Anne Patrick

I took the opportunity to ask a few questions of my own. Anne will be back tomorrow to answer any questions or comments, so please feel free to share either and/or both.

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1. What inspired Fire Creek?

Initially, back in the nineties when I first came up with the idea, this story was titled Deadly Visions and it was going to be a paranormal.  When I went back and finished the story last year I decided to take out the paranormal aspect because, let's face it, the market is flooded with these type of books and I'm really out of my element writing one. As to what inspired it, I was a huge fan of Murder She Wrote.  This story/series is based very loosely on that premise.  Kasey is a lot younger though, and she has a handsome sidekick, or partner in crime, in Jimmy Little Raven.

2. Was there any special research involved in the writing of Fire Creek?

Although the town of Fire Creek is fictional, I did have to do a lot of research on the area of Montana where I chose to put it. I also researched the Blackfeet tribe and some of their beliefs, and my least favorite was laws concerning the execution of wills.

3. What was the most difficult part about writing Fire Creek?

Re-writing it from the original version was the biggest challenge and updating my timeline.

4. What was your favorite part to write?

Jimmy Little Raven playing his courting flute for Kasey. I still get goose bumps imagining it’s hallowed sound. How it would imitate the sound of a lone wolf and the scream an eagle.

5. What's coming next?

My next release will be Betrayal, book three in my Wounded Heroes series, February 15^th, 2013. Those following the series will be in for a treat as I bring all the earlier characters together for as special occasion. Readers can get a sneak peek at the characters of Betrayal and Dauphin Island here: http://woundedheroes.weebly.com/sneak-peek-into-betrayal.html

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Kasey Montgomery has returned to her hometown of Fire Creek Montana after the apparent suicide of her cousin. Within days of Beth's funeral, Kasey begins to find inconsistencies in her death. The local sheriff is quick to dismiss the allegations as figments of a writer's imagination. Kasey is determined to prove otherwise. Does the bronzed skinned stranger from Beth's funeral hold the answers?

Local park ranger, Jimmy Little Raven suspects foul play too. Beth was engaged to his best friend who died months earlier from a mysterious accident.  Risking his heart and his job, he teams up with the famous mystery writer to find the answers to both deaths.

EXCERPT

Kasey rounded the corner onto the street where she’d left her car. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Jimmy Little Raven leaning against the hood of the Firebird, his arms folded across his chest.

It took several seconds to recover from her initial shock before she walked over to her car. "What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that. What were you doing in Woodward’s office?" he demanded.

She avoided his glare, as her mind raced to come up with a logical explanation. Lying was out of the question, not that it'd do any good anyway. He had no doubt seen her through the window, explaining the noise she heard.

"Do you realize how much trouble you could get into if anyone was to find out you broke into his office?"

"No one’s going to find out... unless you rat on me. Besides, I didn’t break in, I had a key."

"You what!"

Before she could answer, her breath was yanked violently from her lungs as he lifted her up and dove, with her in his arms, onto the hood of the Firebird. The sounds of crunching metal, breaking glass and squealing tires followed. The earth seemed to rumble beneath her as their bodies rolled together onto the hard cement below.