Romantic Suspense RITA Winner Laura Griffin

EXPOSED
A Tracers Novel

Pocket Books

Every picture tells a story. But not all of them have happy endings.

As a forensic photographer at the Delphi Center crime lab, Maddie Callahan is used to seeing violence up close, but she’s never before been the target of it. When a freelance photo shoot goes awry, she realizes she may have seen, and perhaps photographed, the kidnapping of a key witness in a federal probe. And although her camera was stolen, Maddie knows she has something that could be even more valuable to investigators.

FBI agent Brian Beckman has spent months investigating a vicious criminal known as the Doctor, only to have a key witness abducted on his watch. Worse, he’s falling for the woman who may be the Doctor’s next target. Maddie’s aloof facade hides a world of hurt that he wants to heal, no matter how much she keeps him at bay. But first he has to protect her from the danger that’s just out of focus, drawing close enough to shoot . . . and kill.

EXCERPT

ALL ABOUT LAURA

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author LAURA GRIFFIN started her career in journalism before venturing into the world of romantic suspense. She is a two-time RITA Award winner (for the books Scorched and Whisper of Warning) as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award (for Untraceable). Laura currently lives in Austin, where she is working on her next book.

ANGI: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

LAURA: My favorite (modern) fairy tale is probably Star Wars. I love the themes of good versus evil and people finding their inner courage to face impossible odds.

ANGI: What do you like about the hero of your book?

LAURA: The hero of my story is FBI agent Brian Beckmann. I love him because he’s strong (of course), smart, confident. He’s not afraid to go after what he wants (in this case, my heroine Maddie, who is very reluctant to give her heart away and for good reason). Brian is younger than Maddie, and she sees that as a problem, but he is determined to prove her wrong and overcome her many reservations about getting involved. Of course, he’s very convincing...

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

LAURA: I have had the honor of meeting some of our Navy SEALs. I am so impressed with the sacrifices our men and women in uniform make and I don’t think we do enough to help and appreciate them when they are home.

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

Laura accepting her 2013 RWA RITA
for SCORCHED

LAURA: my children laughing

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

LAURA: Action adventure!

ANGI: What’s a book in your To-Be-Read pile?

LAURA: My sister just gave me The War of Art. And I’m looking forward to Lee Child’s new thriller, Never Go Back.

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

LAURA: I love so many movies! One of my favorite movie series is Jason Bourne. I loved Matt Damon as Bourne and then was thrilled to see Jeremy Renner in the latest film, The Bourne Legacy.

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?

LAURA: My biggest vice is books. I load up twice a year (usually during the holidays and before summer) and then devour them all year long. I can never stick to a budget when it comes to books, so those one-click buttons are dangerous.

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: You've got a matching set of RITAs for your office. Mind sharing where you're keeping your ladies?  

LAURA'S GOTTA ANSWER: I love the two RITAs! I have them in my office as bookends, with my books in between.

FIND LAURA

Contact    Website    Facebook    Twitter @Laura_Griff

Goodreads    Blogs    Previous GLIAS interviews

UP NEXT for LAURA

FAR GONE, coming in February 2014

PREVIOUS RELEASES 

by LAURA

More about the Tracers Series

SCORCHED

RITA Award winning novel

a Tracers Novel, book 6

TWISTED

 a Tracers Novel, book 7

LAURA WILL BE DRAWING for a signed copy of her new book EXPOSED.

Note: COMMENTERS are encouraged to leave a contact email address to speed the prize notification process. Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be emailed to winners. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

DON’T FORGET to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join us Monday & Tuesday for Lizbeth's Birthday Bash. And come back tomorrow when Donnell hosts Beth Watson. ~Angi

LAURA GRIFFIN WANTS TO KNOW: I love to go to the movies. What is the best film you’ve seen this summer? Any upcoming movies on your must-see list?

DRUMROLL PLEASE . . .

The Get Lost in a Story crew sends our CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and all the finalists.







BEST FIRST BOOK

THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE
Simone St. James
rafflecopter entry -- north America
see all the finalists

CONTEMPORARY SINGLE TITLE

THE WAY BACK HOME

Barbara Freethy
rafflecopter entry -- north America

rafflecopter entry -- international

see all the finalists

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

A ROGUE BY ANY OTHER NAME
Sarah MacLean
rafflecopter entry -- north America
rafflecopter entry -- international
see all the finalists

INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE

AGAINST THE TIDE

Elizabeth Camden
rafflecopter entry -- north America
rafflecopter entry -- international
see all the finalists

LONG CONTEMPORARY SERIES ROMANCE

A GIFT FOR ALL SEASONS
Karen Templeton
rafflecopter entry -- north America
rafflecopter entry -- international

see all the finalists

NOVEL with STRONG ROMANTIC ELEMENTS

THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE

Simone St. James
rafflecopter entry -- north America

rafflecopter entry -- international

see all the finalists

PARANORMAL ROMANCE

SHADOW'S CLAIM
Kresley Cole
rafflecopter entry -- north America
rafflecopter entry -- international
see all the finalists

ROMANCE NOVELLA

SEDUCED BY A PIRATE

Eloisa James

rafflecopter entry -- north America

see all the finalists

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

SCORCHED
Laura Griffin
rafflecopter entry -- north America
see all the finalists

SHORT CONTEMPORARY SERIES ROMANCE

A NIGHT OF NO RETURN

Sarah Morgan

rafflecopter entry -- north America

rafflecopter entry -- international

see all the finalists

YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE

THE FARM
Emily McKay
rafflecopter entry -north America
see all the finalists

Congratulations to all the 2013 RITA® WINNERS!

~ ~ ~

JOIN US tomorrow as GLIAS author interviews return with  Donnell hosting Anne Marie Becker. Don’t forget to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook.
~ ~ ~
THERE'S STILL TIME to 
enter all of the RITA giveaways.
Leave a comment or register through Rafflecopter 
on each RITA feature you're interested in. 
Some of the authors will still be dropping by to comment this week.
Please remember that INTERNATIONAL raffles are open to all.

We'll be posting the winners Sunday, July 28th.

Celebrating Romantic Suspense

The Get Lost in a Story crew sends our CONGRATULATIONS to the

CELEBRITY IN DEATH

J.D. Robb

 

Penguin Group USA, Putnam

Leslie Gelbman editor

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she's managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating The Icove Agenda, a film based on one of her famous cases. It's a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. 

Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays Peabody drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director's luxury building. Now she's at the center of a crime scene-and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster and step into the role she was born to play: cop.

Previously on GLIAS

Website

DEAD HEAT

Bronwyn Parry

National Parks Ranger Jo Lockwood is often alone in the wilderness, and she likes it that way – until she discovers the body of a man, brutally murdered. 

Hachette Australia

Bernadette Foley, editor

Detective Nick Matheson’s new posting to the north-west of New South Wales is supposed to be an uneventful return to normal duties and a normal life. He knows organised crime from the inside out and suspects that the victim in the camping ground is not an isolated murder.

Jo is committed to helping the investigation but she has seen the killer’s face and now she’s at risk. Nick’s determined to protect her but as the body count starts mounting, his past and present collide, threatening the people he cares about most.

Trapped in rugged country in scorching summer heat, pursued by hunters who can’t afford to fail, Nick and Jo will need to trust each other completely, and use all their skills and knowledge in order to survive.

Website

DON'T CRY FOR ME

Sharon Sala

Mariah Conrad has come home. Badly wounded on active duty in Afghanistan and finally released stateside, she has no family to call on and nowhere to go—until Quinn Walker arrives at her bedside. Quinn…her brother-in-arms, ex-lover and now maybe her future.

Harlequin, MIRA

Leslie Wainger, editor

Quinn brings Mariah to his log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky to rest and recuperate both physically and emotionally. While she's incredibly grateful, Mariah is also confused and frustrated. She's always stood on her own two feet, but now even that can literally be torture. She's having flashbacks and blackouts, hearing helicopter noises in the night. She wants to push Quinn away—and hold him closer than ever.

But will she get the chance? Those helicopters are more than just post-traumatic stress; they're real—and dangerous. Bad things are happening on the mountain. Suddenly there's a battle to be fought on the home front, and no guarantee of survival.

MULTIPLE CHANCES through Rafflecopter to win autographed copies of Sharon Sala's trilogy: NEXT OF KIN, DON'T CRY FOR ME & TIL DEATH. (north America) Start by leaving a comment.

website

FORGED IN FIRE

Trish McCallan

Beth Brown doesn’t believe in premonitions. But her recent dream feels too real to ignore: a commercial airliner is hijacked, and a handsome passenger is shot dead. Beth hasn’t met the mystery man in her dream; she would never forget a gorgeous face like his. But she can’t deny the bizarre connection she feels. Now awake, and unable to allow for the violence she’s convinced is impending, she races to the airport…and comes face to face with the man of her dreams.

Amazon Publishing, Montlake Romance

Lindsay Guzzardo, editor

Zane Winters lives for his job, using his uncanny psychic powers to carry out missions for elite SEAL Team 7. Yet the constant adrenaline highs can’t drown out the numbness seeping into his life as he yearns to find a woman he can trust. All that changes when he meets a beautiful stranger who sets his soul on fire—and somehow knows he’s about to die.

To thwart the global crisis the hijacking will unleash, Beth and Zane join forces. But even amid the danger, they can’t deny the powerful force drawing them together. Is it merely attraction…or destiny?

Trish is also a finalist in BEST FIRST BOOK

Website

LAST MAN STANDING

Cindy Gerard

Special operative Joe Green has gone vigilante.  His mission, avenge his Black Ops.,Inc. brother's death during a bloody ambush years ago in Sierra Leone.  He refuses to drag the BOI team or his lover, Stephanie Tompkins, into the hunt for the man responsible, so when he finds himself beaten, starving, and alone after being falsely imprisoned for the murder of a Freetown priest, he knows he's as good as dead.

Simon & Schuster, Pocket Star Books

Micki Nuding, editor

Joe meant to protect Stephanie when he walked out on their relationship, but he can't stop her now from executing his escape.  Breaking him out of prison is the easy part.  After Joe's explosive theory pans out and his cunning enemy emerges as the front runner for a high level presidential appointment, he and Stephanie must race to derail the traitor's conspiracy if they are to save their loved ones, the nation and each other.

Previously on GLIAS
Website




SCORCHED

Laura Griffin

The dead don’t speak, but Kelsey knows their secrets. As a forensic anthropologist at the Delphi Center crime lab, Kelsey makes it her mission to indentify bodies, often using no more than shards of bone. Her find at a remote Philippines dig hints at a sinister story. When Kelsey's search for answers puts her at the scene of her ex-fiancé’s murder, only one man can help her--the man who broke her heart months before and is also a prime suspect.

Simon & Schuster, Pocket Star Books

Abby Zidle, editor

Faced with an ultimatum—Kelsey or his job—Gage Brewer did the only thing a Navy SEAL could . . . but that doesn’t mean he stopped wanting Kelsey. Now Kelsey is running for her life and Gage is her last line of defense. As the threats escalate, Kelsey realizes this conspiracy goes deeper and higher than they could have guessed. With the clock ticking down on a madman’s plot, the slightest misstep will have unthinkable consequences. . . .

TWISTED

Laura Griffin

Motive, opportunity, and no alibi—it seems close to a slam-dunk. But while rookie detective Allison Doyle’s department has ID’d a suspect in a young woman’s vicious murder, she is uneasy. 

Simon & Schuster, Pocket Star Books

Abby Zidle, editor

Then legendary FBI profiler Mark Wolfe shows up with a startling theory: if he’s right, the real murderer is an elusive psychopath just days away from another kill.

Using Allison’s contacts at the Delphi Center crime lab, Wolfe is finally in striking distance of the monster he’s pursued for ten years. Except that as they work together, Wolfe finds the ambitious, stubborn woman a tempting distraction. And with this brutal predator, every thread of evidence can make the difference between being the hunter . . . and the prey.

MULTIPLE CHANCES through Rafflecopter to win an autographed copy of Laura Griffin's SCORCHED OR TWISTED. (north America) Start by leaving a comment.

Previously on GLIAS
Website

VORTEX

Cherry Adair

SWEPT AWAY
Searching for a sunken ship off the coast of Peru, treasure hunter Logan Cutter manages to pull a very different kind of prize from the sea—beautiful gallery owner Daniela Rosada. Dani claims she was thrown overboard by ruthless pirates and begs for his protection. But Logan is no stranger to a woman's lies, and something about her story doesn't add up.

St. Martin’s Press

Rose Hilliard, editor

IN TOO DEEP
With her knowledge of Peruvian artifacts, Dani offers to help Logan translate an ancient map that will lead them to a shipwrecked treasure—and into a carefully laid trap. But the closer they get, the deeper she falls for him, not realizing that Logan is hiding a secret of his own. By the time she learns the truth about his boat, his brothers—and his blood feud with pirates—it’s too late. By falling in love, they’ve set a course for disaster…

Previously on GLIAS

Website

Congratulations to all the nominees for the RITA® in the

Romantic Suspense category!

~ ~ ~

JOIN US tomorrow as RITA® week continues with the ROMANCE NOVELLA category. 

Don’t forget to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook.

MULTIPLE CHANCES through Rafflecopter
(north America)
 *an autographed set of Sharon Sala's trilogy
*an autographed copy of Laura Griffin's SCORCHED & TWISTED  

Start by leaving a comment.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SUSPENSE MOVIE?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get lost in a Scorcher by Laura Griffin

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Laura Griffin started her career in journalism before venturing into the world of romantic suspense. Her books have won numerous awards, including a RITA for Whisper of Warning and a Daphne du Maurier Award for Untraceable. Laura lives in Austin, Texas, where she is working on her next book.


SCORCHED 

The dead don’t speak, but Kelsey Quinn knows their secrets. As a forensic anthropologist at the Delphi Center crime lab, Kelsey makes it her mission to identify bodies, often using no more than shards of bone. Her find at a remote Philippines dig hints at a sinister story. When Kelsey's search for answers puts her at the scene of her ex-fiancé’s murder, only one man can help her--the man who broke her heart months before and is also a prime suspect.

Faced with an ultimatum—Kelsey or his job—Gage Brewer did the only thing a Navy SEAL could . . . but that doesn’t mean he stopped wanting Kelsey. Now Kelsey is running for her life and Gage is her last line of defense.

CAT:  What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in?

LAURA:  I read a variety. The shelves in my office are crammed with chick lit, thrillers, historical romance, book club reads. And then I’ve got the non-fiction shelves that are full of books on forensic anthropology, ballistics, crime scene investigation, criminal profiling.

CAT:  Do you write while listening to music? If so what kind?

LAURA:  I listen to music before I sit down to write. Generally, I start the day with a jog or a walk, and I listen to my iPod, which is always loaded with songs that remind me of whatever book I’m working on. I choose songs with lyrics that evoke something about my story—maybe the setting or the heroine’s attitude.

CAT:  If you couldn’t be a writer anymore, what profession would you take up?

LAURA:  I love writing fiction but sometimes I miss the excitement of the newsroom, from when I was a reporter. As for non-writing jobs, I would like to be a crime scene investigator. I have interviewed people who do this and I think it’s fascinating.

CAT:  If you could interview one person (and it doesn’t have to be a writer) who would it be?

LAURA:  Well, I’ve been doing a lot of SEAL research for my newest hero, Gage Brewer from SCORCHED, so...my dream would be to interview SEAL Team Six.

CAT:  What do you do to unwind and relax?

LAURA:  Whenever I get the chance, I like to travel to scenic places and spend time outdoors. I love state and national parks. I love hiking. One of my favorite places on earth is Muir Woods in Northern California, where they have the gigantic redwood trees.

CAT:  Tea or Coffee? And how do you take it?

LAURA:  Coffee, coffee, and more coffee. With real cream, not the powdered stuff.

CAT:  Which of your characters would you most like to invite to dinner, and why?

LAURA:  FBI profiler Mark Wolfe, from my book TWISTED. I bet he would have some fascinating stories to tell about cases he’s worked over the years.

CAT:  What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?

LAURA:  I feel incredibly lucky that I get to do what I love for a living. That is my dream. To get to get up each morning and do something I’m passionate about.

        

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?

Who is your favorite hero in romance fiction?

Laura is offering a signed copy of SCORCHED to one commenter.  Please include your email address with the comment.

Previous GLIAS interview featuring TWISTED.