Author Name: Bonnie Hearn Hill
Book Title: I Wish You Missed Me
Book Genre: Suspense
Release Date: April 1, 2017
Synopsis: Farley Black, Kit Doyle’s former radio co-host, is missing. When Kit and her friend, former street person Virgie Logan, head north to California’s redwood country in search of the truth, a series of menacing incidents convinces Kit that she’s being watched. Someone is tracking her every move. As her unknown pursuer grows bolder and more reckless, Kit realizes she isn’t just looking for Farley – but running from a killer.
Excerpt: Megan puts on the large, white-framed sunglasses, even though it’s starting to get dark out. The dress Will insisted she wear is too low cut for an evening in a pub and too sexy, even for her. She ties his red bandana around her neck and makes a double knot, turning it into kind of a cowboy kerchief.
‘You ready yet?’ Will calls from outside the cabin. Then he walks inside and his boots squeak to a stop on the wood floor when he sees her. ‘Nice.’ He circles her slowly and then stops so they are eye to eye. ‘Very nice. But take your hair down, will you?’
‘I thought a ballerina bun would look better with this dress.’
‘You’re not paid to think.’ He grins and swats her on the ass. ‘Come on, beautiful. Time’s a-wasting.’
She shakes out her hair, pulls it behind her ears and over one shoulder. The cracked bathroom mirror makes her look as if she has five eyes. Megan blinks all of them and says, ‘Let’s go.’
He’s promised this will be the last one and she believes him. Will is many things but not a liar. Not to her, anyway.
They pause at the top of the stairs and the sound of the creek in back, combined with the redwood scent of the deck after a morning of rain, reminds her why she came here with him and why she stays. Not that she needs reminders.
‘What are you thinking?’ he asks.
Just like that, she remembers something. ‘I was supposed to help Priscilla and the other women make blueberry jam tonight.’
‘Like she will care if you don’t show up?’ He starts down the stairs. ‘Priscilla. Michael. I’ll never figure out these people.’
‘Good people,’ she reminds him. ‘They took us in with no questions.’
About the author: This is the third in the Kit Doyle series and Bonnie Hearn Hill’s seventeenth novel. A California native, Bonnie is passionate about how conflict changes us and both allows and forces us to discover new truths about ourselves. A mentor to numerous writers, Bonnie has appeared on a Central California television stations’s book segment for fourteen years. www.bonniehhill.com
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When you look at your own work, ask yourself what would up the suspense factor. Do you need a ticking clock? A cliffhanger? I try to add a person with a secret who is not the true bad guy. So right before the climax, the protagonist thinks the mystery is solved, only to discover the situation is worse than s/he expected.
Interesting. I try to end each chapter on a cliffhanger/question mark. I posted the Q&A on the Sisters in Crime Int’l FB page! Love it when we can create dialogue. Thanks so much Jennifer, for posting the question, and Bonnie, for your insightful answers.
What an exciting premise! And I love the redwood country setting. Sounds like an exciting read.
One small question, are “thriller” and “suspense” interchangeable when it comes to genres or is there a distinction? I’m just wondering.
thanks for stopping by Jennifer. I don’t know the answer to your question, but hopefully Bonnie does!
Hi, Jennifer, and thanks for your comments. When I started writing, I had no idea what the difference was. When I work with writers, I like to say that the mystery is a riddle. Your character is trying to solve something. A thriller has a larger scope and bigger stakes. Your character is often trying to stop something or escape something. A thriller has subplots and frequently more than one point-of-view character. I see suspense as somewhere between the two. More at stake than a mystery (although my books always contain mysteries), at least one subplot, and more than one POV. I’d like to know what others think about that.
Very interesting. I’m going to post something on Facebook about this.
Great that you do that, Judy. Those are fascinating topics. I’m speaking at a conference at the end of this month, and one of my topics is character arcs, which are much easier in standalone fiction than in a series. In each of these Kit Doyle books, I’ve tried to have small arcs, and I have a bigger one in this book. Does anyone have any thoughts on character arc?
Thanks, Kristina. Actually, it’s graffiti in San Francisco. It inspired me to want to write the book. I kept wondering who would write something like that and what they were thinking about.
I love the title! Good luck with your release.
It is a great title, isn’t it Kristina! Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks so much for hosting me. I appreciate it.
Good luck with your release Bonnie!