposite sex. But it doesn’t take long before her hopeful new future is derailed once again. This time permanently.
Maintaining tight control is the stronghold in Sully Eckhart’s life. It served him well during his years in special forces and has kept him out of trouble since. But his self-restraint stretches only so far whenever he finds himself faced with the one woman who has the ability to shake his determination. A woman he’s tried to avoid for months—since the first time she shook his resolve—but who now finds herself in the middle of a serial murder case.
However, when she not only ends up a person of interest to the FBI, but firmly in the crosshairs of a killer, he has no other option but to stick close. And give up all control.
Pippa finds herself being investigated as a person of interest by the FBI in a serial murder case. She has more on her plate than she can handle by herself and when the solitary Sully finds out about the news she has yet to share, he refuses to leave her side. As Pippa and Sully learn to share all aspects of their lives, their future life together is being endangered.
The High Mountain Trackers series of romantic suspense books never disappoint. Pippa and Sully are both so independent and I enjoyed their journey to becoming a couple. I loved the way both had to learn to give and take and how they did what was right for them without worrying what others felt about their choices. There is always crossover between the books in the series, but there is even more in this book due to Nella, Pippa’s sister’s pregnancy and delivery and the entire team assisting in the serial murder case. There are several plotlines in this story, but all are answered by the HEA. The sex scenes are steamy and explicit, but not gratuitous. This series has mature heroes and heroines, and the author deals with their personal problems in an adult manner and does not hesitate to give them mature love lives, also.
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Author Bio
USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.
Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!
When you’ve already died, there should be nothing left to fear… When Adam Ramsdell pulls Elle’s half-frozen body from the surf on a lonely California beach, she has no memory of what her full name is and how she got those bruises ringing her throat.
GIRL LAST SEEN
Elle finds refuge in Adam’s home on the edge of Gothic, a remote village located between the steep lonely mountains and the raging Pacific Ocean. As flashes of her memory return, Elle faces a terrible truth—buried in her mind lurks a secret so dark it could get her killed.
POINT LAST SEEN
Everyone in Gothic seems to hide a dark past. Even Adam knows more than he will admit. Until Elle can unravel the truth, she doesn’t know who to trust, when to run and who else might be hurt when the killer who stalks her nightmares appears to finish what he started…
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Elise’s Thoughts
Point Last Seen by Christina Dodd blends mystery, action, with a tinge of romance. With her descriptive words she takes readers to the setting of Gothic, off the Big Sur coast. This first in a new series has well developed characters and an intense plot where the setting plays a major role since everyone there has a dark past.
Readers meet Adam Ramsdell, a town recluse by his own choosing. He likes to keep to himself until one of the town’s residents needs help. One of the occupants, Madam Rune, a fortune teller, alerts him that he will find “a lost soul coming to challenge his being.” While at the ocean he finds a body wrapped in plastic. As he carries her over his shoulder Elle starts breathing. Realizing she is not dead he takes her to his place for refuge since she is badly bruised, and it appears she was strangled. Unfortunately, she cannot remember any details of what happened to her. In the meantime, she grows close to Adam and makes friends with other townspeople forcing Adam to come out of his shell. As her memory slowly comes back with the help of Adam and Madam Rune, they all realize how much danger Elle is in.
Fans of Dodd will not be disappointed. She combines into the story twists, emotions, and an edginess that will keep readers turning the pages.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Will this be a series?
Christina Dodd: This is the first book set in Gothic. The setting will be the series, not the characters.
EC: The idea for the story?
CD: I was writing a book set on a cruise line and then Covid hit. Because they were shut down, I realized I was in deep trouble. Then I had an idea about a woman rolling up on the beach unconscious. After she awakes, she cannot remember where she is from. I think this idea came to me because I was working with the ocean and the cruise lines. It was written while I was in Covid isolation.
EC: What was the role of the Gothic setting?
CD: It was a character. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and was captivated the first time I went up to Big Sur. This spring my husband and I drove up the coast. I thought how Big Sur seems to be immune to civilization because I wanted a place where people could disappear, and lost souls could come there.
EC: What role did the ocean play?
CD: It creates everything and is very dominant, controlling all the weather. It is so primal and creates atmosphere for the story. One of my earliest memories is standing on a beach and my great aunt said, ‘don’t ever turn your back on the ocean.’ It can be scary and glorious. There are storms, frothy and frosty waves crashing against the rocky cliffs, with different colors, and the great sea breeze. The ocean plays with fate since it brought Adam and Elle together.
EC: How would you describe Elle?
CD: Brilliant but trusted the wrong person. Briefly traumatized. A strong sense of self. She can be resilient, smug, and witty.
EC: How would you describe Adam?
CD: A loner, tragically wounded. I think this is Adam’s story. He has good instincts, very cautious and alert. Protective, stoic, and compassionate. He is grieving and feels guilty.
EC: What about the relationship?
CD: She is Adam’s salvation. Elle makes him interact with people. He ends up terribly invested in her. In the beginning, she is more open to having a relationship than him. He is afraid anyone he cares about will die.
EC: What about the bad guy Penderghast?
CD: He is a bully who enjoys seizing power. His scientific vessel that he financed was a great thing to do. But his personality of being arrogant, cruel, and self-centered overshadows that.
EC: Next book?
CD: It is set in Gothic and titled Forget What You Know, coming out in March of next year. The plot has a car pulled out of a lake with a dead body shot in the head and a precious statue in the back seat. The heroine is a flower breeder, the heir to this statue.
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.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for POINT LAST SEEN (Last Seen in Gothic Book #1) by Christina Dodd on this HQN books blog tour.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
From New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd comes a brand new suspense about a reclusive artist who retrieves a seemingly dead woman from the Pacific Ocean…only to have her come back to life with no memory of what happened to her. With a strong female protagonist, a chilling villain, and twisty secrets that will keep you turning the pages.
LIFE LAST SEEN
When you’ve already died, there should be nothing left to fear… When Adam Ramsdell pulls Elle’s half-frozen body from the surf on a lonely California beach, she has no memory of what her full name is and how she got those bruises ringing her throat.
GIRL LAST SEEN
Elle finds refuge in Adam’s home on the edge of Gothic, a remote village located between the steep lonely mountains and the raging Pacific Ocean. As flashes of her memory return, Elle faces a terrible truth—buried in her mind lurks a secret so dark it could get her killed.
POINT LAST SEEN
Everyone in Gothic seems to hide a dark past. Even Adam knows more than he will admit. Until Elle can unravel the truth, she doesn’t know who to trust, when to run and who else might be hurt when the killer who stalks her nightmares appears to finish what he started…
POINT LAST SEEN (Last Seen in Gothic Book #1) by Christina Dodd is the first action-packed romantic suspense in this new series written with plenty of thrills and quirky inhabitants in the small Pacific coastal town of Gothic.
Adam Ramsdell has found the privacy he seeks in Gothic, CA as he works to turn salvaged metal into works of art and works as an armorer. When the local fortune teller tells Adam he must go the beach, he goes for the peace the ocean brings him but discovers a half-frozen body being tossed out onto the beach. He believes she is dead until he throws her over his shoulder to carry to his ATV and she revives as she brings up the sea water trapped in her lungs.
Elle has no memory of how she ended up on the beach, but she knows she has been strangled, beaten and is deathly afraid of a large dark shadow. As flashes of memory slowly return, she begins to endear herself to the people of Gothic and discover Adam’s secrets. She cannot remember much, but she knows she can trust Adam to protect her.
As Elle works to recover her memory, she doesn’t realize that those out to end her life are near and Adam has his own demons from his past that may well be out for revenge also. Will they be able to survive their pasts for a future together?
There are several plot threads throughout this romantic suspense that all come together to make a wonderful read. Adam is the tortured hero with the difficult past and his transformation from loner to lover was well paced and believable because the town already looked up to him even though he did not acknowledge it. Elle is a strong and determined heroine even without her memory, she asked for the help she needed it, but also stood up for herself. The town’s cast of characters were quirky and added some humor to the story as well as hiding secrets that I hope will be divulged in future books in this series. After the HEA, I assume each new book will have a new H/h and the town’s cast of characters and the location itself is what will be continued in this series. I will be looking forward to more.
This is a romantic suspense that will keep you reading until the very end.
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Excerpt
two
A Morning in February
Gothic, California
The storm off the Pacific had been brutal, a relentless night of cold rain and shrieking wind. Adam Ramsdell had spent the hours working, welding and polishing a tall, heavy, massive piece of sculpture, not hearing the wailing voices that lamented their own passing, not shuddering when he caught sight of his own face in the polished stainless steel. He sweated as he moved swiftly to capture the image he saw in his mind, a clawed monster rising from the deep: beautiful, deadly, dangerous.
And as always, when dawn broke, the storm moved on and he stepped away, he realized he had failed.
Impatient, he shoved the trolley that held the sculpture toward the wall. One of claws swiped his bare chest and proved to him he’d done one thing right: razor-sharp, it opened a long, thin gash in his skin. Blood oozed to the surface. He used his toe to lock the wheels on the trolley, securing the sculpture in case of the occasional California earth tremor.
Then with the swift efficiency of someone who had dealt with minor wounds, his own and others’, he found a clean towel and stanched the flow. Going into the tiny bathroom, he washed the site and used superglue to close the gash. The cut wasn’t deep; it would hold.
He tied on his running shoes and stepped outside into the short, bent, wet grass that covered his acreage. The rosemary hedge that grew at the edge of his front porch released its woody scent. The newly washed sunlight had burned away the fog, and Adam started running uphill toward town, determined to get breakfast, then come home to bed. Now that the sculpture was done and the storm had passed, he needed the bliss of oblivion, the moments of peace sleep could give him.
Yet every year as the Ides of March and the anniversary of his failure approached, nightmares tracked through his sleep and followed him into the light. They were never the same but always a variation on a theme: he had failed, and in two separate incidents, people had died…
The route was all uphill; nevertheless, each step was swift and precise. The sodden grasses bent beneath his running shoes. He never slipped; a man could die from a single slip. He’d always known that, but now, five years later, he knew it in ways he could never forget.
As he ran, he shed the weariness of a long night of cutting, grinding, hammering, polishing. He reached the asphalt and he lengthened his stride, increased his pace.
He ran past the cemetery where a woman knelt to take a chalk etching of a crumbling headstone, past the Gothic Museum run by local historian Freya Goodnight.
The Gothic General Store stood on the outside of the lowest curve of the road. Today the parking lot was empty, the rockers were unoccupied, and the store’s sixteen-year-old clerk lounged in the open door. “How you doing, Mr. Ramsdell?” she called.
He lifted his hand. “Hi, Tamalyn.”
She giggled.
Somehow, on the basis of him waving and remembering her name, she had fallen in love with him. He reminded himself that the dearth of male teens in the area left him little competition, but he could feel her watching him as he ran past the tiny hair salon where Daphne was cutting a local rancher’s hair in the outdoor barber chair.
His body urged him to slow to a walk, but he deliberately pushed himself.
Every time he took a turn, he looked up at Widow’s Peak, the rocky ridge that overshadowed the town, and the Tower, the edifice built by the Swedish silent-film star who in the early 1930s had bought land and created the town to her specifications.
At last he saw his destination, the Live Oak, a four-star restaurant in a one-star town. The three-story building stood at the corner of the highest hairpin turn and housed the eatery and three exclusive suites available for rent.
When Adam arrived he was gasping, sweating, holding his side. Since his return from the Amazon basin, he had never completely recovered his stamina.
Irksome.
At the corner of the building, he turned to look out at the view.
The vista was magnificent: spring-green slopes, wave-battered sea stacks, the ocean’s endless surges, and the horizon that stretched to eternity. During the Gothic jeep tour, Freya always told the tourists that from this point, if a person tripped and fell, that person could tumble all the way to the beach. Which was an exaggeration. Mostly.
Adam used the small towel hooked into his waistband to wipe the sweat off his face. Then disquiet began its slow crawl up his spine.
Someone had him under observation.
He glanced up the grassy hill toward the olive grove and stared. A glint, like someone stood in the trees’ shadows watching with binoculars. Watching him.
No. Not him. A peregrine falcon glided through the shredded clouds, and seagulls cawed and circled. Birders came from all over the word to view the richness of the Big Sur aviary life. As he watched, the glint disappeared. Perhaps the birder had spotted a tufted puffin. Adam felt an uncomfortable amount of relief in that: it showed a level of paranoia to imagine someone was watching him, but…
But. He had learned never to ignore his instincts. The hard way, of course.
He stepped into the restaurant doorway, and from across the restaurant he heard the loud snap of the continental waiter’s fingers and saw the properly suited Ludwig point at a small, isolated table in the back corner. Adam’s usual table.
Before Adam took a second step, he made an inventory of all possible entrances and exits, counted the number of occupants and assessed them as possible threats, and evaluated any available weapons. An old habit, it gave him peace of mind.
Three exits: front door, door to kitchen, door to the upper suites.
Mr. Kulshan sat by the windows, as was his wont. He liked the sun, and he lived to people-watch. Why not? He was in his midnineties. What else had he to do?
In the conference room, behind an open door, reserved for a business breakfast, was a long table with places set for twenty people.
A young couple, tourists by the look of them, held hands on the table and smiled into each other’s eyes.
Nice. Really nice to know young love still existed.
There, her back against the opposite wall, was an actress. Obviously an actress. She had possibly arrived for breakfast, or to stay in one of the suites. Celebrities visits happened often enough that most of the town was blasé, although the occasional scuffle with the paparazzi did lend interest to the village’s tranquil days.
She wasn’t pretty. Her face was too angular, her mouth too wide, her chin too determined. She was reading through a stack of papers and using a marker to highlight and a ballpoint to make notes… And she wore glasses. Not casual I need a little visual assistance glasses. These were Coke-bottle bottoms set in lime-green frames.
Interesting: Why had an actress not had laser surgery? Not that it mattered. Behind those glasses her brown eyes sparked with life, interest and humor, although he didn’t understand how someone could convey all that while never looking up. She had shampoo-commercial hair—long, dark, wavy, shining—and when she caught it in her hand and shoved it over one shoulder, he felt his breath catch.
A gravelly voice interrupted a moment that had gone on too long and revealed too clearly how Adam’s isolation had affected him. “Hey, you. Boy! Come here.” Mr. Kulshan beckoned. Mr. Kulshan, who had once been tall, sturdy and handsome. Then the jaws of old age had seized him, gnawed him down to a bent-shouldered, skinny old man.
Adam lifted a finger to Ludwig, indicating breakfast would have to wait.
Ludwig glowered. Maybe his name was suggestive, but the man looked like Ludwig van Beethoven: rough, wild, wavy hair, dark brooding eyes under bushy eyebrows, pouty lips, cleft in the chin. He seldom talked and never smiled. Most people were afraid of him.
Adam was not. He walked to Mr. Kulshan’s table and took a seat opposite the old man. “What can I do for you, sir?”
“Don’t call me sir. I told you, call me K.H.”
Adam didn’t call people by their first names. That encouraged friendliness.
“If you can’t do that, call me Kulshan.” With his fork, the old guy stabbed a lump of breaded something and handed it to Adam. “What do you think this is?”
Adam had traveled the world, learned to eat what was offered, so he took the fork, sniffed the lump and nibbled a corner. “I believe it’s fried sweetbread.”
Mr. Kulshan made a gagging noise. “My grandmother made us eat sweetbread.” He bit it off the end of the fork. “This isn’t as awful as hers.” With loathing, he said, “This is Frenchie food.”
“Señor Alfonso is Spanish.”
Mr. Kulshan ignored Adam for all he was worth. “Next thing you know, this Alfonso will be scraping snails off the sidewalk and calling it escargots.”
“Actually…” Adam caught the twinkle in Mr. Kulshan’s eyes and stood. “Fine. Pull my chain. I’m going to have breakfast.”
Mr. Kulshan caught his wrist. “Have you heard what Caltrans is doing about the washout?” He referred to the California Department of Transportation and their attempts to repair the Pacific Coast Highway and open it to traffic.
“No. What?”
“Nothing!” Mr. Kulshan cackled wildly, then nodded at the actress. “The girl. Isn’t she something? Built like a brick shithouse.”
Interested, Adam settled back into the chair. “Who is she?”
“Don’t you ever read People magazine? That’s Clarice Burbage. She’s set to star in the modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s…um…one of Shakespeare’s plays. Who cares? She’ll play a king. Or something. That’s the script she’s reading.”
Clarice looked up as if she’d heard them—which she had, because Mr. Kulshan wore hearing aids that didn’t work well enough to compensate for his hearing loss—and smiled and nodded genially.
Mr. Kulshan grinned at her. “Hi, Clarice. Loved you in Inferno!”
“Thank you, K.H.” She projected her voice so he could hear her.
Mr. Kulshan shot Adam a triumphant look that clearly said See? Clarice Burbage calls me by my first name.
The actress-distraction was why the two men were surprised when the door opened and a middle-aged, handsome, casually dressed woman with cropped red hair walked in.
New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd writes “edge-of-the-seat suspense” (Iris Johansen) with “brilliantly etched characters, polished writing, and unexpected flashes of sharp humor that are pure Dodd” (ALA Booklist). Her fifty-eight books have been called “scary, sexy, and smartly written” by Booklist and, much to her mother’s delight, Dodd was once a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle. Enter Christina’s worlds and join her mailing list at www.christinadodd.com.
Harry Booth started stealing at nine to keep a roof over his ailing mother’s head, slipping into luxurious, empty homes at night to find items he could trade for precious cash. When his mother finally succumbed to cancer, he left Chicago—but kept up his nightwork.
Wandering from the Outer Banks to Savannah to New Orleans, he dons new identities and stays careful, observant, distant. He can’t afford to attract attention—or get attached. Still, he can’t help letting his guard down when he meets Miranda Emerson. But the powerful bond between them cannot last—because not all thieves follow Harry’s code of honor. Some pay others to take risks so they can hoard more treasures. Some are driven by a desire to own people the way they own paintings and jewels. And after Harry takes a lucrative job commissioned by Carter LaPorte, LaPorte sees a tool he can use, and decides he wants to own Harry.
The man is a predator more frightening than the alligators that haunt the bayou—and when he strongarms Harry into robbing a Baltimore museum, Harry abandons Miranda—cruelly, with no explanation—and disappears. But no matter what name he uses or where he goes, LaPorte casts a shadow over Harry’s life. To truly free himself, he must face down his enemy once and for all. Only then can he hope to possess something more valuable than anything he has ever stolen.
NIGHTWORK by Nora Roberts is a unique romantic suspense with a young hero who grows up to becomes a gentleman thief with his own set of rules and moral code. This is a standalone that that is mainly told from the viewpoint of the hero.
Harry Booth never knew his father, but he always had the love of his mother and aunt, Mags. When Harry is 9 years old, his mother has her first fight with cancer. The sister’s cleaning company cannot keep up with the bills and Harry begins to pick pockets to help with money. By the age of 12, he was breaking into homes, only taking a few things of value and never with a weapon. When Harry graduated from high school, his mother died after two remissions, he set out on his own. He went south and his aunt went west.
This is the start of a tale that follows Harry, Silas, Booth, Sebastian (different identities) all over the U.S., Europe, South America and then back to the U.S. I loved the flamboyant family of thieves and cons he kept as a pseudo family in New Orleans even though that is where his trouble with the antagonist, LaPorte in this story meet. I also loved how he always stayed in touch with Mags no matter what. When he first meets Miranda Emerson, you just knew it wouldn’t last, especially if you remember his taro reading, but when they come back together as adults it works.
This is a very enjoyable book. Booth’s travels and escapades are interesting, Miranda is his perfect match, and all the other secondary characters are colorful and entertaining. The sex scenes are explicit, but not gratuitous and quick. There are ups and downs in the plot that keep you turning the pages.
I enjoyed Harry and his story very much.
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About the Author
Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 — The Becoming — the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.
After a harrowing attempt on a judge’s life at the courthouse, Deputy US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn are tasked with finding a missing woman and an endangered child in connection to the murder of the judge’s wife. What seems like a fairly straightforward case becomes hopelessly tangled when the marshals discover that the woman they are searching for is in witness protection and the Amber Alert put out for the missing child has put two lives in danger.
Madison and Jonas are forced into a race to find the woman and the child before the men who want her dead discover her location. And in a final showdown that could cost her everything, Madison will come face-to-face with the person who murdered her husband.
USA Today bestselling author Lisa Harris concludes her thrilling US Marshals series with this breathless tale of secrets kept, lies exposed, and ultimately, justice prevailing.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Catch by Lisa Harris is an intense mystery. In the final book of the series the plot brings to close all the extending arcs.
This story is multilayered. These sub-plots had Madison searching for the person who killed her husband Luke, a search for the murderer of a judge’s wife, and a kidnapped child. The suspense ratches up after the child’s babysitter is found to be in the witness protection program and having an amber alert put out on her and the child put both lives in danger. As these three plots are weaved together readers realize nothing is as it seems.
Book three of the series gave readers a thrilling and captivating ride. All the loose threads tie together in a surprising yet inspiring ending. Readers will get their fill of suspense, action, and twists.
There is also a novella, Point Blank,part of a compilation with three other authors titled, Heroes in the Crossfire. In Point Blank, the last two series Lisa Harris has written, “The Nikki Boyd Files,” and “US Marshals,” are combined. It is interesting how she was able to compare the lead characters, Madison James, and Nikki Boyd. Both had feelings of “what if” and struggled with out-of-control feelings while attempting to let go of their guilt.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Why include Nikki Boyd in Point Blank, the prequel to the Madison series?
Lisa Harris: I was asked to write something for a compilation so I decided this novella would be perfect for it. In the US Marshal series book 1 there is a little bit about the loss of Madison’s husband, and with Nikki Boyd books, they take place over 48 hours. They both want to make a difference in the world. Both had different careers: Nikki was a teacher and ended up in the missing person task force while Madison was a policeperson and ended up as a US Marshal. They lost someone close with neither of them having closure. At the end of the series, they do find the answers they are looking for.
EC: The scene of the silo, wow?
LH: I did a lot of research. There are a lot of accidents that happen in the silos where people can drown in the grain. I knew I had to put this in the novella. It is hard to write action scenes and I am always looking to find something different to write about.
EC: The idea for the story, The Catch?
LH: The first book had a fugitive chase. I wanted each book to highlight a different skill used by the US Marshals. This third book had a combination of witness protection and a task force looking for a child endangered. I weaved together these two elements in the story along with the Washington state setting that has beaches and a rain forest. The arcs between Jonas and Madison’s romance as well as the arc of who killed Madison’s husband gets resolved in this book.
EC: Did you know anyone who had a child who disappeared?
LH: No, I did not, thankfully. The Nikki Boyd series was all about missing children. I learned through my research. I thought about those parents who had the drama in real life versus writing fiction. It would be one of the worst things that ever happened in life, the threat of losing a child. Because there is so much darkness around us, thankfully I could have happy endings in my book, a bit of light.
EC: Do you have a crystal ball because one of the stories has a judge threatened?
LH: Sometimes it is scary how some of the things I have written about have come true. I should get my ideas from the newspaper and not the other way around. This plot includes drug trafficking, extortion, kidnappings, and revenge.
EC: How would you describe Becca?
LH: She got in way over head. She was missing something in her life and lost her heart. She smudged the line between right and wrong. She is vulnerable, troubled, frustrated, and desperate.
EC: How would you describe the relationship between Jonas and Madison?
LH: I like that it was resolved over the course of books. For example, each Nikki Boyd book took place over 48 hours. A romance cannot be resolved over that short period of time. The relationship went from admiration and respect when they first met to trying to keep at arm’s length while US Marshal partners to Madison bowing to her fears that something would happen to Jonas like her husband to a happy ending.
EC: Next books?
LH: A prequel to this series will be out June 1st, an e-book novella, Point Blank. It covers when they first met while training. Jonas was training a group of officers that were not US Marshals yet, which included Madison. Nikki Boyd is also in the novella.
I am also self-publishing. It is a series where the town is off the grid without technology. It is Longmire meets Jericho. It is a modern western, solving crimes without technology, titled “The Fallout Series.” The third book just came out which is titled Frequency. There is also a novella to this series.
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.
POISON EVIDENCE (Evidence Book #7 on Goodreads, Book #8 on Amazon) by Rachel Grant is another thrilling installment in the Evidence series featuring another brilliant member of the Naval History and Heritage Command team. This book is easily read as a standalone, but there is carryover of characters from previous books in this series. Any history from previous stories between characters is explained without going into detail and seamlessly keeps the current story flowing.
Ivy MacLeod is sent to the islands of Palau with her new advanced remote sensing technology known as CAM to map a WWII battle site. Ivy is happy to leave the states and distance herself from her ex-husband’s trial for treason. When she is attacked at a party for dignitaries on the island, she escapes with the help of Jack Keaton, an American on vacation in Palau.
Jack Keaton is not who he seems, but he has saved Ivy’s life. When Ivy learns the U.S. government has betrayed her, she must make up her own mind who is the spy, who is the protector and who is the villain.
I love this series! The heroines are accomplished, intelligent women with intriguing jobs whose personal lives become very complicated with heroes that are alpha males and over-achievers in their own right. Ivy has always been socially awkward due to her intelligence and then she suffered the ultimate betrayal from a husband she loved. Her invention is her life until she meets Jack, but he has many identities and Ivy has to trust him with her life even as he could be as bad as her ex. Jack’s backstory and the reasons for the way he lives his life make him a sympathetic character and the author does a great job of keeping him on that fine line between hero or villain. The plot is an intricate, edge-of-your-seat, fast paced spy thriller that leaves the reader questioning the motives of most of the characters right up to the climax. The sex scenes in this book are all smokin’ hot and explicit, but never gratuitous.
I highly recommend this romantic suspense/spy thriller, as well as every other book in this series!
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Rachel Grant worked for over a decade as a professional archaeologist and mines her experiences for storylines and settings, which are as diverse as excavating a cemetery underneath an historic art museum in San Francisco, survey and excavation of many prehistoric Native American sites in the Pacific Northwest, researching an historic concrete house in Virginia, and mapping a seventeenth century Spanish and Dutch fort on the island of Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles.
She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children.
