F.A.Q. Where did you get the idea for The Whispering Room? I came across an article on Whitley Strieber's blog, Unknown Country, one day about the concept of an evil gene. The idea that the propensity for violence could be passed down from father to son fascinated me. It also raised a number of moral questions about the carrier of an evil gene. Should he be isolated from society before he has the chance to kill? To what extent can we predict and punish antisocial acts before they occur? In The Whispering Room, a mother is faced with just such a dilemma. If her sons are the carriers of an evil gene, how far should she go to protect their immortal souls? What are you working on now? Next up is a paranormal suspense about a young corpse cosmetician who uncovers a disturbing connection between her dead mother and the kidnapping of her best friend nine years ago. To find out the truth, she must follow the trail of a diabolical psychopath while guarding her own secret—an unusual rapport with the dead. Where did you get the idea for The Devil's Footprints? It's based on an old legend by the same name. In 1855, a peculiar phenomenon occurred in Devon, England. After a light snowfall during the night, the townspeople awakend to find a series of hoof marks all over the ground. The cloven footprints were so named because many people believed they had been left by Satan. I moved the legend to a fictious small town in southern Arkansas and set it against the oil boom of the 1920s. The supersticious folks in my story believed all the drilling in the area had unleashed the devil to run rampant across the countryside. The original legend fascinated me, and I started wondering what would happen if—after generations of believing the tale to be nothing more than folklore—a series of crime scenes were desecrated by cloven footprints. Where did you get the idea for The Dollmaker? The initial idea sprang from a doll catalog that was given to me by a friend. An artist could be commissioned to create a 'twin' doll by sending her a child's photograph. I knew immediately that concept had potential. Plus, I've always been fascinated by the old Vincent Price horror classic, "House of Wax", about a horribly disfigured sculptor who had lost the use of his hands in a fire. He relocated to another city and began populating a wax museum with eerily lifelike creations. I started brainstorming on how to marry the two ideas, and an image suddenly came to me of a woman who is stunned to see a doll in a shop window that looks exactly like her missing daughter...right down to a birthmark on the doll's arm. Do you consider yourself a romantic suspense writer? I've written a lot of romantic suspense in the past, but the books I'm doing for MIRA are thrillers. Since I'm drawn to southern settings and have a fascination for the macabre, I've coined a term for my books: creepy, southern suspense. What are you working on now? The Whispering Room is the story of a New Orleans police detective's struggles to come to terms with her husband's untimely death and her inability to bond with her baby. When a murder investigation plunges her tiny son into danger, she realizes just how far she's willing to go to protect him. Did you always want to be a writer? I was probably in the seventh or eighth grade when I first started dreaming about being published, but I never really believed it would happen. Writers seemed impossibly glamorous and intellectual to me back then. I was just some kid from Arkansas. What did I know about writing? How and when did you start writing professionally? I had a college professor who offered an A to anyone in his class who got published during the semester. I usually did well in English classes so I wasn't particularly concerned about my grade. But what did motivate me was his enthusiasm for genre fiction. I'd always loved suspense, and his encouragement gave me the push I needed to stop thinking about writing and finally do something about it. I sold my first book a year later. What is your most memorable rejection? I've always been partial to this one: We love your title. Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't work for us. Do you have a recurring theme in your books? The age-old struggle between good and evil. Whether it's an FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer or a recovering alcoholic battling his own demons, the line that separates good and evil, light from dark, fascinates me. Can you describe a typical day? I don't really have typical days. Some days I get up early and go straight to my office. Other days, I'll linger in bed and daydream about my next scene or chapter. I'm most creative first thing in the morning so I keep a computer in the bedroom and sometimes I'll write several pages before I ever get up. What advice do you have for an aspiring writer? Never give up, never give up, never give up!