So, About Rachel…

With Sunny and Jason McIntyre’s story told and released (Oklahoma Sunshine, February 2019) I was ready to move on, and I’d decided long since that I would write whichever story was most burning inside me to be told, with no more scrambling to write the highest earners first. Inspiration is powerful and must never be ignored. My muse is a demanding bitch, and I adore her for it.

I thought I already knew what was most burning in my soul to be written; Book 2 of the Fiona stories, set in the Wings in the Night universe. I have a brilliant, gripping, fun, evocative story plotted out for Fiona’s next adventure, and I’m dying to write it.

But before I began, I wanted to take the time to work on a serial story I’d done for my newsletter subscribers.

(Psst! I’ve done several serial stories, but you only get them if you’ve signed up, so sign up HERE.)

This particular serial story was called “The One Who Cried Wolf” and it was part of my Brown and de Luca series. They are pure thrillers centered around a self-help author with an attitude, a lot of snark, a potty mouth, and a penchant for solving crimes. I love her, possibly because I am her, but that’s another blog post.

So I pulled out all the monthly segments I’d written, pasted them into one big document, and began going over them again. I added new scenes and polished the ones already there, like polishing rough-cut gemstones into a jewels.

And then I sent it to Jena for editing and to Jessica for formatting. It’s up for pre-order now, but that’s all beside the point. Unless you want it, which you do, so if you click the cover that'll get you where all the fun is.

The point is, I fell into Rachel’s mind, into her personality into her life. I rediscovered her sidekick Myrtle, writing out her antics with my own bulldog, Niblet, curled up beside me, her snores providing backup music to my keystrokes and my imagination. I rediscovered Rachel’s Inner Bitch, and recognized my own subconscious mind chatter.

As I wrote the scenes with Rachel and Mason, her hunky homicide detective lover, I felt the playful, yet deep love between them was a mirror of my relationship with my husband. As I wrote the scenes about Jeremy heading off to college first with an eye toward the police academy after, I realized my life is mirroring that, as well. My grandson Tanner is planning to head to the police academy after college, too.

I could not have planned this. I wrote that Jeremy wanted to be a cop long before Tanner decided that’s what he wanted to do. And I wrote Jere’s little brother, Joshua Brown, long before my daughter Katie married a fellow named Joshua Brown.

Isn’t life funny?

Rachel doesn’t have mastiffs or an angry cat, and she has a far nicer house than I do. I believe in my heart, those two things are related, but what are you gonna do? Plant a “Bulldogs only” sign on the front lawn? My beloved would reply, “Try, try, try to understand…I’m a mastiff man.” (70s music reference. Heart. Look it up.)

Anyway, I fell headlong into Rachel’s world, and I was still riding that wave of inspiration as I finished work on Cry Wolf, so I decided to ride it right into the next novel, Girl Blue. I already had a sketchy idea of what I wanted to do with it, so I just started writing. It was irresistible.

And Fiona’s next story is still ready, simmering away on a side burner, easy for me to reach over and stir every once in a while.

I expect both will be released this year. I can’t make any promises, because when I do I tend to kill myself trying to keep them. But I’m pretty confident in that prediction.

So that’s how the decision was made. The book itself, decided it would be the next one written. Or maybe Rachel decided, and Fiona graciously stepped aside, but not for long. She’s also eager to take the reins and guide the chariot of story, whose wheels are my fast-moving fingers.

For you Big Falls fans, this exciting news. Jessica is hard at work on a Bliss in Big Falls Christmas story you will never ever forget, featuring Angie Wakeland and her two kids, sweet toddler Cassie, and big brother Jack. Their father was KIA in Afghanistan. Jack still insists it isn’t true.  We hope it's ready for release by holiday time. 

Brown and de Luca, the full series, all the reviews, all the links and a new excerpt are up so down miss them! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW!

#maggieshayne #brownanddeluca #bestsellers #bookclubs #thrillers #novels #bulldogs #books #bestreads #suspense #blockbusters