Cold Deception

I’m always on the look out for new Australian Romantic Suspense writers. There’s a small but dedicated group of us who continue to work to raise the profile of the genre in Australia. Today’s guest, D.B. Tait, writes one hell of a story. COLD DECEPTION is gripping but with truckloads of emotion. How does DB Tait bring such authenticity to her writing? Please welcome her today so she can tell you all about it!

Write what you know is advice beginning writers usually come across. I didn’t take that advice so have spent the last ten years of my writing life honing my craft and telling spicy stories under another nom de plume, until I decided to write in a genre I love, romantic suspense.

I’ve been a crime reader since the year dot, when the Famous Five and the Secret Seven captured me with their exploits of derring-do. Then I went on to Dorothy L Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey and swooned over his romance with Harriet Vane. That led me to the Golden Age of Crime Fiction and I devoured Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey as well as the more hard-boiled Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. When I was nineteen and miserable going through my first year at university and my first unhappy romance, crime novels distracted me. Who knew murder and mayhem could be so uplifting?

I was a late reader of romance but was always drawn to stories with romantic elements. So when I finally became an avid romance reader, I started devouring romantic suspense. Lisa Gardner, Karen Rose, Alison Brennan, Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Bronwyn Parry and of course my hostess Helene Young.

But, I hear you ask, what’s this got to do with writing what you know? Do I have an intimate knowledge of crime and murder? Well, in a way I do. I worked in the New South Wales prison system for nearly fourteen years.

During that time I came across many men and women who’d committed a variety of crimes, most of them drug and alcohol related and mostly property crime. However, a part of my job was sitting on a committee that monitored inmates who’d committed more serious crimes, usually murder, serial sexual assault and major drug trafficking.

While some of these people had serious personality disorders, many were like you and me. I learnt that what often separates a convicted murderer from other people was a deep breath and the ability to control one’s temper and walk away. I had many there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I moments.

So, when I decided I wanted to write romantic suspense, I wanted to write about someone who had experienced jail, had survived and now had to make a life for herself. But of course, a story wouldn’t be a story if my heroine Julia’s fervent desire to have a quiet life was fulfilled. I had to make her new life difficult. The secrets she went to jail with had to come out. And she had to fall in love with a cop. A nosy but delectable cop. Dylan keeps asking questions and Julia keeps trying to keep her secrets. But murder will out as they say in the classics.

And I for one am very glad that D.B. Tait’s decided to write Romantic Suspense – COLD DECEPTION brings more credibility to the genre and I know my readers are going to love the story! DB Tait, thanks so much for sharing your writing experience with us today – see you in Melbourne at the RWA Conference in August, if not before 🙂

COLD DECEPTION

Secrets, lies, deception. That’s what it takes to stay alive.

At 20, Julia Taylor went to prison for murdering a man who deserved it. Ten years later, she’s ready to put the past behind her and get on with her life. But someone won’t let her. Someone will do anything to drive Julia away, including murder.

As the body count rises, Julia is forced to accept the help of Dylan Andrews, a cop with dark secrets of his own. Unfortunately help has a cost. Dylan is digging into Julia’s past, uncovering secrets she is desperate to keep.

Julia must keep Dylan at a distance, or else risk her own safety, and the safety of everyone she loves …

Buy COLD DECEPTION at all good e-book sellers.

Also available direct from Momentum Books –  http://momentumbooks.com.au/books/cold-deception/

Find DB Tait at her website http://www.dbtait.com

Follow her at  https://www.facebook.com/dbtait

And on twitter  https://twitter.com/dbtait