Interview with author Marie Force and a giveaway

Thanks for having me today! I look forward to visiting with your readers.

1. Can you tell us what inspired you to write A Fatal Affair?

Marie: I read a news story in 2007 about a U.S. congressman who’d been found dead in his Washington area apartment. For a while, the case was investigated as a homicide, but it quickly became clear that he’d had a heart attack and fell down the stairs. I wondered what would’ve happened if he had been murdered, and that led to the premise for Fatal Affair in which a U.S. senator is found murdered in his home by his chief of staff. The detective assigned to the case is none other than the chief of staff’s one-night stand from six years earlier. It was a lot of fun to write about Sam and Nick as they try to catch a killer while resisting the overwhelming attraction that continues to simmer between them. Their story continues in book 2 in The Fatal Series, Fatal Justice, out in January.

2. Do you listen to music while you write or have any other quirks?

Marie: I don’t listen to music while I’m writing, but often the T.V. is on (this time of year we’re mostly watching Red Sox games) and kids are around and the puppy is underfoot. I write on the sofa with a laptop, in the midst of mayhem. I’ve worked from home full time since my kids were babies, so I’m used to drowning out the chaos. Everything is much easier now that they are older.

3. What are you currently reading?

Marie: A historical by Mary Jo Putney. Even though I write contemporary and romantic suspense, my favorite genre to read is historical.

4. Coffee or Tea drinker?

Marie: Coffee all the way, but only two cups in the morning.

5. Do you put real faces to your characters? If so, who do you envision as Sam and Nick?

Marie: No, I really don’t imagine actual “faces” for my characters. I tend to keep them somewhat vague in my mind so I don’t get too bogged down with details. I like the reader to imagine them however they wish to see them, if that makes sense.

6.  Is there anything about Sam and Nick that we do not know (not discussed in the book)?

Marie: Sam and Nick’s story continues in the next book, Fatal Justice, so you’ll be finding out more about them as their story unfolds.

7. Are you currently working on another novel? Can you give us a teaser?

I’m working on the revisions to book 2 in The Fatal Series, Fatal Justice, in which a Supreme Court nominee comes to Washington for confirmation hearings and is murdered. This book also continues Sam and Nick’s romance, delves deeper into her father’s unsolved shooting and gives Sam’s partner Freddie a romance of his very own. I’m beginning work this week on book 3 in The Fatal Series, Fatal Consequences, and I’m working on a light contemporary called Posh & Naughty that I’m having a lot of fun with.

 ABOUT FATAL AFFAIR

On the morning of the most important vote of Senator John O’Connor’s career he is late—again. His best friend and chief of staff, Nick Cappuano sets off to O'Connor’s apartment expecting to roust him from bed and hoping he is alone. But what Nick finds is that O’Connor, the handsome, amiable Senator from Virginia, has been brutally murdered, and Nick’s world comes crashing down around him. Complicating the disaster, the detective assigned to the case is none other than Sam Holland, Nick’s one-night stand from six years earlier, the woman who broke his heart and haunts his dreams. With six years worth of unfinished business hanging between them and more than a few scores to settle personally and professionally, Nick and Sam set out to find the senator's killer while trying—and failing—to resist the overwhelming attraction between them that seems to have only grown over the years.

It soon becomes clear that the senator’s past holds secrets that not only led to his death but now endanger Nick and Sam as well. Working together to find a killer and to rediscover the love they thought they lost long ago, they must put the past behind them and build a future that offers a world of new opportunities for both of them—including an offer from the Virginia Democrats for Nick to finish the last year of John’s term. Buy the book at http://ebooks.carinapress.com.

ABOUT MARIE

Marie Force’s first romantic suspense, FATAL AFFAIR, will be out June 21, 2010 from Carina Press. Book 2 in the Fatal Series, FATAL JUSTICE, is coming soon from Carina. She is also the author of LINE OF SCRIMMAGE and LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT. Of LINE OF SCRIMMAGE, Booklist said, “With its humor and endearing characters, Force’s charming novel will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, reaching far beyond sports fans.” Wild on Books said, “LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT by Marie Force is most definitely a keeper. It is an astounding book. I loved every single word!” A third contemporary, EVERYBODY LOVES A HERO, is due out Feb. 1, 2011. Since 1996, Marie has been the communications director for a national organization similar to the Romance Writers of America. She is a member of RWA’s New England, From the Heart and Published Author Special Interest Chapters. While her husband was in the Navy, Marie lived in Spain, Maryland and Florida, and is now settled in her home state of Rhode Island. She is the mother of two children and a feisty dog named Brandy.

Find her at www.mariesullivanforce.com, on her blog at http://mariesullivanforce.blogspot.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Marie-Force/248130827909 and on Twitter at twitter.com/MarieForce. Marie loves to hear from readers. Contact her at marie@marieforce.com.

GIVEAWAY

Leave a comment and/or question for Marie to enter (remember to leave your email).

This is open internationally.  

One winner will receive an ebook/pdf of Fatal Affair.

Winner announced July 14th.