Author's Books

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What a thrill to be the spotlighted author this month and to talk a bit more about the award-winning, action/adventure/romantic suspense novels in my Incognito Series.

I love all things series, so it’s a very rare thing for me to write a single book that has no connection to others I’ve done. That was the case with the first book in the Incognito Series, NO ORDINARY LOVE, and the prestigious 2007 EPPIE AWARD WINNER for Best Romantic Suspense; 2006 CAPA nominee; recipient of A Perfect 10 Review Award from Romance Reviews Today; and 5 Star Reviews from Huntress, Lighthouse Literary, The Romance Studio and Coffee Time.

Many years ago, I had an idea for a story that utterly intrigued me. What if a woman had only a handful of memories—vague and troubling ones of a dark, cold and wet night and gunshots—and she remembers nothing else before the age of five, before a certain man entered her life? Since that fateful night long ago, all she knows is her nightmares and this man loving and keeping her sheltered from the world. What if this man had the answers to her past but wouldn’t give them to her? What would compel him to do the things he’s done to keep her life before a secret? NO ORDINARY LOVE was born with that concept, and, once I wrote it, my Incognito Series was instantly spawned.

The series premise is based on the world’s most covert organization, the Network (fictional, of course!), with underground headquarters in Chicago beneath a front technology company called ETI. Having unchallenged authority and skill to disable and destroy criminals, the Network takes over where regular law enforcement leaves off in the mission for absolute justice. The price for that justice is high, requiring the life of every man and woman who serves—no turning back. Once you belong to the Network, there’s no escape. There is no life and no love, only duty.

Readers entered the Network with UNTIL DEATH DO US PART, Book 2, which was a blast to write…and incidentally was a 2006 eCataromance reviewer’s choice nominee and received 5 star reviews from Lighthouse, Coffee Time and Fallen Angel. I combined Network operatives’ Kirsten Ulrick and Ash Barnett undercover mission (and secret relationship) of protecting Raven Harris from her seemingly invisible enemy with Raven’s broken marriage and the loss of her son. Romantic relationships between two Network operatives, or an operative and a civilian, are strictly forbidden by Network superiors. The consequence for an operative caught—a bullet in the brain.

BOUNTY ON THE REBEL’S HEART (Book 3) continued where UNTIL DEATH DO US PART left off with Raven Harris’ journalism partner in hiding with evidence he uncovered on a dangerously corrupt man of power with connections to the Network. Network operative Natalie Francis goes undercover, posing as Reb’s former lover, investigative journalist Adrienna Kelly. But Reb and Adrienna’s relationship was nothing if not complicated. Add that Natalie is losing her heart to Reb and seriously considering escape from the Network, and you’ve got a story that’s non-stop action. BOUNTY also racked up quite a few 5 star reviews.

That brings us to my newest release in the series, DEAD DROP (Book 4). Again, I was intrigued with a compelling concept. The heroine, Perry, is an FBI agent. She lost the man she loved years ago to what appeared to be an accident. Just before his death, he was approached for recruitment by a covert government agency. Now, 25 years later, Perry’s son is approached by the same covert agency. Perry is determined to both find the man she loves and to protect their son from the same fate.

What can you look forward to next in the Incognito Series?

UNDER THE SPELL, Book 5
October 2007
Cowboys and spies set the scene for this sexy, fun, emotional novel about a Network operative thrust back into her old life to discover who killed her rancher father and why. The last thing she expects it to confront the cowboy she’d run from directly into the Network’s arms as a teenager…a man who could be a murderer.

RENEGADE’S ROSE, Book 6
March 2008
Network operative Hunter Savage is nearly on death’s door when he finds out that the most dangerous terrorist group in the world has kidnapped his sister. His only choice? To kidnap the terrorist leader’s wife.

UNDERCOVER ANGEL, Book 7
October 2008
Captain Shannon McKee leads the Network with an unfeeling, iron fist, just as her father did before her. Yet, when the opportunity comes to take down the most notorious drug dealer in history, she goes after her heart’s desire—to utterly destroy the man who killed her younger brother. The only man alive who can stop her from her suicide mission is the Navy S.E.A.L. she served with and nearly lost her heart to, Captain Ron Blair.

HARD TO HANDLE, Book 8
March 2009
Nova Granger is the former Piper Laslow, first introduced in NO ORDINARY LOVE and formally brought into the Network in UNTIL DEATH DO US PART. Nova has completed her training and she’s assigned a permanent mentor. Little does she know that sexy Dez Luttino (who played a role in Books 3 and 5) has been instructed to prepare Nova for a mission that involves the seduction of a ruthless criminal. While Dez trains Nova in the art of sensuality, they both come to realize that they’ve gone beyond duty and done the unthinkable by falling in love.

DANCE IN SHADOWS, Book 9
October 2009
Head of Network Operations, Angelo Pluzetti, has played a role in every book in this series, and he finally gets his own with this one. When he’s targeted and kidnapped by the most dangerous terrorist group in the world, the woman he desperately doesn’t want to love, the woman currently carrying his unborn child, comes to save his life and unbury his heart.

HYPNOTIZED, Book 10
March 2010
Network operatives and secret lovers Noah Harlow and Rhiannon Murray were first mentioned in Book 2. In their own story, the Network has discovered a little known scientist has developed a biological weapon that could devastate the population should it fall into the wrong hands. To save the world, their own lives, and the love they can’t seem to deny, they have to trust in a reclusive nurse with an extraordinary power.

MIND GAMES, Book 11
October 2010
Psychologist Jocelyn Dominica determines the fate of every operative in the Network. When the task falls to her to discover a mole within their organization, her skills are put the test and her heart straddles a dangerous line with two men who could be intent on toppling the Network.

I’m still playing with the idea of having a nice round number for the series—12—but that’ll depend on how I feel after writing Book 11.

What else can you look for from me at Whiskey Creek Press?

Also available this month is my first collection, DAME AMETHYST TREASURES. I’m the founder of Jewels of the Quill http://www.JewelsoftheQuill.com, an EPPIE AWARD winning group that does two anthologies with Whiskey Creek Press each year. This collection includes some of my stories published in JOTQ anthologies: “The Amethyst Angel” (from TALES FROM THE TREASURE TROVE, Volume I); “A Home for Christmas” (SMALL GIFTS); “The Amethyst Star” (TALES II); and a bonus novella never before published, “Creatures of the Night.”

Coming September 2007 is my second collection, ADVENTURES IN AMETHYST SERIES, which includes the first two stories in the series, plus two bonuses: “A Rose for Romeo” (TREASURES OF THE HEART); “Revenge in Amethyst” (TALES III); and brand new “Reckless Rose” and “Christmas in Amethyst.”

Also to be released in September is the first story in my horror series, WOODCUTTER’S GRIM, “Papa” in SHADOWS IN THE HEART, A JOTQ Halloween Anthology.
Book 2 in the series, “Blood of Amethyst”, will be released in TALES IV (coming March 2008).

I start a new series in September 2008 with “Perfect Cadence”, Book 1 of the Kaleidoscope Series, to be released in CHRISTMAS WISHES, A JOTQ Christmas Anthology. Look for six other stories in this series, to be published in JOTQ anthologies and one or more Kaleidoscope Series collections.

My third collection, WOODCUTTER’S GRIM SERIES, also comes out in September, with “Papa” and “Blood of Amethyst.” Two bonus stories are included in this collection: “A Friend in Need” and “The Amethyst Tower.” I do expect that this collection will be the first of many. The premise of the series simply begs for many new stories to be written.

When I finish all this, I plan to begin a new 4-book series for WCP, the Cowboy Fever Series. I fell in love with the cowboys at the Triple Aces Ranch introduced in UNDER THE SPELL, Book 5 of the Incognito Series. I knew I’d have to write each of their stories eventually. To find out more about Fever, Texas and the Cowboy Fever Series, visit http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/WIP.html#Fever.

To find out more about and to read excerpts from my Incognito Series and other upcoming releases from WCP, visit my website at http://www.karenwiesner.com.