Monday, February 06, 2012

K. Dawn Byrd

Welcome to K. Dawn Byrd, today's guest.
Cover blurb:
When Zoe Mack moves in with her grandparents to start college, she's thrown into more mystery than she bargained for. Her cousin, Emma, is terrorized by a stalker who breaks into her house and leaves a photo-shopped image of Emma hanging from a tree. Nothing is as it seems and Emma soon learns that even the man she thinks she can trust is suspect.

Zoe can't wait to reunite with Nate, the bad boy who doesn't talk about his feelings much, but the passionate kiss he gave her last summer had to have meant something. When she arrives back in town and discovers that he's in trouble with the law, she must take matters into her own hands in order to clear his name. She has her hands full with a needy Emma, a cop who gives her the creeps, and Nate, the guy she desperately wants to call her own. Can Zoe solve the mystery, clear Nate's name, and make him fall in love with her?

Writing Mysteries
Thanks for hosting me! You asked how it came about that I wrote a mystery. Zoe Mack and The Secret of the Love Letters is the first book in a new young adult mystery series. I like to call it, mystery heavy on the romance.

I grew up with Nancy Drew books. I must have read every one in the school library. Twice. The first Nancy Drew books I owned were a paperback collection in a special slipcase that were given to me as a gift by an elderly friend of the family. I still have those books and they're a prized part of my collection. At last count, I had over 1,000 Nancy Drew books, many of them dating back to the 1930s.

I love a good mystery, but I love romance also. Unfortunately, there aren't that many books that combine the two. Also, I like to read about characters who are little older than high school. That said, I wrote what I like to read.

Zoe Mack and her boyfriend, Nate Neitch, have graduated high school and are waiting to start college when Love Letters begins. Since I believe there's something missing from any book that doesn't have a good romance, going I wrote quite a bit of romance into the series.

I just finished the second book, Zoe Mack & A Case of Fatal Attraction, which will be out in June. The third book in the series, as yet unnamed, will release in December.

I've written a little bit of everything. Romantic suspense. Historical (WWII) romantic suspense. Contemporary romance. Young adult romance. I have to say, that mysteries are the most challenging to write. Everything has to come together like jigsaw puzzle. There must be clues, suspects, red herrings, and main characters who are believable, likeable, and capable.


I appreciate Martha so much and her getting together the cozy basket that will go to one lucky winner. In addition, I'll throw in a free download of Zoe Mack and The Secret of the Love Letters.

The "basket" is one to cozy up with on a winter's night. Cozy socks, a mug, tea bags, hot chocolate, instant coffee giving you a choice of beverages as well as cozy mytery or two to curl up and read are among the items to be included. The drawing will take place Friday. Have fun.

To register to win, please answer this question in the comment section, What is your favorite genre to read and why?