Romance in Evergreen follows a family meeting for Thanksgiving who have their celebration disrupted by the threat of an unknown assassin. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

This is part two of a trilogy so the setup was on target in book one. In this book, I was able to incorporate many things that I knew about Evergreen, NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain, the Denver Federal Center, and Colorado since once you live in the area for many years you learn a lot. Colorado is perfect, I think.

How did you come up with the idea for the antagonist in this story, and how did it change as you wrote?

The assassin is angry in book one, that both Kim and Nancy’s husbands died in a rollover accident while chasing after Kim. Thus, he takes it internally, and it angers him. He was no longer calm and cool, but out for revenge. That revenge meant Kim, Nancy, family, and friends suddenly became targets!

“What did you just say?” The senior officer (Special Agent Thompson) of the two men from Homeland Security, that both Nancy and Kim knew prior, repeated, “Rob and Liza Caldwell were taken out as a hit in Boston last night, and we think their assassin is the agent handler extraordinaire, who put out the hit job on the President, and on you, Kim, last November. The hit man’s name is Jeffrey Sanders, we don’t know any alias, ethnicity, or if male or female. Security cameras were disabled before the actual hit. Rob and Liza were asleep when it happened early this morning. A silencer was used, and neighbors heard their dog barking non-stop and became worried. The couple checked on them, found them dead in their bed, and called 911. The police detectives could tell it was a professional hit and called us. Special Agent Hughes and I flew directly here from Washington, DC. A note left at the scene read, ‘Two down, eleven to go’ and the eleven to go are most likely both of you, the President, and people unidentified. Make no mistake. The hit man will take out anyone with you, when, NOT if, they find you.”

What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?

I loved writing about family and friends and how they interacted together and with other people. They each have unique personalities. Each one is warm and caring but can be a bit sassy with jokes.

Can you tell us where the book in the Heart of Evergreen series goes and where we’ll see the characters in the next book?

The antagonist at the end of this book, Dmitry Ivanov, plays a large part. Ginormous actually. That is all that I can write at this time.

Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Amazon