Sultry Is The Night follows a haunted man trying to survive after the loss of his parents and his dreams, who meets a mysterious woman who draws him into her dangerous world. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I was a teenager when the great hits of the 1980s were released: Footloose, Flashdance, Fame. Those movies are about pursuing your dreams, despite the obstacles you might face. There’s also a grittiness to those films, and that is something that I wanted to capture in “Sultry“. Most of my books are set in the 1980s because I want my readers to escape our modern world and immerse themselves in my world. Although he is from “the wrong side of the tracks”, Mario pursues his dream of becoming a chef because once we give up on our dreams, we stop truly living. When he meets Tess (the rich girl from the other side of town), he is faced with a new challenge – one that puts his heart in a vise. 

I found your characters engaging and believable. What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?

Thank you! As a female author, I have always written male protagonists and Mario was one of my favourites to bring to life. Like him, I am also Italian, and like him, cooking is a passion for me. It was a lot of fun for me to create him and imagine what it would be like to live as him. It was almost as if he was inviting me into his life. I didn’t find any of my characters challenging to write. They live inside my head, and my heart, and are simply waiting for me to put pen to paper.  

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Love, predominantly. Even in my horror stories, love is a major theme. Then there was the theme of cultural divide, and that between classes – rich versus poor. To paraphrase an old saying: It doesn’t matter how much money we have, we all end up in the same wooden box. I’d like to add to that, “…but love never dies”. Finally, there’s a theme of racial injustice that Mario is faced with and it’s within his own family. 

Where does the story go in the next book, and where do you see it going in the future?

I never intended to write a sequel to “Sultry” but a few readers requested one, and since I missed my characters, I decided to write one that reads as a standalone story. In the sequel, “A Crack in Forever“, Mario’s half-brother is in trouble. His aging father reaches out to Mario for help. At the same time, Mario believes Tess, the love of his life, has betrayed him. Mario falls into an abyss of despair, and uncertainty, torn between the love he harbours for Tess, and for his half-brother, Tony. I’d categorize the sequel as a Romantic Thriller, and while I have entertained the notion of writing a third book, I think that Mario and Tess’s story should end where it does. However, as an author, I never say “never”! 

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