Long and Short Reviews welcomes Kat Martin back again as she celebrates her next release INTO THE FURY, out Jan 26th. Leave a comment or ask Kat a question for a chance to win a copy of Against the Tide (paperback for US commenters/Nook or Kindle for international).
Welcome back, Kat. What are you passionate about these days?
Politics–what is happening to our country.
If you could apologize to someone in your past, who would it be?
I recently forgave a person from my past. Does that count?
Is there a writer you idolize? If so who?
Nora Roberts. So talented and always a solid read.
What would we find under your bed?
A travel clothes bar– what I use to get ready for long trips.
What makes you happy?
A nice glass of wine, a warm fire, and a great book.
Tell us about the absolute BEST fan letter you have received.
I got a letter from the coach of the Houston Oilers–seriously! He read a book of mine called Creole Fires and really liked it. A guy with the guts to read a romance! Gotta love it!
Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to go?
Paris is my favorite city in the world, but I have been there 5 times. I might like to go to Seville, Spain. Or back to Rome.
Do you have a favorite quote or saying?
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” Calvin Coolidge
This is long, but it’s been taped above my desk for twenty years.
What is something you’d like to accomplish in your writing career next year?
I would like to break out of the spot I have held for the past few years and sell more books. I’d also like to increase my ebook audience. Ebook sales are extremely important to continued success in the writing business.
If you could have one paranormal ability, what would it be?
Actually I already have a little paranormal ability. It shows in every book I write. I think many authors have this feeling.
A bodyguard, a bounty hunter, a P.I.—the men of Brodie Operations Security Service, In. are down for the job…
Sinners, whores, and sluts beware—your time is at hand: a faceless menace is threatening lingerie models on a cross country tour, and Ethan Brodie is there to defend and protect.
Ethan’s learned the hard way that beauty is no substitute for character. So even though Valentine Hart is one of the most breathtaking women he’s ever seen, he’s keeping his hands off and his eyes open. Or that’s what he tells himself.
Then one of the models is murdered, and the closer Ethan gets to the answers, the closer he finds himself to Valentine—and the hotter the pressure feels. There’s more to Val—more to the other girls—than he could have guessed. But one is keeping a secret that could kill them all.
Enjoy an excerpt:
SINNERS, SLUTS, and WHORES–BEWARE. Your TIME is at HAND.
Standing next to the long mahogany table in the conference room, Ethan Brodie re-read the note he’d just been handed. Printed on a plain sheet of white paper, the words were typed in different fonts and sizes, all of them in big bold letters.
Fairly old-school for the twenty-first century, Ethan thought. But then, email was a helluva lot easier to trace.
The client, Matthew Carlyle, was Head of Operations for La Belle Lingerie, a retail fashion chain, kind of a knock-off of Victoria’s Secret with slightly less expensive garments. In his mid forties, five-ten, lean and fit, Carlyle had silver-threaded dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a thin scar that ran close to his ear along his jaw.
The other man in the room was Ethan’s boss, his cousin Ian, owner of Brodie Operations Security Services, Inc.
“I imagine in the lingerie business you get notes like this all the time,” Ethan said to Carlyle.
“We get kooks, all right. Plenty of them.” Carlyle accepted the note Ethan returned. “But a letter like this was mailed to each of our ten top models, sent to them at our flagship store here in Seattle, and the company isn’t happy about it.”
“You talk to the police?”
“Not yet. We’d prefer to handle the problem discreetly, avoid any bad press. That’s why I came to BOSS, Inc. Ian and I have worked together before. I trust him to do the job.”
Ethan turned to his cousin, conservatively dressed in tan slacks and a yellow button-down shirt. While Ian was blond, Ethan was dark-haired, like most of the Brodie men. Both were tall, Ethan taller at six-foot-three. “You have the notes checked for prints?” he asked.
“I did,” Ian said. “Papers were all clean. The letters were mailed out of different post office locations in the area so that led nowhere. Since the models are about to go on tour, Matt’s decided to temporarily beef-up La Belle security, just to be on the safe side.”
“Probably a good idea.” Though Ethan wished someone else was taking the job. The thought of traveling for weeks with a group of air-headed fashion divas was the last thing he wanted. Still, he worked for a living and this was exactly the kind of job he was good at.
Silently communicating his dislike of the assignment, he flicked a hard glance at his cousin, whose blue eyes lit with amusement.
“Ethan’s the best man for the job,” Ian said, not the least repentant. “He’s an ex-cop, worked personal security for some of the top execs in the dot-com business. You can be sure he knows what he’s doing.”
Carlyle nodded. “I read his resume. Looks like he can handle the job.” He returned his attention to Ethan. “Aside from working protection, you’re a private investigator, correct?”
“That’s right. Before I went to work in Seattle, I was a homicide detective on the Dallas police force.”
“Good. I’d really like to find the guy who sent those notes. I’ve got a feeling about this, and I’m not liking it. I’m hoping with your background, you’ll be able to sniff around, talk to the models and the hands backstage. If the guy’s part of the crew, we want him out.”
About the Author: New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. She is married to L.J. Martin, author of western, non-fiction, and suspense novels.
Kat has written more than sixty-five novels. Sixteen million copies of her books are in print and she has been published in twenty foreign countries, including Japan, France, Germany, Argentina, Greece, China, Russia, and Spain.
Born in Bakersfield, California, Kat currently resides in Missoula, Montana, on a small ranch in the beautiful Sapphire mountains.
Her last 10 books have hit the prestigious New York Times bestseller list. AGAINST THE WILD, AGAINST THE SKY, and AGAINST THE TIDE her latest release, took top ten spots.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Buy the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BAM, IndieBound, Kobo, GooglePlay, or iBooks.