Thursday's Interview - Carol Preflatish

. What's your genre or do you write in more than one?

I'm published in romantic suspense and have a two more under consideration with publishers right now. I'm also working on a contemporary mystery series and I'm hoping to have the first book released on Kindle this fall.

2. Did you choose your genre or did it choose you?

I've always like reading mysteries and then many years ago I started reading romances and the two just came together for me.

3. Is there any genre you'd like to try? Or is there one you wouldn't?

Both answers are the same. I'd love to try writing a romantic comedy. I think I have a great sense of humor, but when it comes to trying to write it, I'm pretty sure I would fail.

4. What fiction do you read for pleasure?

My favorite authors are all mystery writers. I love James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. I also enjoy reading Lisa Gardner and the late Robert B. Parker.

5. Tell me a bit about yourself and how long you've been writing.

I'm married and live in rural southern Indiana. I work as a Human Services Consultant as my day job and spend a few hours at night and mostly on the weekends working on my manuscripts. I started writing in 2000 when my New Year's Resolution was to write and finish a manuscript. I succeeded in doing that and I was hooked.

6. Which of your characters is your favorite?

My favorite character is the one I am writing about in my mystery series. He's a police detective in a small fictional town in Massachusetts.

7. Are there villains in your books and how were they created?

Absolutely, I have villains. I love creating them. Sometimes I get ideas for them in news articles or the tv news, but mostly I just create them in my head.

8. What are you working on now?

I have two manuscripts that I jump around with. One is contemporary romance about a millionaire falling for a struggling culinary student working her way through school and the other is the mystery series I mentioned.

9. What's your latest release and how did the idea arrive?

As of the time I am being interviewed, I have a romantic suspense out called "Love, Lies & Deceit." It's about a female rookie CIA officer who falls in love with her training partner. Then, when he's arrested for treason, she risks everything to help him find out who set him up.

I've always been a sucker for spies. My first love was Illya Kuryakin from the Man from U.N.C.L.E. After that, I couldn't get enough of the television show Mission Impossible. Finally, I have all of the James Bond movies with Roger Moore or Sean Connery. However, my favorite spy was and still is my husband. In the Army, he was a counter-intelligence agent. I didn't know him back then, but he has been invaluable with the technical stuff in my books. I love writing about spies.

10. Tell me about your latest book and how it came about. Enclose the opening of the book around 400 words.

You can view the trailer for my book at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ha_5Ght3O0

"Love, Lies & Deceit" is a available as a Kindle download or in other formats from my publisher. You can find the purchase links on my website at http://CarolPre.webs.com


Late, Julie McBride thought Traffic on the Beltway around Washington, D.C. had crawled. She drove through the security gate and spotted a parking place. Just before she reached the spot, a black Jaguar cut her off.




She slapped the steering wheel. “Bastard!” She wished she had that heat vision like Superman. She’d like to heat up that guy’s six, as her fighter pilot ex-boyfriend called his derriere. Instead, she gave him a cold stare. Eyes squinted into tight slits.





The man, dressed in a black three-piece suit and wearing dark sunglasses, climbed out of his car. He looked right at her while pressing the security lock on his key chain and gave her a little wave before heading toward the main building of the complex.





After several trips up and down rows of cars she found an empty spot to park. Julie stepped out of her car, thankful that she had dressed in slacks and low heels. She started jogging to the main building.




As she neared the entrance, she noticed a few other people heading to the building and wondered if it could be their first day also. Not paying attention to her surroundings, she was startled when two men wearing security uniforms quickly grabbed her arms and escorted her to the sidewalk.




“What’s the rush, ma’am?” one officer asked.




“This is my first day at work here and I’m supposed to be at an orientation on the fourth floor at 9:00." She sighed, "I’m late, I'm really late.”




“Do you have some identification?” the other officer asked.




She fished her driver’s license from her bag and handed it to the officer who took it and stepped aside. She watched as he talked into a microphone attached to his shirt at the shoulder. People were beginning to stare as they hurried by and Julie could only imagine that her face had turned as red as her hair.




“Here’s your ID, Miss McBride. For future reference, there’s no running in the parking area. It makes us very nervous,” he said, with a smile.




“Thank you and I’m sorry. I’ll remember next time.”




“You can pick up your security badge at the front desk through those glass doors,” the officer said, motioning toward the front of the building. “Oh, and welcome to the CIA.”




***





Thanks so much for hosting me here today, Janet.