Tuesday Teaser - Brenda Carnegie

A few weeks ago, I was asked to share the backgrounds of each of the main characters in the Black Swamp Mysteries series. Last Tuesday, I talked about Dylan Maguire and the week before, it was Vicki Boyd. Today, it's Brenda Carnegie.

Brenda Carnegie has a secret… many secrets, as it turns out.

Separated from her older sister Vicki Boyd when their parents were killed in an airplane accident, Brenda grew up in Robeson County, North Carolina. She is equally at home trudging through alligator-infested swamps as she is shooting a gun, tending a bullet wound, evading police—and committing computer crimes.

Brenda is an opportunist, especially when it comes to hacking into websites and secure databases, participating in shell companies and cybercrime, and amassing a fortune that must, for her own preservation, be held in off-shore accounts and out of the reach of the United States government. She’s quick, she’s street savvy, and she’s often sexually charged.

She also doesn’t trust anyone. She prefers the dark side, living life on the edge, moving through her life alone and capable of changing her plans on a moment’s notice. She has a very high tolerance for pain which holds her in good stead on many a gritty occasion.

She made her first appearance in Exit 22 when her partner-in-crime is murdered by a hired assassin—and the hitman comes after her. But her real secrets begin to spill in Secrets of a Dangerous Woman—secrets that reach to the highest levels of government and beyond, and which could very well get her killed.

And if the Black Swamp Mysteries series was made into a movie, who would play Brenda Carnegie? My pick would be Lindsay Lohan, who could play this bad girl very well.

Next week: Christopher Sandige.

Tuesday Teaser

So many people loved Brenda Carnegie and Chris Sandige in Exit 22 that it spawned the Black Swamp Mysteries series. In Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, they are reunited--along with Dylan and Vicki. Here's the scene in which Chris sees Brenda again:

Chris strode purposefully across the kitchen and grasped Brenda in his arms, pulling her to him like she weighed no more than a rag doll. One hand gripped her hair, his fingers ensnared in the thick tresses as they moved upward to her head, drawing her face up to his as his lips found hers.

Then they are spinning to the side as Chris backed Brenda against the side of the refrigerator, driving her against the hard surface with unbridled passion. She met his efforts with a husky moan and as he began to pull back, she grabbed his head and pulled him back to her, her eyes opening momentarily to reveal a fire burning from within.

The knowledge that he should not be gawking began to wash over Dylan and he forced himself to draw his eyes away from them. As he moved past them to the doorway they continued their reunion as if they were oblivious of his presence.

As he stepped into the hallway, Vicki moved toward the kitchen but he caught her and pulled her away.

"No, darlin'," he said gently as he pulled the door closed behind them, "they need to be alone."

Teaser Tuesday

I am beginning a new weekly series entitled Teaser Tuesday. Each Tuesday, I'll be providing a short excerpt from one of my books.

This week's teaser is from Secrets of a Dangerous Woman. Irishman Dylan Maguire, a CIA operative, is speaking with Vicki Boyd, his lover and a CIA psychic spy.

"What was that text message really about?" Vicki asked.

"Sam," Dylan said. "I'm on standby tonight."

"For what?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I never know what he's gonna have me do. Sometimes I'm injurin' a man just to hear him talk. Other times I'm pretendin' to be someone I'm not..."

"We need to talk."

"Ooh."

"Why'd you say that?"

"I didn't hear m'self say anythin'."

"Yes, you did. You breathed strange."

"Are we micromanagin' the way I breathe now?"

"No."

"Okay, then."

"There's something on my mind."

"Ooh," he said.

"There you go again."

"It's just when a woman you're livin' with says there's somethin' on her mind in that tone o' voice, it can mean only three thin's. She wants a ring. She wants a baby. Or she wants somebody to move out. And it's usually not 'er."

An Excerpt

Here's an excerpt from Secrets of a Dangerous Woman:

Brenda was taller than her sister. His chest touched her back as he leaned on the door, her hair brushing against his face and flowing downward nearly to the top of his jeans. She smelled of Vicki’s shampoo and Vicki’s perfume.

“Where the bloody hell do you think you’re goin’?” Dylan said.

She didn’t answer but continued facing the door.

“Put the gun down, Red,” he said calmly.

“Since you remember me,” she said, still with her back against him, “you know I didn’t have a gun.”

“I know that you’ve got me gun in your right hand. And I know as soon as you turn around, that gun is goin’ to be pointed at me chest.”

“Let me go, Irish. Don’t make me shoot you.”

“There are two things I won’t be allowin’ to happen. First, you’re not gonna shoot me with me own gun. And second, they won’t be catchin’ you with me gun on you. They won’t be tracin’ you back to me.”

She remained motionless and he could almost hear her mind racing. “I’m bad news, Irish. You and I both know it. It’s better this way.”

“It’s better that you stay here. You’re safe here.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think I just said it.”

“I’m turning around,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “And I’m handing you the gun.”

He moved slightly away from the door, dropping his arms from around her head as she turned around. He took the gun from her hand and set it on the kitchen table beside them.

“I wish I’d met you before she did. We would have been good together.”

His eyes followed her jawline, her full lips, a slightly wide, upturned nose, her high cheekbones, and a mountain of copper hair a man could get lost in. Then his eyes moved to her perfect brows, one raised slightly, coquettishly, before stopping to peer into her mesmerizing amber eyes. “We would have been dangerous together.”

On Writing

Today I am visiting Lisa Haselton as I continue my book tour for Secrets of a Dangerous Woman. Lisa asked me some interesting questions, including where I feel my muse the most; what the greatest challenge is in writing my current Black Swamp Mysteries series; and what I am working on now.

I am often asked if I get writer's block and I can honestly say that I never have. The ideas seem to come from everywhere: every person I meet, every news story I read, every place I visit.

Do you ever experience writer's block? What does it take for you to feel your muse?

Please visit me at Lisa Haselton's, read the interview and leave a comment!

Secrets of a Dangerous Woman

My 14th book was released earlier this month and I'm really happy to say it has come out of the starting gate at a gallop. For the first time ever, the eBook was released a month before the printed edition. The excitement has been building and in a few weeks, I will embark on an around-the-world blog tour - 21 stops in 21 days.

Secrets of a Dangerous Woman is part of the Black Swamp Mysteries series. It is set in Lumberton, North Carolina, where the black water of the Lumber River snakes through town. It's the perfect place to hide a body.

The town is a step back to yesteryear with its wide historic streets, trees overhanging to meet in the middle of the street like two ancient friends shaking hands...

And it's the site where a group of operatives gather, ready for their next CIA mission.

Vicki Boyd is a psychic spy who can travel to any longitude and latitude and report back to our government on exactly who and what is there;

Dylan Maguire is an undercover operative on his first CIA mission in Secrets of a Dangerous Woman;

Brenda Carnegie is a computer hacker who prefers to live on the wrong side of the law; and it's her illegal exploits that have her in Dylan's crosshairs as he undergoes his first mission: to interrogate her.

Christopher Sandige is a political strategist who is infatuated with the beautiful and mysterious Brenda but who may find he could risk too much to find her and keep her safe;

And when Brenda escapes from Dylan's custody, it's obvious that she had help from within the CIA's own ranks. With Vicki Boyd's help, Dylan finds her again. But now his mission has changed. Now he must discover why some in the highest government offices want her killed -- and others will risk everything to help her.

And when he discovers her true identity, his mission has just become very personal.

Buy it today at amazon: Kindle or in printed form. Also available at all fine book stores and for iPad, Nook and other eReaders!

Femme Fatale

The character of Brenda Carnegie in Exit 22 was inspired by Kathleen Turner more than 20 years before Exit 22 was published.

In 1981, Kathleen Turner starred with William Hurt in the movie Body Heat. Her voice was deep, sultry and hypnotic. It would be the kind of voice that Christopher Sandige described in Exit 22 as "husky, the kind of voice a woman wakes up with but is gone before her lipstick is on" when describing Brenda Carnegie.



In Body Heat, Kathleen Turner sizzles. It was that sexiness that I tried to convey with Brenda Carnegie, the type of woman who instantly has a hold on the man she makes love to... Even when the man begins to wonder if she's operating on the wrong side of the law.

In Exit 22, Christopher Sandige is a political strategist who is traveling south on Interstate 95 when he's involved in an automobile accident at Exit 22 in North Carolina. Stranded for the weekend in Lumberton, he meets Brenda Carnegie and is instantly attracted. Her eyes are such a light shade of brown that they turn amber in some lights, and he finds himself mesmerized by them. The eyes were inspired by this picture.

Even when Chris is pulled into a double homicide and finds himself running from the law and a sociopathic assassin determined to kill him and Brenda, he can not pull himself away from her, preferring to risk losing everything simply to have her.

Brenda is the type of woman who is equally at home seducing a man, tramping through alligator-infested swamps, or using her computer expertise to make millions in illegal activities.

And at the end of Exit 22, I was inundated with requests to bring her back.

Well, now my fans will have their wish.

Exit 22 has been spun off into a series entitled Black Swamp Mysteries. The next book is Vicki's Key, which will be released in March 2012. Christopher Sandige is back and he's looking for Brenda. His obsession will culminate in the third book of the series, Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, due to be released in September 2012.

You've probably guessed that the dangerous woman is Brenda Carnegie... And you'll learn that her illegal activities in Exit 22 were just the tip of the iceberg. Now she has secrets so explosive that she can bring down an entire government.

If you haven't read Exit 22 yet, you'll want to before the next two books are released in 2012. Through October 31, the book is on sale for only 99 cents in the Kindle edition. On November 1, it will return to $6.99.

Thank you, Kathleen Turner, for the inspiration.