Danger Revealed follows two private detectives who are investigating the case of a missing diplomat and stumble into a larger crime ring than anticipated. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The tragedy of human trafficking was brought home to my Iowa hometown while I was working as a freelance journalist covering county government. The busiest truck stop along Interstate 80, which moves traffic across the U.S. from Boston to San Francisco, is located in Walcott, Iowa. The series of articles I wrote from interviews with local police, politicians, business owners, and victim advocates, as well as a documentary produced on the victims trafficked from Iowa to Chicago, inspired the story of Rayen. Reading My Father’s Ghost is Climbing in the Rain, a novel by Patricio Pron, prompted my interest and research into the Dirty War in Argentina. The horrors and atrocities of human rights abuse, past and present, became linked in the layers of plot and people struggling to connect and make sense of it all in Danger Revealed.

With so many memorable characters in this novel, who was your favorite character to write for and why? Was there a scene you felt captured the character’s essence?

The multi-faceted persona and intensely personal experience of Lucas Dominguez inspired me to write this story. In the scene from the chapter titled “War of Words”, Lucas negotiates for Rayen’s life with the primary protagonist Otto Hermann, aka Octavio Hernandez. His calm in the face of chaos, using words to build a common bridge of personal history between himself and the criminal holding a knife to Rayen’s throat, personifies the refugee from homeland violence who found strength in freedom and serves his country of choice helping others who risk everything to live as they choose.

How do you balance story development with shocking plot twists? Or can they be the same thing?

I’ve discovered that as the story develops, the plot twists are revealed. The balance in writing suspense and thriller depends on who knows what and when both as the characters interact in the world of fiction built between the pages and in the mind of the reader.

What is the next book in The UnMatchables series that you are working on, and when will it be available?

Kelly and Eddie’s third case picks up where Danger Revealed left off with the demand that Eddie rewrite a true crime novel to save the new client’s reputation and possibly his life. That story will take shape at an unknown date as I’m currently writing the second novel in my uniquely-Canadian political thriller series. Lucas, Tori and Rayen are back and caught up in the mystery of a minister’s death and a nefarious network determined to seize control of government. I’m enjoying the challenge of crossing over characters from one genre and placing them in an entirely different setting and situation. 

Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website