The Godfather of Dance follows a determined new journalist who is eager to write a career-defining article and solve the unsolved murder of her dance instructor’s fiancée. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

My inspiration was derived from a few elements. Jade, my protagonist, evolved over time. I wrote about her in several books that weren’t published before she finally took shape in The Godfather of Dance. Initially, she was older, married, with kids, but for this story, it made more sense for her to be younger. Among other things, as an unmarried woman, she had the opportunity to develop a will-they-won’t-they romance with Anton.

The setting came from the five years I spent living in The Woodlands, Texas. This planned community is so picture-perfect it just begged for an underbelly as a counterpoint.

Anton’s character was inspired by my dance instructor in Houston, although once he hit the page, he took on a life of his own and became a wonderfully flawed character who’d grown up in a crime family. Right from the first drafts, I knew he was in hiding from his father, who he suspected of killing his fiancée.

Jade Riley is a woman with strength and intelligence. What do you think makes her a valuable and worthy heroine?

I wanted to create an everyday hero who did things for the most part that any regular person could do. I don’t have a background in the police or FBI, so I couldn’t write such a character as convincingly as someone who has. I didn’t give Jade amazing ‘superhero’ strengths, although she takes chances that are probably beyond most people’s capacity for risk-taking. Her value comes from her determination, courage, and intellect.

What was the hardest part about writing a mystery story, where you constantly have to give just enough to keep the mystery alive until the big reveal?

Writing a mystery is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. As the author, you know where all the pieces are—at least you figure them out along the way—but deciding when and how to reveal each new piece of information to the reader is the challenge. Once I have the story down, I move the chapters around to figure out how to maximize the drama. Often, I move reveals to later in the story to maintain the tension.

On the other hand, I’m always careful not to hold back too much, as I like the idea of readers having the chance to figure it out, or to be able to look back and see something in the story that in hindsight makes everything that follows make sense.

Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Jade Riley and the direction of the second book?

Book two, A Killer Among Friends, is out in December.

Journalist Jade returns from abroad to her hometown, Melbourne. Soon after, her friend Nick is found dead in a dumpster. She turns to their tight-knit circle for answers, only to uncover a web of lies.

Mounting evidence suggests her best friend Elena’s suicide three years earlier is connected. Was she, too, murdered?

As Jade closes in on the killer, she realizes the suspects are all people she loves. Her life depends on knowing which of them to trust.

Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website