My current WIP is moving ahead so–s l o w l y. Partly, that’s because it’s summer, a season when my protestant work ethics abandons me in favor of taking naps and guzzling numerous glasses of ice tea.

But the main reason for my lack of impressive progress is that I’m working on my first romantic suspense novel.

While I love to write suspenseful scenes, writing romance, at least to the level where I can slap the word romance on its cover, is a terrifying experience.

Please understand, all of my books, have a light romantic thread, as humans do what they are prone to do and fall in love, even when there’s a murder lingering around the edges of their lives. Those are side stories to the murder which always takes center stage. But if I’m going to slap the word romance on this wip, I need to nudge my romantic elements up a notch–or more.

I’m trying. Part of the effort has included reading deeply in the genre. That’s helping some, but I’ve been a mystery reader nearly all my life so the shift isn’t all that easy for me.

I’ve enjoyed the books, though, so I hope that’s a plus. Anyway, should you want to check out my final efforts, keep an eye posted here. I’ll announce when the book’s done and post a sample.

In the meantime, here’s the story’s cover: