Grayce Walters Series
Category
Meet the cast of characters from 'An Inner Fire'
My contemporary romantic mystery series featuring Grayce Walters includes a colorful cast of characters. I carefully developed each one so they would bring something unique to the series. James, Grayce’s cross-dressing best friend, is her faith sidekick, but he also adds a bit of comic relief to contrast the darker elements of the stories. By-the-book hunky arson investigator Ewan Davis is Grayce’s love interest, but his straight-laced logical nature contradicts Grayce’s intuitive approach to life. Hollie Thomas, Grayce’s feisty, tattooed office assistant, represents today’s younger pop culture element.
Included in the lineup, and just as important as any human character, is Seattle, Washington. I use specific locations and features of the city when I am plotting scenes in order to lend authenticity and realism to the story.
What makes Seattle a great “character” for a romantic mystery series? I’m happy to share my top five reasons.
- Seattle’s proximity to Mt. Rainier–58 miles—offers potential for natural disaster scenarios.
- As a port city on the border of Canada, Seattle is a logical location for stories that include international intrigue such as smuggling or terrorism.
- There are numerous naval bases on the islands surround Seattle. Think military action, submarine subterfuge and heroic service men and women.
- Seattle’s weather is notoriously dark and gray and rainy, which is equally good for setting up a cozy romantic interlude or bad guy skulking around.
- Seattle is home to several high-tech icons, such as Microsoft and Amazon, which translates into corporate espionage, telecommunications disruptions or worse!
Meet all of the characters in An Inner Fire. Available on Amazon or read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited.
#BlackFriday Freebie - Women Under Fire
Treat yourself to this romantic suspense freebie. Women Under Fire, book 2 in my Grayce Walters series, is FREE for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers. Read the excerpt and then one-click!
A hot summer night—perfect for Mariners baseball. Davis gazed over at the empty seat and swallowed against the feelings tightening his throat. These were the same seats he and his dad had shared for years of cold, rainy baseball seasons. His dad should have been here, awaiting Felix Hernandez’s first pitch.
Davis kept scanning the crowd for Grayce as the stadium filled. She had been detained in her veterinarian office to take care of a yellow lab that had indulged in an overdose of chocolate.
He watched Hernandez go through his warm up. Armed with his wicked split finger fastball, Hernandez had the mojo to go up against tonight’s strong Red Sox batting order. The pitcher’s predictable ritual of rubbing down the ball with both hands, smoothing the mound with his right foot, didn’t bring the usual comfort. For Davis, the familiar rituals of baseball were fused with loss.
“Davis, what great seats.” Grayce scrambled over the men in the aisle to get to the center.
What the hell was she wearing? His dad’s cronies, the old lechers, were watching her sashay toward the middle seat in her short shorts and a tight top showcasing her snug yoga body.
He was suddenly hot and irritated. What was she thinking wearing that outfit? Where were her usual blue jeans? And her ponytail? She had pinned her dazzling blonde hair on top of her head and little wisps of hair clung to her graceful neck. Davis took a deep breath. He was in shorts and a t-shirt, but hell, he looked nothing like luscious Grayce.
“Davis, what’s the matter?” Grayce slipped into the seat next to him. She had no clue that she had just heated the entire male fan section.
He pulled her close and pressed a hard, possessive kiss to her lips.
Shouts came from behind. “Davis, you’re killin’ us man.”
There were more hoots and loud laughs. He knew what was on the men’s minds; the same thing that rampaged through his body. Grayce’s face turned red, either from the heat or his demanding kiss.
Her green eyes were rounded in surprise. “I’m glad to see you, too.”
“How’s your patient?” His voice was gruff.
“Recovering. Gus ate half of a Martha Stewart chocolate ganache cake. He had a few tremors, nothing like Mitzi.”
“Mitzi was poisoned.” He still couldn’t believe that bastard had come after his dog during his last investigation.
He looked down at Grayce. His height gave him full view of Grayce’s cleavage. His mind drifted away from criminals.
“Davis, your face is bright red. Is this heat bothering you?”
It took all his control not to comment that it was her exposed body causing the blood to flow in hot rushes through his body. He had learned early from his sisters never to criticize what a woman wore. Never. He was struggling to find a happy balance, somewhere between frustration and lust.
“Do you like my new shoes?” Grayce stretched out her toned leg. “They’re called espadrilles. James talked me into them.”
Davis admired her finely shaped leg. Her shoes tied with a ribbon that wrapped around her delicate ankle. He wanted to untie that ribbon. He took a deep breath, trying not to betray his rapid breathing. How could a woman’s shoe affect him this much? Damn James. It was just like Grayce’s best friend, a cross-dresser, to find the sexiest shoes.
The blood thundered in his head. Oblivious to his friends and the game, Davis stood, pretending interest in Felix’s position at home plate to give himself time to control his need to ravish Grayce. Grayce stood when he did. She pressed her warm woman’s body against his side. He was in trouble.
“Man, Davis, down!”
Davis and Grayce both sat.
“Do you know everyone in this section?” Grayce asked.
“Just the ones you’re driving crazy.”
“What?”
“Your outfit…men like that kind of outfit. And your shoes are…”
Grayce looked at him. “My outfit? I’m in shorts and tank top…just like every other woman here.”
Davis ran his hand along her toned thigh. “But you don’t look like every woman here. You look…you look so damn perfect.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. “You make me forget I’m at a baseball game. You make me want to go home.”
ABOUT THE BOOK
Life has heated up for Grayce Walters: thrust into the public eye and hounded by the media after solving an arson case with a critical clue from a French Poodle. When Ewan Davis, the sexy arson investigator Grayce has been steaming things up with, starts talking commitment, she definitely feels the burn.
Then a desperate mother begs Grayce to help find her missing daughter—an Afghanistan war veteran suffering from PTSD, and Grayce reluctantly takes on the case, following a disturbing clue provided by the missing young woman’s cat. Calling once again on the aid of her cross-dressing best friend and her shrewd assistant, Grayce uncovers a terrorist plot with chilling international implications.
Grayce races to rescue the young veteran before the escalating danger explodes. But if she manages to escape the threat, will she find the courage to commit to the fiery passion that awaits her wrapped in Davis’s arms?
No Dog Left Behind - A network of heroes
Animal rescue efforts have grown from local shelters that take in strays and abandoned pets to sophisticated networks that transport animals to new homes and bright futures aboard airplanes.
Talk about inspiration for an author!
I recently read an article on ConsumersAdvocate about one such organization. Pittsburgh Aviation Animal Rescue Team (PAART) works to transport at-risk animals by networking with other rescue groups, shelters and adoption organizations. To maximize efficiency of their efforts, PAART fills their planes with food and supplies, often providing desperately needed supplies for shelters that are over-crowded, which often leads to euthanizing healthy animals.
Transporting pets and animals via airplanes may seem extreme, but consider a geographic area that has been hit with a major disaster such as a hurricane or flood. In a case like this, the region is not able to provide resources for the sudden increase in lost or abandoned animals. Relocating these animals to a region not impacted by disaster offers more resources and individuals who are able to rehome and/or care for them.
I’m sure my readers would fall for a strong, alpha hero in a contemporary romantic suspense novel, like my Grayce Walters series, who showed a soft spot for animals. A pilot who volunteers with a fictional organization based on PAART sounds good to me!
Top 5 Military-themed Shows to Binge-watch
It’s the weekend – yeah! With inclement weather continuing throughout the country, it might be a good weekend to binge-watch something on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime or any of the other on-demand streaming services.
The proliferation of military-themed shows has made it easy for me to binge-watch my favorite type of hero: The Warrior. It’s the complex mix of characteristics that make these heroes so compelling: disciplined yet daring, stoic yet passionate, strong yet vulnerable.
Here is my list of top 5 military-themed shows to binge-watch — all in the name of research for my contemporary romantic suspense books, of course!
SEAL Team – The lives of the elite Navy S.E.A.L.s as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous, high-stakes missions our country can ask.
The Brave – The complex world of our bravest military heroes who make personal sacrifices while executing the most challenging and dangerous missions behind enemy lines.
Valor – The boundaries between military discipline and human desire are tested on a U.S. Army base that houses an elite unit of helicopter pilots trained to perform clandestine international and domestic missions. The drama unfolds in the present as well as in flashbacks to a failed mission involving one of the first female pilots in the unit, ultimately uncovering layers of personal and government/military secrets and leading to a season-long plan to rescue a group of MIA soldiers.
The Last Ship – After a global viral pandemic wipes out over 80% of the world’s population, the crew (consisting of 218 people) of a lone unaffected U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS Nathan James (DDG-151), must try to find a cure, stop the virus, and save humanity.
Six – Navy SEAL Team Six attempt to eliminate a Taliban leader in Afghanistan when they discover an American citizen working with the enemy.
What’s your favorite military-themed show to binge watch?
Undercover Danger ~ Excerpt from 'Women Under Fire'
Angie stood motionless in the shadow of a misshapen cypress tree. The setting summer sun of Seattle didn’t relieve the cold frisson of danger or the press of her revolver’s cold metal against her skin. Although it had been months since her last reconnaissance mission, her body recognized the drill and tightened into high alert.
Splatters of fading sunlight danced across the sagging house. Official yellow tape was wrapped around the turn of the century beauty like a Christmas bow on a crushed, forgotten present. A “condemned” sign was nailed to the warped door. The crumbling front steps looked like their weight bearing days were a distant memory.
Not sure how to proceed, she waited and watched the abandoned house in the residential Ravenna neighborhood until it got dark. Should she take the squatters unaware? Surprise Maddy before she could run?
She moved from her hiding place to investigate the back of the house. The yard was littered with broken glass, smashed Styrofoam carryout containers, and plastic bags mired in mud from the wet Northwest summer. She stepped over the yellow tape that was haphazardly hung around the back steps, turned the handle, and then pulled open the back door. It was unlocked. The rusting hinges screeched.
“Maddy, it’s Angie from your VA group.” She reverted to her forceful military command voice. “I’m coming in.”
When the door was thrown wide open, small dark bodies—rats—scurried away. Dread raced down her spine into the tips of her toes. God, she hated rats. This rat hole was worse than anything she had seen during her tours of duty in Afghanistan.
She stepped gingerly over the bags of garbage strewn on the uneven linoleum floor. The smell of the years of neglect and black mold hit her sensitive nose. She tried not to breathe. All of her senses heightened in the darkness, an internal radar honed from door-to-door urban combat. She took another two steps, listening for sounds other than the resident rodents.
“It’s Angie from your VA group.” She wasn’t too worried about handling a high Maddy, but handling her companions might get tricky. After eight years as a Marine, she was used to tricky. And after everything Maddy had gone through in Afghanistan, Angie wasn’t about to let her friend descend into another hell.
She reached in the pocket of her jeans for her tiny penlight as she walked into the dark dining room. The light of her flashlight reflected back at her from a cracked mirror hanging over the fireplace, then a sudden, shiny motion. Before she could react, a bright burst of pain exploded in her head. She fought against overpowering blackness.