Wednesday's Writer - Carol Kilgore

Hi, everyone! I’m so thrilled to be here on Lyn’s blog. She and I have known each other for a long time. While we’ve never met face-to-face, we’ve come to know each other through the things we write. Lyn was in one of the first online critique groups I participated in, a group that burned fast and hot … and out. Way too soon. But I made a couple of friends from that group that I still keep in touch with today, and I’m happy to say Lyn is one.

One of the things I enjoy most about being a writer – besides the actual writing and editing and promoting and everything else that comes with the package – is meeting other writers. We’re all different. We have different ways of arriving at a finished product. We have different styles. We write about different things. Yet stick a few of us in a room, and we chat about all sorts of things as if we’ve been friends since kindergarten. It’s almost an instant recognition of a kindred spirit.

So I’m looking forward to meeting you, if I don’t know you already. I’m hoping you’ll tell me about yourself in the comments. If I already know you, you may learn something new about me here. If so, you can tell me something new about you J

You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m not British. Although half of me is, through my mother’s side. My English ancestors arrived here in the Colonies way back in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and settled in New England. Some came from Essex and Kent. Others from Devon.

As my ancestors were prone to travel west to see what else was out there, my immediate family were Texans, and I was born in Texas. I live here today, via several years of living up and down the eastern seaboard from Miami to New York, as the wife of a Coast Guard officer. We now make our home in the fabulous city of San Antonio. And my novels are set along the South Texas Gulf Coast.

I write a blend of mystery, suspense, and romance that doesn’t slide neatly into any of those genre slots. I call it Crime Fiction with a Kiss. The best way I know to describe my writing style is to tell you the names of some of my favorite authors. You will see from the list how different they are, yet all have influenced what I write – and the way I write it. The one constant with them all is their love of straightforward language. I, too, love non-flowery prose. So in no particular order, my faves are: Lisa Scottoline, James Patterson, Lisa Gardner, Suzanne Brockmann, David Baldacci.

My first novel, IN NAME ONLY, released last July.

It was so much fun to write. I had written a short story about the protagonist several years earlier, and I hadn’t been able to get her out of my mind. In the short story, “Never Say My Name,” she became involved with the Federal Witness Protection Program. I kept wondering what happened next!

You can read an excerpt of IN NAME ONLY on Amazon in the Look Inside! feature. Here’s the blurb:

No home. No family. No place to hide. For Summer Newcombe, that's only the beginning.

The night Summer escapes from a burning Padre Island eatery and discovers the arsonist is stalking her, is the same night she meets Fire Captain Gabriel Duran. As much as she's attracted to Gabe, five years in the Federal Witness Security Program because of her father’s testimony against a mob boss have taught her the importance of being alone and invisible.

No matter how much she yearns for a real home, Summer relinquished that option the night she killed the man who murdered her father. But Gabe breaks down her guard and places both of them in danger. Summer has vowed never to kill again, but she's frantic she'll cost Gabe his life unless she stops running and fights for the future she wants with the man she loves.

My second novel, SOLOMON’S COMPASS, is new this week! It released on April 2. As I’m actually

writing this post in mid-March, I’m not certain if Look Inside! is active yet. I hope so. This novel, while also set along the Texas coast, involves different characters, a different setting, and a very different story.

During the writing of this story, anything and everything that could have gone wrong did. And things are still going wrong. During the blog tour for my debut novel, one tiny glitch happened. So far with the tour for SOLOMON’S COMPASS, I’ve encountered five distinct issues. Five! And it’s only mid-March. The tour hasn’t even officially begun. So I’m guessing readers are either going to really love the story, or the book will tank. Nothing in between. I’m also guessing most readers are going to fall in love, like, or lust with Jake Solomon. He’s SUCH a scoundrel J

Here’s the blurb:

A missing belt—her uncle’s prized possession. The lure of buried treasure. And a sexy former SEAL who makes U.S. Coast Guard Commander Taylor Campbell crazy. What more could any woman want. Right?

Taylor is in Rock Harbor, Texas, on a quest to unearth her uncle’s treasure—a journey far outside the realm of her real life. There’s one glitch. Taylor's certain the buried treasure was all in Uncle Randy's dementia-riddled mind. Now he’s dead.

Former SEAL Jake Solomon is in Rock Harbor under false pretenses to protect Taylor from the fate that befell her uncle and the other members of a tight circle of Coast Guardsmen called the Compass Points who served together on Point boats in Vietnam.

Jake is definitely not supposed to become involved with Taylor. That was his first mistake. Taylor is attracted to Jake as well, but she refuses to wait for him to locate the killer when she knows her plan will force her uncle’s murderer into action.

But the killer's actions are just what Jake is afraid of.

Both books are available from Amazon in Kindle and paperback.

Carol Kilgore has always had stories and characters in her head, but she didn’t know she should write them down until about a dozen years ago. Once she started, she couldn’t stop. Her first published short story won the Derringer Award for Best Short-Short Mystery. She continued to write short fiction for a few years and also enjoyed a small success as a freelancer before giving it all up for her true love—novels.

Tagging along with her own special Coastie, Carol has lived in locations across the U.S. She and her husband now share their San Antonio home and patio with two active herding dogs that keep them free from all danger, real or imagined.

You can find Carol at these locations across the web:

blog . website . facebook . twitter . goodreads . amazon . amazon uk