INTERVIEW WITH BETTIE BOSWELL

Bettie Boswell has always loved to read and write. That interest helped her create musicals for both church and school students. After retiring from teaching 33 years, she decided to write and illustrate stories to share with the world. Her writing interests extend from works for children to adults and from fiction to non-fiction. She has written other works including leveled readers, magazine articles, and contributed to lesson plan collections, devotionals, and short story anthologies. She is a minister's wife, church musician, mother of two grown men, and a grandma. She loves the arts and shares her doodles, and photography from her daily walks, on social media.

INTERVIEW

Tell us about your upcoming release.

Hidden Names will be my first Christian Romantic Suspense novel. I really enjoyed exploring this genre, having been an avid reader for several years. Amber's dreams of opening her own retail artists' studio are shattered when a masked stranger breaks into her shop. He demands information that she doesn't have. Federal Agent Graham steps in to join Amber in a cross-country search for clues hidden in jewelry filled with secrets from her late estranged father. Old friends, new relatives, and friends of her father have the pieces made with white stones. Enemies seemed to know Amber and Graham's every move, constantly attacking and attempting to learn the secret information. Has someone in the agency betrayed them? Will Amber be able to decipher the clues that will break up a cybercriminal ring?

What was your inspiration for this book?

During the last several years, I switched from reading Christian romance, to enjoying romantic suspense books produced by Love Inspired. I decided to give writing in the genre a try. When I mentioned the idea to my publisher, Mt. Zion Ridge Press, they were excited. The action for the new book would take place in the same town as my Christian romance novels: On Cue, Free to Love, and Hoping for Treasure. From there, I used inspiration from places and people that I knew in the past. My dad was an amateur radio operator which gave me the inspiration for some of the electronics involved in solving the crime. He and I were rock hounds when I was young, so the mention of rocks and minerals both in the story and the Bible verses mentioned in the story influenced the tale. Several towns visited in the novel are places I've worked or visited.

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

I enjoy letting the words flow into the story and seeing scenes fall into place. I also have fun researching to make sure I convey the correct information. Even contemporary stories require research. Hidden Names involves a cross-country journey. Finding out approximate travel times and topography was part of the process.

Your least favorite?

Marketing is a challenge to me as an introvert. I've always done better with behind the scenes work, rather than trying to promote something to others. I've learned to think more about sharing the book as a story than trying to put myself in the spotlight.

Tell us three things about yourself that might surprise your readers.

I also write and illustrate children's books; four published with two coming in 2024.

I taught for many years. During my first assignment as a preschool teacher, several students and I went up in a tethered hot air balloon. That wouldn't happen today due to regulations, but we made an unforgettable memory.

My strangest adventure so far was the summer my son and I drove the AL-CAN Highway between just north of Seattle, Washington to Haines, Alaska. Pure wilderness, no radio or phone reception, rough pavement, wildlife, lots of prayer, staying in a hotel made of house trailers, stopping whenever we saw the occasional gas station, etc.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I enjoy taking photos of flowers and nature as I walk around my neighborhood. Then I post them on social media. I attempt to grow houseplants and a tomato patch. I like visiting historical sites. I am active in our church music ministry. I get my exercise at the local college doing water aerobics. Did I mention grand-parenting before and after school and on demand?

What are you working on now?

I'm working on a second book for Forest Glen Suspense as a follow-up for Hidden Names. Two of the side characters from Hidden Names, Winifred Grimsley and Kent Russell will take the lead in the future book, dealing with a different aspect of the same cybercrime. I write as a pantser and their story is unfolding at a leisurely pace. It is about a third done.

Where can your readers learn more about you?

The contacts page on my website will take you to a list of my books and different ways you may contact me.

HIDDEN NAMES

A Forest Glen Suspense

Amber's father, Max, betrayed her and her mom when she was sixteen. Determined to make it on her own, she refused all contact with the man and paid her way through college by making jewelry. Now, she finds it hard to let any man get close to her heart.

Months ago, her father asked her to make some jewelry. She reluctantly agreed, needing the money he offered to set up her new venture, a studio for artists. Then he died, leaving a jeweled trail of trouble connected to a ring of cybercriminals.

Against her will, Amber must team up with Federal Agent Graham to gather clues and stay one step ahead of people who don't care who they hurt to protect their secrets.

The wounds of Graham's past complicate their cross-country race as he becomes attracted to Amber, As they uncover the secrets her father left behind, they must learn to trust each other, before time runs out to defeat their nameless enemies, and find long-delayed healing.

You can order it here. 

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