Found family, loyalty, and a dog named Duke….Sometimes a book idea starts with a scene. Sometimes it starts with a line

Beacon in the Darkness started with a woman who walked into the room like she already belonged—smart, snarky, and dragging secrets she wasn’t ready to share

 

Kat Dimitru didn’t just show up at Beacon Security looking for a job. She brought tension. Purpose. And the spark that made the team at Beacon Security feel like a team. She wasn’t even sure if she was going to stay in town. It all depended on if she got the position.

But some missions turn into something more.

I wasn’t planning to start a new series when Kat Dimitru walked into my imagination. She was grieving, determined, and quietly brilliant—the kind of woman who’s held everything together for too long. She didn’t feel like the start of a series. She felt like a storm.

 

But then came Mac.

And Duke.

And the rest of the team I couldn’t stop thinking about. (Though this whole team showed up when I wrote Third to Come Home. I wasn’t going to write their story. I hadn’t planned on it. They were just secondary characters, but Kat was the missing piece to tell their story.

Beacon Security was never going to be a traditional agency. I didn’t want rules and red tape—I wanted a place where people like Kat and Mac could find not just justice, but healing. A place where strength came with softness. Where people broke and rebuilt together.

The Origin of the Team

Beacon is a private security and intelligence firm run by non active duty Marines, intelligence, and law enforcement professionals who have one thing in common:

They believe in showing up when no one else will.

They don’t always follow the rules.

They aren’t all on good terms with their pasts.

But they have each other’s backs—and that changes everything.

The first book, Beacon in the Darkness, focuses on Mac, a non active duty Marine with quiet loyalty and layers he doesn’t talk about, and Kat, a forensic expert chasing the truth about her families. What starts as a private search turns into something bigger: an international rescue mission, a deep personal reckoning, truths being told, and the beginning of a new kind of family.

 

Why This Book Mattered So MuchI wrote this story in pieces—some during moments of burnout, others during huge surges of inspiration. But the heart of it stayed consistent:

What do we do when the systems that are supposed to help us… don’t?

What do you do when the people that you’re supposed to trust more than anyone, let you down and turn you away?

Beacon Security was born from these type of questions.And like any good found-family series, it starts with two people who are just barely holding it together—and find unexpected strength in each other.

Also: there’s Duke. He’s not just a dog. He’s loyalty on four legs. And he might just steal every scene he’s in. Okay he totally steals every scene he’s in.

What’s NextBeacon in the Darkness is just the beginning. Each couple in this series get two books—because some stories take more than one mission to complete.You’ll meet more of the team soon: tech experts with secrets, sarcastic field agents, sharp women with axes to grind, and veterans who’ve lost everything but still fight for others.

And yes, Duke is sticking around. We love Duke! 

Want to be part of the launch team?ARC invites for Beacon in the Darkness go out this month—click here to join the Whiskey & Ink Task Force or make sure you’re on my newsletter list so you don’t miss a thing.And if you’ve ever rooted for the broken ones, the brave ones, and the ones who keep showing up?

This series is for you.