When Things Fall Apart follows a Native American woman who is a new homicide detective and encounters antagonistic coworkers leading to her working a murder case on her own. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

My sister lives in Oklahoma and related an incident to me about the verbal abuse of an older Native American man by a group of white males. Using that incident, I created the young Native American female and saddled her with a misogynistic and racist male detective as a partner.

Kit endures discrimination and prejudice from her new colleagues while trying to adjust to her new position as a homicide detective while maintaining her cultural diversity. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

Facing open discrimination and prejudice from her assigned partner was the driving idea behind Kit’s character. It forced her to have to deal with it in a way so as not to totally alienate her senior detective yet defend her heritage. How she responded to the complex and deeply troubling nature of her first homicide case rounded out her character.

How did the mystery develop for this story? Did you plan it before writing or did it develop organically?

I planned the basic plotline prior to beginning the story then developed it organically as the story moved along.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?

Yes, this is the first book in this series and I am currently writing the second one now. Kit’s next case will take her out of her comfort zone working in Fort Worth with leads which send her to Las Vegas. There, she comes face to face with a nemesis who seems to be two steps ahead of her. He will force Kit to make a dangerous choice.

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