Setting as Character

Some settings speak to me, building an image that resonates and stays with me even when I’ve finished reading or writing the book. I like working with a setting that inspires immediate recognition and gut reaction. Whether it’s a warm sense of coming home to a Texas homestead, struggling through knee-deep snow in a storm-socked town in the frozen north, or a fog-encased stretch of coastline, breeding an aura of gloom and terror, I like to immerse in the world and get to know it, intimately.

In DEADLY RECKONING, my first book with Harlequin Romantic Suspense, I knew the setting before I knew the characters. I wanted to build a story around Oregon’s rocky coastline. Add a recurring fog, labeled by the locals as the Devil’s Shroud and all sorts of horrible things can happen. I sank into the setting and the story unfolded, the place providing beauty and danger, at times giving the antagonist sanctuary and blocking the hero from finding the killer. A place with interesting characteristics and weather phenomena that makes it come as alive as a character--a setting ripe for a murder mystery.

Feel like taking a stroll along a rocky coastline, afraid of the dark and the fog, looking for a hero to save the day? Join me in Oregon with a spine-tingling suspense in a spooky world that will stay with you even after you finish the book.

"You win for now, but it isn't over."

Trouble has followed pregnant artist Kayla Davies to a picturesque Oregon town where she hopes to paint away memories of a brutal attack. Instead she finds herself again gripped by fear when a woman's murder and an eerily familiar stalker coincide with her arrival. Someone is watching her...and disappearing into the dreaded fog called The Devil's Shroud.

Shaken, Kayla finds comfort in the arms of Gabe McGregor, the hard-bodied town sheriff and single dad. Though he and Kayla share a powerful attraction, neither wants anything beyond an earthshaking fling. Too many lies and secrets have come between them--until another vicious attack on Kayla changes everything.

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