Double the trouble with Kym Roberts!

The Books

Handled By Officer (Women Behind the Badge #1)

Recruit officer Kiley Gibbons has walked in her twin sister’s shadow her entire life—born two minutes after, she’s five inches shorter with curls gone wild and the exact opposite of her outgoing, athletic sister. But that’s exactly why she’s the one woman who caught Walt Raynham’s eye, and threatens his future in the tactical unit.

Officer Raynham is everything Kiley needs to distract her from the daily grind at the police academy, too bad his drop dead gorgeous body is wearing the uniform of her boss. And when the academy is finally behind her, Kiley must find the strength to walk away from the man she shouldn’t touch.

But when her friend’s death leaves Kiley with two children to raise and a custody battle she just might lose, there’s only one man strong enough to step in and fill the role of her fiancé. Now Kiley’s not sure she wants to resist the temptation Walt causes, and he’s not so sure a family would be such a bad thing. Together, they discover love and an engagement of convenience could be unstoppable force for happily ever-after…until a killer has another idea that may cost them everything they didn’t want.   

Dead On Arrival (A Malia Fern Mystery)

      Catch the Wave with a wild new paranormal mystery series that will leave you locked in the middle of the impact zone!

      Bikinis and board shorts are all in a day’s work for surf instructor Malia Fern. Life is good on the island of Kaua’i, even if her social calendar is lacking and a big surf company is droppin’ in to steal her customers. When Malia stumbles upon the body of tourist who speaks to her from his sandy grave, life as she knows it disappears in the outgoing tide.

      She didn’t expect to find herself investigating his death, she has no experience, nor any desire to work in the family business of law enforcement, but that’s exactly what she’s doing because the victim keeps asking for help and a group of mystical Menehune men need her protection.  If she knew how to offer it, things would be a whole lot easier.  

      To make matters worse, her love life is out of control. Makaio Natua the forbidden, bad boy cop is everything she wants, and his charming, security specialist cousin, Alapai Lincoln, is everything she needs. What could be worse than meeting the two of them at the same time? A curse designed to control her future. 

      With life turning wacky, Malia is determined to discover if the victim’s death was an accident, a dope deal gone bad, or something more sinister than she could possibly imagine, because this time her last big wipe out may leave her Dead On Arrival.

Check out an excerpt!

Meet Kym!

Three career paths resonated for Kym during her early childhood: a detective, an investigative reporter, and…a nun. Being a nun, however, dropped by the wayside when she became aware of boys—they were the spice of life she couldn’t deny.

            In high school her path was forged when she took her first job at a dry cleaners and met every cop in town, especially the lone female police officer in patrol. From that point on there was no stopping Kym’s pursuit of a career in law enforcement—even if she had to duct tape rolls of coins to her waist to meet the weight requirements to be hired.

            Kym followed her dream and became a detective that fulfilled her desire to be an investigative reporter, with one extra perk—a badge. Promoted to sergeant Kym spent the majority of her career in SVU. She retired from the job reluctantly when her husband drug her kicking and screaming to another state, but writing continued to call her name, at least in her head.

Lara: How often to you get lost in a story?

Kym: Everytime I open a book, which is a couple times a week. I tend to read a book in one setting, even if I’m awake all night. It used to be that I would just get sucked into the character’s lives, like a criminal case, I wanted to dissect every aspect of their story. Now I tend to notice the brilliance in the writing, because every author has at least one moment in their book where I think, wow she made it feel real. I notice the format of the paragraphs and the dialogue and how the author makes it work, or not. The only author I try not to do that with, is Janet Evanovich.  The simplicity of the flow of the story and her ability to make me laugh until my gut hurts is all I need to take away from it.

Lara: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

Kym:  No complaints here J  As long as they aren’t total butt-wipes, but if they take that tone with me, I make sure they get knocked down a notch or two on the ego ladder. And if they continue to tick me off, they’ll probably end up sprawled among my pages in a pool of blood. [Lara: :)]

Lara: What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?

Kym: Go spend time with my family. My deadlines are self-imposed, but they’re still there and like most writers, I tend to stay in my office longer than I should.

Lara: What is your hero’s “kryptonite” – in other words, what will bring him instantly to his knees?

Kym: I have two books out right now, so I’ll have to answer for both books and since one book has two heroes, well bear with me.

In Handled By Officer Walt’s kryptonite is Kiley’s blond curls. He’s never experienced the desire to wrap his fingers in a woman’s hair until he met Kiley, and once he touches those soft locks, he’s doomed.

In Dead On Arrival there’s two heroes, Makaio (Mu-ki-o) and AlaPai or Pai (Pie). For Makaio it’s tassels, and you’ll have to read the book to find out why ;)  For Pai it’s his sense of duty—duty comes before everything and will lead him away from a woman he loves.

Lara: What could we find in your heroine's purse?

Kym: Again two heroines so here it goes, Handled by Officer: Kiley’s graduated from a small clutch to a diaper bag over night, so she has baby paraphernalia that she doesn’t know how to use, multiple ponytail holders, hair spray, a comb, a brush, hair clips, make-up, her keys  and a baby teething ring.

Malia from Dead On Arrival has a bikini, sunblock, lip balm and wax for her surf board. If she’s lucky she remembered her ID.

Lara: How did you come up with the idea for your book?

Kym:  HBO started out a completely different story, it was Kiley’s twin sister’s story. Unfortunately at the time strong women weren’t popular, so when an editor thought my own love story with my husband would make a sexy tale, I ended up writing Kiley and Walt’s story.  Trust me, I’m nothing like Kiley, and my husband is the opposite of Walt. Well, sort of. ;)  The events are NOT autobiographical.

Malia Fern and DOA came to life after a trip to the islands and a plotting session with my critique group, the Lit Girls. [Lara: Sounds like a nice way to spend a vacation! :)]

Lara: Can you tell us about a real-life hero you’ve met?

Kym: Of course I could say my husband, my mom, my dad, or any of the cops I’ve worked with, but this time I’m going to say my best friend, she retired from the police department this past week and I flew back for her ceremony. She was the first female officer to be shot in the line of duty on my department. Unfortunately, not the last. She almost died because she pulled over a doper on a traffic stop. He shot her in the lower abdomen as she approached his window then drove off and left her there to die in the middle of the road. But she got a couple rounds off in his car and gave his description out, he was caught because of her ability to communicate after being critically injured.  She recovered and came back to the job and stayed for 20+ more years.  (geez that sounds like a long time) She’s tough, and beautiful and has the kindest soul I’ve ever known.  That’s not an easy thing to keep after being a victim like that. [Lara: She sounds like a true inspiration!]

Lara: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

Kym:  Easy, The Rundown with Dwayne Johnson, Sean William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken and Ernie Reyes, Jr—“Hey, Kansas City!” It’s full of one liners, action, and it was filmed on Kaua’i.  ;)

Lara: What’s the first book you remember reading?

Kym: Dick and Jane, my brother and I fought over them all the time. Of course we fought over everything, so it’s amazing the books survived. Then Lad a Dog and of course the incomparable Nancy Drew.

Lara’s GOTTA ASK:  What is your biggest vice?

KYM’S GOTTA ANSWER:   COKE!  Not the snorting kind, but the bite and burn of sweet caramel bubbles of Coca-Cola.  I quit drinking it at home in May, but when we go out to eat or a movie, there’s no way I’m passing up a coke. [Lara: Love it! :)]

Where can you find Kym?

Facebook     Goodreads

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                             Website 

What's next?
Dead Man’s Carve (A Tickled to Death Mystery) is coming on August, I hope! 

Rilee Dust isn’t your typical wood carver, she’s young and making a go of it in the small village of Tickle Creek, Oregon. She’s also the only one in town who isn’t determined to get rid her strip club neighbor. Everyone else, however, is ready to evict the Girls, Girls, Girls.

When a dog adopts her and turns her life upside down, Rilee’s not so sure it’s a good thing. Especially when he leads her to a moose, a man and a dead body. Because the moose kicked her butt, the man saved her life and the dead body is one of her customers.

Now Rilee’s smack dab in the middle of all the small town politics with a killer on the loose who has an ax to grind. And Rilee just may be the next victim to have her name carved in stone.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!

When people find out I’m a retired cop, I always hear about their last experience with an officer. Most of them are bad experiences, but some of them are down-right funny. So tell me, where did you get your last ticket and why? My only ticket was at 19 years old, I rolled through a stop sign in my neighborhood. Yes, there was no one around, but it was a stop sign.  And it was in front of the cop’s parent’s house.  So my neighbor gave me a ticket.  He was polite, and pretty damn hot. A few months later he broke into my house for me when I locked myself out and my parents were out of town. (It wasn’t a booty call, I swear!)

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