It’s that part of the summer where I begin to think about the projects I’m going to tackle for the rest of the year. Part of my approach is to review any items left over in my ideas folder (yes, I do have one, and it’s full of stuff), the majority of which are news articles I’ve clipped over the last couple of years that have something intriguing about them – and that I think I might be able to spin into a full story. Quite a few of my novels have their basis in something I’ve culled from the current events; not all of them, to be sure, but enough that it’s proven to be a pretty valuable way to begin my research process. I usually combine that with some particular item that I want to have some commentary on, something that will make the novel relevant to contemporary times but also be a driver of the plot. I don’t always want that part of the story to overwhelm the rest of it, but I do want it to be extra flavor to the overall novel.

Having just finished up a Vasily novel, I usually turned my attention to Sean and begin to plot out what I want to do for his next book. I’m in an interesting place in terms of the timeline between these two characters, for Vasily is on the cusp of his wedding and Sean is at an inflection point with his career. I don’t want to give away any spoilers for the most recent book I’ve written, Silenced, but suffice it to say I put enough pieces in place to be able to deal with both of these angles whether it’s from Sean’s perspective or Vasily’s.

I’m also craftily thinking about juxtaposing the wedding against Sean’s relationship troubles; I’ve said it a few times now that I’m a believer in happy endings, so I truly want my main characters to find theirs. Both characters have gone through so much to get to the point that they’re currently at, so in many ways I feel like they’ve earned their chance at happiness, something that weighs on me heavily when I see the direction that Sean and Suzanne have been trending.  

Redemption is always possible, quite often hard and occasionally needs some outside help; in this case, I think Rosie is going to step in and provide that catalyst to finally solve the equation that is Sean and Suzanne. It’s an intriguing angle that will also allow me to talk a little bit about Rosie’s background; we don’t really know a whole lot about her history other than the fact that she’s been an incredibly successful author and become something akin to de facto family for Vasily and Alex. There’s a side comment that Rosie makes to the facility in my most recent work that kind of hints at the depth we have not yet seen from her; while I think Vasily has long suspected there was once somebody significant in Rosie’s life, his wedding will give me the chance to talk a bit about it, explaining, perhaps, why she’s alone when we first meet her in Pariah. 

So much good stuff there; the real challenge is to figure out how to do it while balancing out my typical mystery plot. It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to.

So, I’ve gone and done it – Reflection in the Shadows is now available for preorder. It’s definitely something different from me; yes, it’s still a character-driven story, with what I think is an interesting underlying mystery. I do sprinkle in some Mesoamerican mythology and tie it all together with a bit of a classic hero’s quest, but will completely understand if you decide to wait for the next book in my other two series. (Still, if you have Kindle Unlimited, maybe give it a shot and let me know what you think?)