Ask the Author: Alex Kava
Answered Questions (8)
Alex Kava
First of all, thanks so much for reading my books. MIDNIGHT CREED will be released December 17. I'm now working on the next in the series.
Alex Kava
Hi Lynett, I'm so glad you're enjoying the Creed series. Yes, MIDNIGHT CREED will follow, but I don't have a publication date yet. Tentatively, spring 2023.
Alex Kava
Hi Becca, Maggie O'Dell is actually in all the Ryder Creed novels. They share the leading role, sort of dual-protagonists. I needed an investigator since Creed and his dogs are not a part of law enforcement. Maggie and Creed worked well together in STRANDED, and there was a strong connection between the two. I was anxious to continue with both of them. So I'm certainly not finished her.
Alex Kava
Is Yolie short for Yolanda? I have only one rule when looking for character names. I don't like to use the same first letter. So in my Maggie O'Dell novels you'll rarely see another character with "M" or "O". In the Ryder Creed novels, there's probably not going to be another character whose name begins with "R" or "C". I don't currently have any characters whose name begins with "Y," so I'll definitely add Yolanda to my list. Thanks, Yolie, for reading my books.
Alex Kava
Absolutely! I'm working on LOST CREED right now. We'll finally have some idea of what happened to Creed's sister, Brodie, who disappeared fifteen years ago when she was eleven and Creed was fourteen. It's a gut-wrenching journey for Ryder. Maggie will be there alongside him. Release date will be February or March 2018. Thanks for asking, Jax. And for reading!
Alex Kava
That's a great question, Becca. In the beginning it was tough because I didn't know anyone in law enforcement. Since then, I've been lucky to get to know some incredible women in the field. One in particular told me early on (around Book 3) that Maggie was too serious and I needed to give her a sense of humor. I remember she also said, "We all have families and lives outside of the crimes we investigate." That stuck with me. I decided to give Maggie some things from myself: a dog, her love of college football and doughnuts. It probably sounds silly, but just those few things really made her character more real to me, and I hoped it would do the same for my readers. As for whether or not to read Book 7 or Before Evil, I like to believe each book can be enjoyed by itself. However, I think Before Evil definitely answered some questions for me as to what makes Maggie tick.
Alex Kava
BEFORE EVIL is the prequel to my Maggie O'Dell FBI Profiler series. Readers have been asking to revisit the cat and mouse game between Maggie and Albert Stucky, aka the Collector. That's where the idea began, but as a I started writing I realized how much I wanted to explore Maggie's early career...before she became jaded and untrusting. Before she experienced the evil of someone like Albert Stucky.
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