When I write a traditional mystery series, I start with the dead body. In my first Black Hat Thriller, Hidden, I started with the first sentence and the book grew from there.
I have to say that the character who surprised me most in Vanished is Spencer Cross, the hacktivist who was a whistleblower and is in hiding. He’s managed to hold onto all of his assets under the radar and is far more complicated in his loyalties than I imagined when I first created him.
When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?Vanished is set in two distinct places: Charleston, South Carolina, and Paris. Charleston because I wanted a community where Tina could continue her work as an artist and manage to hide in plain sight. My husband and I visited Charleston two years ago and we fell in love with it. Tina ends up going to Paris to find Tracker. I love Paris. I’ve been there three times and each time fell more in love with the city. Tina spent a lot of time there as a child with her grandmother, so it was a natural place to send her.
I’m working on a domestic thriller standalone.