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An Earned Gift
The Last Profile follows a former FBI profiler who is trying to build a peaceful life on the Cheyenne reservation but is forced back into one final investigation that exposes decades of corruption and threatens her family. Why did you want Samantha Wright Little Bear to return for “one final case”?
Sam didn’t want to return but was compelled (a call to duty) to finally attain freedom from the Bureau and the future worry that her work would bring her family. She is weary and needs to find some clarity in things, especially bringing another life into the world. The series also needed some sort of resolution with a few of the characters, and Sam was able to delve into their lives more deeply in the investigation to show readers that some people can redeem themselves, while others don’t have that capability.
How does the book examine the idea that the “bad guy” might not always be obvious?
All people have layers to themselves, and based on the circumstances that life brings them, they challenge their moral fiber; it’s almost impossible to answer the question of why some people can find a moral compass at all times and others can’t. What is a moral compass when the direction isn’t clear, and when sometimes doing the right thing does more harm than doing the darker thing? When it comes down to reflection of what one’s life has become or evolved into, well, redemption in my feeling is an apology of epic proportions that transcends the wrong done.
How does the community influence the characters’ sense of justice and loyalty?
The Tribe has tremendous influence on Sam, with a history of moving forward after what has been done to the Tribes since the beginning of their existence. Once Sam had proved herself to them, that was enough for them to support her without question. Justice is giving a voice to those wronged, and loyalty is an earned gift that other people give you when you are someone that they can count on. An intimate connection to culture, community, and to other humans who touch our lives is paramount in strength of character, the kind of character that turns the light on when you are going down a road at night.
What do you hope readers take away from Sam and Will’s journey?
I’d like readers to see that Sam and Will are a work in progress. They navigate their combined cultures, the work that each of them does, and their approach to trying to have a family life that is the foundation they can count on when things change their course. What’s the saying? Life happens when you’re making plans. Navigating a dual existence is what we all do – work and family. I’d like readers to have a sense of hope (good or bad) that all things can be a stepping stone to something of value that their lives need at that moment. The story continues for Sam and Will in five more books – there will be those that challenge the reader – but ultimately truth and love rise to the top.
Author Links: Amazon
Life is going along just as Will and Sam had planned after the last case was finally buried and put to rest, until Will opens a FedEx box from his friend Senator Stockman, whose son he had saved in Iraq years ago. What’s inside changes everything for them, especially for Sam. To finally get her freedom from the Bureau, Sam and Will join forces to prepare for The Last Profile, taking them inside the lives of Senator Stockman, Director Richards of the FBI, Special Agent Charlie Falken, Tad Collins, and Scotty Dickson all who have a connection to Chicago beginnings where their pasts all intersect.
While immersed in her book signing tour and their new job with Tad, Sam and Will find that the price of her freedom will cost them more than they bargained for. The actors (suspects) in the case are people they know and complicate things, testing loyalties, and discovering who in the end is redeemable, if anyone. Sam and her unborn child’s life are in danger as Will and her Cheyenne family race to save her as the existence of those so integral to her past unravel at alarming speed right on the reservation, their home. The Tribe will do whatever they need to for Sam, including killing
for her.
This is a fast ride on intersecting roads moving in two directions at once with two plots erupting, all pointing towards Charlie on his downward spiral. Characters you didn’t expect now step up in this fast-paced mystery to show their true colors. Who are the good guys? Can the bad guys also be good? Life, death, scandal, betrayal, and love whirl around Sam until justice is served, but at what cost?
The Last Profile: A Samantha Wright Crime Series #2
Theresa Janson’s The Last Profile is a police procedural with a strong romantic-suspense spine that keeps tugging the “case” and the “love story” closer together until they are basically knotted. Samantha Wright Little Bear has finally stepped out of the FBI profiler life and into a quieter, hard-won peace on the Cheyenne reservation, pregnant and trying to sleep through the memories that still show up at night. Then the Bureau yanks her back in anyway: her resignation is denied, and the “one last profile” she is promised drags in the FBI Director, Senator Stockman, her longtime partner Charlie Falken, and a Chicago history full of deceit and cover-ups. What starts as a professional obligation becomes personal fast, spiraling into a wider net of power games and human trafficking, and forcing Sam and Will to fight for their safety and their future together.
I liked the intimacy of the voice. Janson opens with Sam literally leaning on the lodge pole in the middle of their home, trying to borrow strength from something solid when her mind won’t settle. That choice tells you what kind of ride you are on: not cool, detached procedural distance, but a case told from inside the body and the marriage. The book spends real time in the everyday texture of Sam and Will’s life, and it is not shy about affection, humor, and heat. Sometimes it works like a palate cleanser between tense scenes. Sometimes it feels like the point. Will’s devotion is written big, almost mythic, and it gives the story a protective shell even when the plot keeps trying to crack it.
The author’s big swing, though, is how she ties the crime to old grief and old choices instead of treating it like a neat puzzle. Charlie’s rage begins with the story he has told himself for decades about who is to blame for his family’s death, and the book keeps pulling that thread until the real ugliness underneath is exposed. When Sam starts mapping the cover-up, you can feel the dread settle in because the “bad guy” is not one monster in an alley. It is a network, polished on the outside, rotten underneath. And then Janson makes a choice I respected: she lets consequences land. Charlie’s final letter is messy and human, full of regret and longing and an honesty that comes too late. It’s sad. It also reframes a lot of what came before.
By the end, the story turns its face back toward home, toward repair. The final stretch leans into family, community, and what it means to finally step out of the Bureau’s shadow, with Sam and Will grounded in the life they’ve chosen and the child they are bringing into it. If you like romantic suspense and police procedurals that are emotionally front-and-center, with a marriage you can actually root for and a plot that goes after corruption with both hands, you’ll probably tear through this. For readers who want crime, heart, and a setting that matters, The Last Profile is a riveting read.
Pages: 240 | ASIN : B0G87MLZXD
You Write What You Know
Reservations follow a gifted FBI profiler with psychological insight whose mentor dies while working on a serial killer case, leaving her to pick up where he left off. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
First, I have to start with a backstory. In 2017, I was having a difficult time in my life; ending a 28-year marriage, leaving a job I was unhappy in, selling my house, and in need of a life overhaul. One day, I woke up and demanded a do-over from the Universe. Several nights later, the dreams started, and the books began. This book, Reservations (originally under a different title), was written in less than a month, followed by six more in a period of six months. I dreamt every night and wrote every day. The dreams were a visceral guide, with me filling in the blanks. A lot of stops and starts, but eight years later, here we are.
Samantha Wright is as real a character I could write because she is all of us. She is me. The story is about losing those who are close to us, who have made us who we are, and when they are lost to us, how we move on and try to make them proud with our attempt, we try to make things better. Sam has a career at the FBI, dealing with death while trying to find justice for the victims of the heinous things people do to each other. In this world, we all deal with what Sam does, just in a more unnoticed way. Just as Sam is trying to learn to live with everything she witnesses and is surrounded by daily, so are we with the very personal stories we all have to tell about how we live within the 24-hour news cycle and the reality we all see. I needed Sam to be many things, and she could be those things if her job had leverage to it.
I enjoyed Samantha’s character; she is engaging, intelligent, and complicated, not at all predictable. What was your inspiration for Samantha Wright’s character, and how did you craft her outlook on life?
They say you write what you know, and there is a lot of subconscious memory that is a treasure trove of bits and pieces that surface once they are awakened. Samantha Wright is a culmination of women I’ve known over the years that made a difference in me and my thinking, and by morphing those qualities and remembrances – well – Samantha was born. Once I had Samantha Wright and the dreams, I pieced the puzzle together. I’ve worked for attorneys as a paralegal, and that brought connections to stories of people and situations that made sense of the dreams and enabled me to weave a story together anchored by this amazing woman, Samantha Wright. Sam’s outlook is one of despair backed by hope. Strength of conviction, but willing to be weak, with not always knowing what to do. A yearning for love, but knowing her responsibilities will always color any relationship she would have. Again, Sam is us. I write with first and third person – I want the reader to know at all times all the characters in the scene and what they feel, think, and say, even when Sam isn’t part of the scene.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I have always had a connection, an affinity to Native culture, having lived in the Western state of Colorado. I’ve been drawn to the sense of Tribe and the rich history since I was young. I’ve also lived in situations that brought abuse, addiction, strength through fear, cultural divides, and love, of course, in my life and the life of those I know. I try to slowly bring themes into the plots, without being preachy or making it stand out – themes don’t have to stand out; they just have to be absorbed by the reader as part of the story. I want the reader to think back and see layers in what they’ve read.
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?
The series has seven books – the first, Reservations: A Samantha Wright Crime Series, the second, The Last Profile, which just launched on Amazon, continues the core characters that are so integral to the plots and the important stories they bring forward. The Last Profile has Samantha following a case on and off the reservation, three plots going on at the same time, leading her through a maze of lies and betrayal by the very people her life centers around. If you love Will Little Bear, he helps Sam work the case that is supposed to finally free her from the FBI, so they can have the life they yearn for. Five more books follow; manuscripts finalized, waiting in the wings to be launched every six months. Plots that you may never have read before, characters that attach themselves to you, and relatable stories that resonate with the reader. The books are about people who have a family life and a work life – they figure out how to make it work, and in Sam’s case, her family, her tribe, is her foundation that gives her the ability to do her most difficult job, finding justice and a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
When Special Agent Samantha Wright’s mentor dies while profiling a disturbing serial killer case known as “The Reservations Case,” she’s left to pick up the pieces—and finish what he started. Young Native American boys are being abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered across multiple states, and the trail leads deep into the heart of the American West.
Sam is no ordinary profiler. Gifted with an uncanny psychological insight and a darkly self-deprecating sense of humor, she sees patterns others miss. But as the case grows more complex—and culturally sensitive—she’ll need more than sharp instincts to bring the killer to justice.
With help from her commanding yet complicated boss, Special Agent Charlie Falken, and a skilled Cheyenne tracker, Will Little Bear, Sam must navigate the perilous intersection of federal law, reservation sovereignty, and cultural trauma. As tensions rise and bodies pile up, alliances deepen—and so do emotions.
RESERVATIONS is a gripping crime thriller that blends psyc
