Every Story Has a Story!

 Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all having a great day.

Well, I’m officially on countdown. The Last to Know releases this coming Tuesday, May 21^st. I’m excited to have Hannah and Cooper’s story out there in the hands of my readers.

As an author, for every story that I’ve written there’s another one going on behind the scenes. The one that sparks my author’s interest and sets an idea on the path to the created book the world reads.

In The Last to Know, there were two.

The story behind The Last to Know came long before I ever wrote the first word, back when I had an idea for the Hallowed Halls series.

The series features a team of BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) agents who delve into the minds of some of the worst serial killers to bring them to justice.

In the Last to Know, Agent Cooper Delaney must relive the worst nightmare of his life when a killer mimicking his father, the Embalmer’s, MO begins his reign of terror.

Cooper was an interesting character to write because of his past. At thirteen, Cooper came home from school one day to find the father he adored killing his mother. Cooper shot his father but couldn’t save his mother. Because of Cooper’s bravery, his father was arrested, and the truth came out about his father’s secret past. He was the serial killer known as the Embalmer.

What happened that day in his family’s basement has affected every part of Cooper’s life. And now he is forced to go over every ugly detail of his father’s crimes as the body count continues to rise. Each new clue the team discovers has them wondering if they’re dealing with a copycat or something far worse.  

Cooper’s fellow agent, Hannah London was one of my favorite characters to write because of what she’d gone through as a child and how it shapes her fears for the future and colors every part of her life.

As a child, Hannah had a heart transplant and has lived every day with the knowledge that one day her body might reject her heart, or she might need a new transplant to survive. That fear has kept her from falling in love. . .until Cooper. Hannah lets her guard down and develops feelings for him. She believes maybe they can have a future until her best friend who also had a transplant around the same time as Hannah dies. Ellie’s death was a wakeup call. Hannah’s life has a timestamp on it. She must end things with Cooper.

As the hunt for the killer takes the team to Grand Island, New York, Hannah begins receiving a series of chilling notes that seem to hint at the writer’s connection with Hannah and her heart. Soon, it becomes clear the team is not only dealing with a new Embalmer, but also someone who is obsessed with Hannah’s transplanted heart and threatening her life.

Creating the love story between Hannah and Cooper was challenging. They started the story dating and then they were “just friends” although they both still cared for each other.

As they unravel the clues to finding the identity of the Embalmer, Hannah reveals her darkest secret to Cooper. He tells her she can’t stop living in order to start dying but until she can accept that truth for herself, she still keeps him at a distance.

My hope for this book is that the identity of the Embalmer will be a surprise to readers, and that the ending of the story will make everything that happens between Hannah and Cooper worth the struggle.

And I hope as you read their story, it will help you see the behind-the-scenes story that goes into every book.  

You can preorder The Last to Know now on Amazon.

What about you? Do you enjoy reading books that sometimes push the boundaries of their genre?  

Leave a comment with your email address (U.S. only) I will select one person to receive a copy of the soon to be released The Last to Know.