Thursday's Interview - Chris Redding

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

Romantic Suspense. It chose me. I tried writing straight romance and always ended up with some kind of crime.

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

3. Is there any genre you'd like to try?

Romantic comedy sounds fun. Or is there one you wouldn't? I don't think I could do historicals as I never read them and don't like history.

4. What fiction do you read for pleasure?

I actually read a lot of different stuff. Thrillers and suspense, mostly with some kind of literature for my book club.

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

I live in New Jersey, but was born and bred in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I've been writing since I was ten, but for publication only for the last 13 years. I went to Penn State and am a diehard Lions fan. I follow Eagles football.

6. Which of your characters is your favorite?

I think Trey McCrane my hero in Blonde Demolition which will be out next year. He's such a bad boy. So not like my husband. Trey know what a woman wants and he knows what he wants.

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

There are always villains. I just think of people that have pissed me off in the past and voila they are villains.

8. What are you working on now?

I should begin editing Blonde Demoltion soon. Until then I'm working on a middle grade novel, but I'm not ready to talk about that yet.

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

A View to a Kilt is the next book out. I wrote it awhile ago so I actually don't remember what inspired it.

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


Waking up next to a dead guy can ruin your whole day.

At least interior decorator Miriam Stokes’ thought so.

The Philadelphia Police Detective whose name she couldn’t remember talked soothingly to her, making her feel, not better, but at least calmer.
As calm as anyone could feel after finding a dead body. How did she get herself into these things?

Sipping coffee Miriam didn’t remember asking for, she eyed the cop as they sat in a flowered living room. Her friend Joe’s neighbor owned said living room. The friend she just found dead.

She tried to keep eye contact with Detective. . .Dasher, Dancer? Some reindeer name.

She could see him clearly now, her vision returning to normal.

“So you woke up and he was dead. Didn’t you hear a shot?”

After swallowing the scalding liquid, she answered him. “No detective. I do sleep very soundly, but I think I had help from this bump on the side of my head.”

To indicate the injury, she pulled away the bag of ice she held to her head. The ice had appeared sometime after the first patrolman. The lump began to throb, but Donner only glanced at her head. Instead, he scribbled some notes in a small pad.

How many murders does one have to see to get so matter-of-fact about them? Miriam shuddered.

“Could I at least get dressed? I feel a little vulnerable in my pajamas,” she told him.

Donner. The detective had introduced himself as Donner. He looked her over as if making a decision. He nodded, glancing around the apartment. “Do you have any clothes?”

She nodded towards Joe’s apartment.

“When they remove. . .” he murmured, then grimaced. She caught his meaning.
He turned his brown eyes back to her. “We’ll work things out. I just have a few more questions for you. Then we’ll go downtown.”

Miriam nodded. Who would do this to Joe?

“How long have you known the deceased?”

She let the hand holding the ice fall while the other hand rested her coffee on the table. She massaged her right temple. The hushed voices of cops in the hallway wafted past her. She wondered of she would ever get the blood smell out of her nose.