HelenKay Dimon

I’ve gotten a lot of questions via email about my Intrigue miniseries, Mystery Men. Thank you for caring about the books. Here are some answers…

Is THE BIG GUNS (Sept. 2011) the final book? Yes. In my head, the stories for all these amazing guys are wrapped up. THE BIG GUNS answers all the open questions regarding the WitSec scandal, the conspiracy and Rod. And since many people ask about the order*, here it is:

-UNDER THE GUN (not officially part of the miniseries but introduced the team)
-GUNS AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR
-GUNNING FOR TROUBLE
-LOCKED AND LOADED (almost out!)
-THE BIG GUNS (out in September)

*Note: My Bookshelf page lists books by series now, so you can see linked books without trouble.

Is Trevor really a bad guy? I’m going to let you read to the end of the miniseries and make your own decision on that one. He has done some very bad things. Some criminal things. But my goal was always to make him believable and complex. He has motivation for his choices and, I hope, a bit of humanity. I view him as the perfect challenge for Luke. The fact so many people wrote to say they see good and bad in him makes me happier than I can say.

Why don’t you have epilogues in your Intrigues? I’m not a big believer in epilogues. I’ve always felt the books should end where they end and readers can create the rest of the happily-ever-after in their heads. Also, epilogues really wouldn’t have worked in the Mystery Men series because there is an overriding mystery – where is Rod – that isn’t solved, so the story in many ways is ongoing.

Is Rod a good guy/bad guy/will he have his own story? The Rod question is answered in THE BIG GUNS and that’s all I can say about that without giving spoilers.

Are your 2012 Intrigue releases a new miniseries? Actually, no. After writing back-to-back on the Mystery Men miniseries, I wanted a break from linked books. I have three Intrigues coming out in 2012 and they are all standalones. The first, tentatively titled WHEN SHE WASN’T LOOKING, is a mistaken identity story…sort of. How’s that for being helpful?

Anything else?

It’s almost release day for my next book from Harlequin Intrigue, LOCKED AND LOADED. If you’re following the Mystery Men miniseries (and I hope you are), the hero is Adam, the security/tech expert for the Recovery Project. The heroine is Maddie, a woman in witness protection who’s been burned by her handler. Thought this might be a good time for an excerpt. In this one Maddie doesn’t quite trust Adam yet:

ADAM GOT MADDIE into his truck and watched her strap the seat belt across her chest. She stayed quiet and agreed with everything he said, followed every direction without fighting back. Didn’t try to kick him or steal his weapon.

He didn’t buy the act for one second. He’d bet his life she was waiting for the right time to run. He wanted to think his sound arguments had convinced her to calm down, but he knew that wasn’t true. This woman was trained by Rod, the same man who’d trained Adam. She wouldn’t believe a stranger who showed up to pull her out of bed and race through the woods. She wouldn’t admit to being in WitSec.

And she wouldn’t sit quietly in his truck while he drove her to some unknown destination.

She was not stupid. She possessed street smarts and a stunning will to live. Turning evidence on a boyfriend who ran the biggest meth operation in Chicago proved that. Maddie was smart enough to get out and cut a deal with the Justice Department, one that landed her in WitSec and eventually in his lap.

“Russell Ambrose is dead.” Adam meant to deliver the news of her handler with a little less anger in his voice and a whole lot more tact, but it didn’t work out that way.

Her head whipped around. Her unblinking stare out the window ended that fast.

Adam slipped the keys into the ignition but didn’t start the car. “He was giving away the identities of WitSec participants. He collected cash and got them killed.” When she just stared at him, Adam rushed to fill the uncomfortable silence. “That’s why I’m here.”

“To kill me.”

“No.” He shook his head for emphasis since words alone didn’t appear to be working.

“Sure feels like it.”

“Maddie, listen to me. I’m trying to help you.”

“Right. Because the bad guys always admit they’re trying to kill you.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

“Good point.” He turned the key. “I know about Rod.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

Looked as if they were back to denial. Adam wasn’t surprised, but he was getting frustrated. “I can tell you anything from your file.”

She folded and refolded her hands on her lap. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He hit the doolocks just in case she ended the innocent act and headed for the handle to escape.”I know you’re trained to pretend. I get that.”

“Call the police.”

She could have told him she was a toaster oven and he would have been less surprised. He admired the move. It shoved him right into a corner. “I don’t think so.”

“If what you’re saying is true, call the police.” She glanced around the truck. “I don’t have a phone but I’m betting you do and I know you’re smart enough to dial 9-1-1.”

He did have a phone, but the real power came from his watch. It was how he communicated with the other agents, and that was the least impressive of it’s functions. “Taking you in will send a message to someone in WitSec. A handler will come to pick you up and hush up everything with the police. I can’t risk it.”

“Neither can I.” She launched her body in his direction as she unlatched her seat belt.

If he hadn’t been expecting the attack she would have slammed his head against the window. Even waiting for it, she got in a few good shots. She grabbed for the keys with one hand and punched him in the jaw with the other. The hit sent his head back. The smack against the headrest hurt his neck more than the blow, but she didn’t let up. Her fists pummeled his legs and chest.

When she switched to scratching, dragging her fingers across his forearm until she drew blood, he went from defense to an offensive strike. He grabbed her hand and leaned hard against her, pinning her on her back against the seat. Her knee caught him in the stomach as she squirmed and flailed. She grunted and panted, forcing him to use more strength than he intended. He’d hoped to talk her down.

That was before she aimed for his groin.

Tomorrow I’ll answer some questions I’ve gotten about this miniseries and future Intrigues.

I’m always amused when someone finds out I write romance and romantic suspense and makes a comment about how I must practice the sex scenes with the hubby. Funny how no one ever asks if I practice the murder, car chases, fire fights and explosions with the hubby. Guess he’s only good for one thing…

Entertainment Weekly asked a few authors – Sue Grafton, JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts) and John Sandford – to name their favorite murder scenes. Grafton talkes about F is for Fugitive and a diabetic being injected with something other than insulin and going into shock while the detective is sitting right there. Robb’s response kind of made me chuckle:

There’s little point in killing people on paper if you don’t enjoy it. In Fantasy in Death, the unfortunate Bart Minnock is beheaded by the holographic Lord Manx during gameplay. If a guy’s going to lose his head, it might as well be fun.

Which highlights my point about people making comments to romance authors about the sex scenes in their books: folks, it’s fiction.

Romance reader, blogger and reviewer Limecello is using her website as a way of raising awareness and money for the Horn of Africa, A Humanitarian Crisis: What We Can Do To Help. People are pledging money based on the number of blog comments. So, please, go comment.

A few Intrigue authors got together and are running a contest. We all write for Intrigue and write other books that are available digitally. We want to introduce you to our digital books, so we’re giving you an opportunity to try them or to just try ebooks, in general, by winning a Kindle. The rules are simple. You sign up and are entered to win your choice of a Kindle or $100 worth of ebooks. The contest runs through July 31st.

Check out the contest here.

If you follow me on twitter, you know I was at a wedding last night. One of my hubby’s counsins got married and his mom flew in from Hawaii. The wedding was outside at a tennis club in Orange Co (CA), less than an hour from where we live. It was just lovely. Here are two of my favorite pics (you can click on the to make them bigger):

The hubby with his mom:

The hubby and two of his cousins, the one in the middle is the mother of the groom. Yes, the groom’s mother. She looks amazing:

Love weddings…

I blogged about the book THE LUXE by Anna Godbersen when it came out. I saw the cover and fell in love with it. Here it is:

The covers for the other books in the series are equally lovely. I remember the series being pitched as “Gossip Girl meets the Gilded Age” when the first one came out. Looks like the Gossip Girl folks took that seriously because according to Perez Hilton:

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the creative minds behind the hit CW series, have reportedly signed to produce a film adaptation of the Anna Godbersen-written young adult novel The Luxe, a 19th century class drama which focuses on four teens in New York which “features conflicts between old money and new money, the upper and lower class, and star-crossed lovers.”

Awesome.

Love when books get optioned for movies. I hate the whole thing where Hollywood is re-purposing movies from my youth – The Karate Kid, Footloose, etc – and much prefer new ideas. Also love when authors make money and optioning a book can be a big moneymaker.

If you’ve looked around my website you probably know I write for Harlequin Intrigue. Honestly, I love writing for Intrigue. My editor, Denise Zaza, makes the process pretty easy. With the last contract we talked about what I write and how that fits in with the “hooks” Harlequin readers look for – ex, amnesia, secret babies, cowboys, etc. You’ll notice I don’t really write any of those hooks. But, knowing what I write and my strengths (as well as which of my Intrigues sold best so far), my editor had an idea of what type of book she wanted me to propose to her (mistaken identity/girl next door heroine types), so I came up with three plot ideas that fit into those categories, pitched them, and she bought them. It’s a good partnership.

If you’re thinking about writing for Intrigue – and you definitely should if you like writing romantic suspense or romantic thrillers – you now have an opportunity to pitch directly to my editor. Here is the information from the Harlequin website about the pitches: HERE. Good luck!

Huffington Post has an article on the 20 Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2011. I checked the list and wasn’t actually anticipating any of them, but I did find two interesting:

THE LEFTOVERS by Tom Perrota – I’ve read three of his previous books and liked his writing. This one is about something called the Sudden Departure. I’m in!

What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished? Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down?

Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin’s own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne. Only Kevin’s teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she’s definitely not the sweet “A” student she used to be. Kevin wants to help her, but he’s distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start.
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THE MAN IN THE ROCKEFELLER SUIT by Mark Seal – I’ll read this one simply because I read a lot – and I mean a lot – of true crime and I find this guy oddly fascinating.

The story of Clark Rockefeller is a stranger-than-fiction twist on the classic American success story of the self-made man-because Clark Rockefeller was totally made up. The career con man who convincingly passed himself off as Rockefeller was born in a small village in Germany. At seventeen, obsessed with getting to America, he flew into the country on dubious student visa documents and his journey of deception began.

The imposter charmed his way into exclusive clubs and financial institutions-working on Wall Street, showing off an extraordinary art collection-until his marriage ended and he was arrested for kidnapping his daughter, which exposed his past of astounding deceptions as well as a connection to the bizarre disappearance of a California couple in the mid-1980s.
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I’ll likely skip the rest on the list.

We have a winner for the June contest. It’s…[imagine a drumroll here]… Robin (comment #8 on the June 23rd blog “No Longer Tpo Secret”). Congratulations!!!! Email me so I can get your prize to you.