I’m excited to have DiAnn Mills guest blogging on my site today! She’s not only a price-winning and best-selling author but an amazing mentor to those who take the Craftsman course. That’s where we met and I’m so grateful. She’s a delight to work with and such an encourager. My writing journey has been enriched with her in it. Thank you DiAnn for everything you’ve done for me.

Grab a coffee (or tea), sit back, and read her blog. At the end you’ll find the book trailer to her newest release, The Survivor. You also have a chance to win it. Check it out. Enjoy!

With every DiAnn Mills book — you can expect an adventure!

Darlene

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Castle Meets Cold Case

I’m an avid fan of TV’s Castle. Got to admit that Richard Castle and Detective Kate Beckett make a great team. Love the plots. Love the witty dialogue. Love the romance between Castle and Beckett. What is there not to love?

When Cold Case aired, I often lost myself in Detective Lilly Rush’s investigations. I admired her spunky personality and her ability to solve tough cold cases. She gave closure to the victims’s families, something no one else could do. I admired that.

When I thought about the two shows, my thoughts raced ahead. What if . . . Castle met Cold Case? What if . . . I switched the characters’ genders and set a suspense series in my home town, Houston? Then I talked to a good friend, who happens to be the media coordinator for Houston’s FBI, and we brainstormed. What if . . . I wrote a series based on solved cold cases from the files of Houston’s FBI? That’s how The Chase and The Survivor became books one and two of Crime Scene: Houston.

The Chase, the first book was birthed over coffee as I talked to my friend and scribbled on napkins. The research was heart-wrenching, but I learned a lot about human behavior. My heroine became Kariss Walker, a New York Times bestselling women’s fiction author. My hero? Special Agent Tigo Harris, a man who had no time or use for a woman writer who wanted to learn FBI procedure.

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The Survivor, the second book in the Crime Scene: Houston series, uses information from a solved cold case that broke my heart. Made me angry. Victims of crime are either needy and dependent, or they are survivors and heroes. In this explosive story, Tigo is an agent in love … but he’s blown it. Kariss is searching for the truth of a twenty-year-old cold case. And we have a killer who will do anything to keep a secret.

I am forever grateful to Houston’s FBI for helping me write this story and for reading every word to ensure protocol was correct. Granted, I stretched a few procedures now and then to fit my characters—after all, I’m a novelist. Even as I write this blog and sneak a look at The Survivor poised on my desk, I swallow the lump in my throat. I take a deep breath and hope the reader feels Kariss’s and Tigo’s passion for this story like I do. It’s real and happening in my city.

Contest!

Now I want to give you an opportunity to talk about your favorite TV show—and why it’s your favorite. If you’re the one who writes the wittiest response to my question, I’ll send you an autographed copy of The Survivor. See if you can figure out the villain!

Contest ends Saturday, March 16th at midnight, so enter today! Put your witty response to DiAnn’s question in the comment section.

DiAnn’s Bio

Best-selling author DiAnn Mills is known as a writer who combines adventure with captivating characters to create unforgettable novels. DiAnn is the author of fifty books that have sold more than 1.5 million copies. Her books have won five ACFW Carol Awards, one Christy Award, and three Inspirational Reader’s Choice Awards. DiAnn and her husband live in sunny Houston, Texas.

Find DiAnn here:

www.diannmills.com

www.facebook.com/diannmills

twitter.com/diannmills

Book Trailer for The Survivor

Read an except from chapter one here:

http://www.diannmills.com/contemporaryfiction/the_survivor.shtml

 

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