I’ve long been a fan of creepy, chilling suspense tales,
the kind of story where the suspense comes as much, if not more, from the
atmosphere and sense of mood as from action and overt violence. I love stories
that occur in an eerie setting and have a strong sense of place, from stories in
the old Gothic tradition to more contemporary spinetinglers. Give me spooky old
buildings, characters venturing down dark passageways and investigating the
shadows, and that lurking sense of menace, and I'll eat it right up. I don’t
read outright horror--I can’t deal with anything too dark or
gruesome or downbeat myself--but I love that extra jolt of tension and suspense
that comes from great atmosphere and an unsettling mood. After all, shouldn't
suspense be at least a little scary, for both the characters--and the reader?
When I first started reading Intrigues, there were plenty
of these types of stories. They were some of my favorites, and many of them
remain keepers for me to this day. Authors like Anne Stuart, Bethany Campbell,
Elaine K. Stirling, Madelyn Sanders and Jenna Ryan brought readers suspenseful
stories with that extra creepy edge. Those early Intrigue authors (among others)
took me from sinister small towns full of secrets to dark castles, English manor
houses with dark histories to haunted vineyards, shadowy Venetian palazzos to
isolated lighthouses as their heroes and heroines were confronted with
unsettling events that kept them--and me--on edge, wondering what lurked in the
darkness, in the fog, in the shadows.... (And of course there was the
short-lived, deliciously dark Silhouette Shadows line. Hopefully I'm not the
only one around here who was a fan!) I loved all those stories that delivered
those great thrills and chills, but with a guaranteed happy ending and the
knowledge that they wouldn't get too dark or depressing.
When I started planning my Stranger books in the fall of
2000 (yes, it really was that long ago), the line had mostly moved away from
those types of stories, and frankly, I missed them. Naturally, I also had long
wanted to try writing a spooky story of my own. So I started thinking...
As it often does with this kind of story, it all began
with the house. I thought of an old house, isolated at the end of a street. All
of the other houses on the street are nice-looking and well-kept, but not this
one. It was likely beautiful once, but now it’s crumbling, falling apart. The
lawn is overgrown, many of the windows are covered by boards. Clearly no one
lives here or has for some time. Why not? What happened in this house that would
prevent anyone from wanting to live there?
In most of these kinds of stories, it seemed to be the
heroine whose past was connected to the place, so I knew I wanted to do it a
little differently and have it be the hero in my story. So why was the heroine
drawn to this house? I imagined a woman traveling alone, with nowhere to be and
nowhere to go. She's drifting, lost because of events in her recent past. She
finds herself in a small town she’s never been before, somewhere she had no
intention of going and doesn’t intend to stay. But she gets lost in the town and
finds herself at the end of this street, in front of this crumbling old house.
Once there, she can’t look away. Something in her responds to this house. It’s
all alone, as she is. Worse for wear, as she is. It seems abandoned, as she has
been. She notices an ancient, faded For Sale sign in front of the house. She has
experience restoring houses, and in a fit of inspiration--or madness--she
decides that she is going to save this house.
In her determination, she doesn’t notice the eagerness of
the real estate agent who sells her the house. She doesn’t ask too many
questions about why the house is in such bad shape and why it’s been abandoned.
The only thing that matters is that she’s going to save this house, when, of
course, what she’s really trying to save is herself. But someone doesn’t want
her in that house, someone who will do anything to try to drive her from it. All
alone in this crumbling house, she soon realizes she has no allies in this town.
It's only when another stranger suddenly arrives in town and agrees to work for
her when no one else would that she has someone on her side. But naturally,
there's more to him than there seems...
It wasn't until last year when I finally got to write this
story, and as is usually the case, things changed from the early idea stage.
Considering the townspeople’s dislike of the house, it didn’t seem likely anyone
would want to talk to two strangers in town about what happened there. The story
would work better if one of them had an obvious connection to the town. The
nature of the plot meant it couldn’t be the hero, so I changed it so that the
heroine had inherited the house. The reason she’s alone was also changed
slightly (what I originally intended was a little too close to what I
inadvertently used in my previous book, TRUSTING A STRANGER). Otherwise it
remains the tale I waited years to tell—the story of a house, a woman and a
mystery—and the stranger who comes to be entangled with all three.
While there weren't many spooky stories in the line
anymore when I first came up with the idea, times have changed and happily
they’ve found a home again in Intrigue over the past decade. Even so, I wasn’t
sure if the editors would go for my story. So I was thrilled when they not only
liked it, but decided it would be the first in the new "Shivers" promotion,
which promises to bring plenty more spine-tingling tales to Intrigue readers in
the months ahead.
To celebrate (and because I'm the kind of person who
foists books on people that I think they should read
),
I'm giving away a set of two classic Intrigue chillers that I loved, in as close
to "new" condition as I could find. They are: 
Hand in Glove by Anne Stuart
Judith Daniels knew that her friend, Lacey, feared for her
life. And when Lacey died suddenly, Judith was convinced that her death had not
been an accident. Desperate to learn the truth, she applied for Lacey's job at
Ryan Smith's puppet factory.
Her task proved difficult. The voices behind the puppets
were cleverly disguised. So were the people involved, for each one--like Judith
herself--seemed to have something to hide. Even Ryan Smith, the creative genius
of the group, was deliberately evasive.
Then it was Judith's turn to fear for her own life....
Dead Opposites by Bethany Campbell
Eerie sounds...
that went bump in the night were part of Hawthorne
Towers's history. When Ginnie Prince heard rumors that the building was haunted,
she decided it was time to move. But her decision was made too late. For when
she arrived home one evening, she found more than an empty apartment.
Ex-Marine Wayne Priborski was starting his life over,
alone, and didn't want to know his neighbors at Hawthorne Towers. However, he
had no choice after encountering Ginnie stumbling down the marble staircase of
the old Victorian building, unable to stand, fright evident in her eyes as she
numbly told him there was a dead body in her bathtub.
I’ll draw one winner from today’s commenters to receive
both books. For those who don't win, the books are well-worth hunting down,
because they deserve to be read. And of course, if you’d like to try my own take
on a spine-tingling romantic mystery, STRANGER IN A SMALL TOWN is available now!
I'll be back on Monday, May 10, 2010 with a new post and to pick the
winner. So how about you? Do you love your romantic suspense with that creepy,
chilling edge? Any old favorites of your own you’d like to mention?
www.kerryconnor.com
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