BOOK REVIEW - "SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH" (COLORADO K-9 UNIT BOOK 1) BY LAURA SCOTT

 

Who murdered rancher Jordan Clarke's missing sister, and what happened to her newborn child?  How about the unknown assailant taking potshots at Autumn Riley, who with her bloodhound partner Bear are part of a task force to solve that murder, two previous similar killings, and rescue another pregnant girl who's missing?

It's an annual tradition, or at least its been the past four years: Laura Scott has the honor of starting Harlequin's Love Inspired Suspence imprint. This year, she's getting the Colorado K-9 Unit series moving with "Searching for the Truth." 

One thing I always try to do in reviewing fiction is to spoil the book (I don't worry as much about spoiling the plot in non-fiction books). Of course, the main story threads are not concluded in the first book, but in my opinion the ending for the first book was not completely satisfying. I see hints that parts of this series will be disturbing for certain readers. 

Does that mean I don't recommend it? No. It's well written, and you can care for Jordan and Autumn through this story (and they'll probably have a smaller but definite part as the series progresses. Thus, I give this 5 stars, and recommend it.

BOOK REVIEW - "CHASING A KIDNAPPER" (DAKOTA K-9 UNIT BOOK 1) BY LAURA SCOTT

Who is vandalizing policewoman Trisha McCord's house and attempting to kidnap her six month old child? Is there a connection between these attacks and the two state gunrunning ring K-9 officer Wes Cole and the newly formed Dakota K-9 Unit are seeking to close down? And who does this abandoned ... hold on. I'm not spoiling this end-of-the-story plot twist.

This is the first installment of the Dakota K-9 Unit series. Like the continuity series of the last two years, Laura Scott has the honor of kicking it off. The characters are ones you can care about, as normal, and the plot will leave you guessing, with a couple of surprises waiting till the end.

One thing I like about this story: normally in these series, the K-9 team (both man and dog) are introduced in the chapter, already organized. In this one, you get to read about the organization of the team in about the 3rd chapter. Of course, you'll want to read the first two chapters to know why the K-9 unit is established.

At this point, I've read the first four of the series (as typical, written by different authors) and I highly recommend both this novel and the series (which will release a new story each month until November).

LOVE INSPIRED SUSPENSE BOOK SERIES CRITIQUE - MOUNTAIN COUNTRY K-9 UNIT (2024)

Some of my writing friends have a 5-star policy in reviewing fellow authors - if it's not worthy of a 5-star review, they don't review it. The purpose? To encourage authors and recognize the work it takes to make a publishable book. While I feel as a reviewer that I have at least as much (and probably more) responsibility to be honest enough in the reviewing to warn readers of things that will take away from their enjoyment, I give most novels 5 stars because they have done a good job writing the book, even if it's not one of my favorites. 

But this is not a review of the series, meant to strengthen the interest in a books. This is a critique. So this has spoilers. And I'll point out my opinion even if it is negative. And I'll go ahead and state - my favorite series is the Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit and my least is the Mountain Country K-9 Unit. No, I don't think it's a bad series - I gave all the books a deserved 5 star - but there were several small things that made it less enjoyable.

However, let me start like I usually do, and give you an overview of the three main storylines, though in this case, two are intertwines immediately. The focus is on the Rocky Mountain Killer (aka RMK), who killed three young men of a seven person group a decade earlier, two more just before the story starts, number 6 in the middle of the series, and "saving the best for last." The group (or most of the group) had mistreated and humiliated a young lady ten years ago, so someone is taking revenge. In fact, the Mountain Country K-9 Unit was created specifically for the purpose to bring RMK to justice.

The second theme is the suggestion Ashley Hanson, the  rookie of the K-9 unit, to train a therapy dog for the small town where the killings were centered, and the designee was named "Cowgirl." Well, by the time the first book ends, RMK dognapped Cowgirl and got her a collar with "Killer" on it, showing up on occasion to taunt the good guys. During that 6 month course, Cowgirl gets pregnant and has pups, which RMK puts in a place where the K-9 Unit will find them, so they don't get in his way.

The third continuing storyline involves the tech guru Isla Jimenez, who wants to foster care and adopt this young boy. But someone calls the adoption agency and gives false accusations of Isla being on drugs and putting the adoption on hold. Then, that person locks up Isla's bank account. If that's not enough, Isla's house is set on fire. And is that the end of it?

Here are the books in the series:

1. "Baby Protection Mission" by Laura Scott.
2. "Her Duty Bound Defender" by Sharee Stover.
   
3. "Chasing Justice" by Valerie Hansen.
4. "Crime Scene Secrets" by Maggie K. Black.
5. "Montana Abduction Rescue" by Jodie Bailey.
6. "Trail of Threats" by Jessica Patch.
7. "Tracing a Killer" by Sharon Dunn.
8. "Search and Detect" by Terri Reed.
9. "Christmas K-9 Guardians" by Lenora Worth and Katy Lee.

Allow me to say there are things I applaud the writers of this series for. Of course, each story has thrilling plot twists, great romance, and interesting characters. For example, Jessica Patch repeatedly introduces me to characters I absolutely love, and Rocco and Sadie in "Trail of Threats" are prime examples. Also, most series introduces you to the main stories in book 1, and on rare occasions book 2, but only give reviews and updates until at book 7-8 (maybe as far back as book 6), while the authors focus on their individual stories. Not so here. The RMK is suspected to be involved in several crimes that he isn't. And unless if you count finding the puppies in book 7 a wrap up of that storyline (I don't, because Cowgirl is still in RMK's clutches), none of the story-lines are resolved until finale book 8, where unit chief Chase Ralston has to deal with RMK's plan to kill his final victim, the person troubling tech guru Isla Jimenez, and a person who's trying to kill a mother of a young girl.

For those who love youngsters as well as K-9s in this story, this will be your series. Six of the eight novels and one of the two Christmas novellas have a minor involved (two feature teen-agers, and one is approaching the 9th month of her pregnancy at the story's start).

As mentioned, this is not a bad series, but I do have a list of things that took away from the story in my opinion. They may not be negatives to all readers. So here goes.

• What is the difference between Mountain Country and Rocky Mountain? Both are separate series with no overlaps, but it is the same geography, with one story in New Mexico but mostly staying north. By the way, the two series ends with the respective K-9 units becoming permanent, though via different roads (Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit earned it in spite of sabotage by overcoming the various battles; permanence was not a goal of the Mountain Country K-9 Unit, but they received it by being successful in their main purpose.)
• While this series has three good covers ("Crime Scene Secrets," "Montana Abduction Rescue," "Search and Detect," the infant on the cover of "Baby Protection Mission" doesn't look realistic to me. By the way, neutral rather than negative, Laura Scott starting this series with the threat of kidnapping is not the first series she kicked things off with that plot - she did the same with Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit's "Shielding the Baby", the immediately previous series - nor the last - she's launching the next series, Dakota K-9 Unit, with "Chasing a Kidnapper. How long a streak will this be?
• Some of the individual stories had twists that I didn't care for. I never care for stalker stories, where the victim has to play along to keep alive, as in the climax of "Trail of Threats" (otherwise one of my favorites). Then in "Search and Detect," Chief Chase Ralston three or four times made a good case on why he felt one of the two main suspects was the killer. Surprise, surprise, he guessed wrong. Sorry, but I thought that could have been done better.
• The top reason I was disappointed in Mountain Country K-9 Unit was what I sensed as a greater than normal dose of sadness mixed in with the happy endings. The rookie ended her story on desk duty after shooting the villain (who survived that shooting). One male lead started the story handcuffed being transported to where he'd face trial, and he was temporarily in custody at the end until they officially recognized his innocence. The cousin of another female lead's cousin found out the woman he loved and was going to marry was a serial killer and a thief. And one of the other heroines learned that her brother was the RMK and hade to deal with that. 

I want to close a little more upbeat, though. There were several stories I enjoyed. As mentioned above, Rocco and Sadie were one of my highlights in Jessica Patch's "Trail of Threats," (book 6) and while Rocco wasn't as fun when he appeared in following stories, Jodie Bailey did a good job of showing the promise of Rocco being entertaining in "Montana Abduction Rescue" (book 5). The RMK was also an entertaining villain, a cold-blooded killer who took good care of the dogs he stole.

I hope you noticed with the warnings of spoilers and my disappointment that you read this series, and that you liked it better. As for me, this weekend I'll be starting the third-in-a-row-baby-abduction-Laura-Scott-K9-Series-Kickoff, book one of the Dakota K-9 Unit series. (And hoping sometime they'll have an Arizona series.)

 

LOVE INSPIRED SUSPENSE BOOK SERIES CRITIQUE - PACIFIC NORTHWEST K-9 UNIT (2023)

For your information. Regular readers may notice that typically my font style changes from column to column, but it hasn't been in this series. That's because while I'm writing reviews on K-9 series, I'm using the font Blogspot calls "Underdog." 

Another confession. I wasn't thrilled to see a series on the Pacific Northwest. True, it's more due to the politics of the urban parts of that region, not the wilderness that this series focuses on. Did the writers win me over? I'll get to that later.

This series starts out with a bang... actually, two. The co-owner of a hotel chain and her new boy-friend were shot and killed in the open. The co-owner is the sister of the hero of book one, a widowed father with an infant son. The new boy-friend is the former boyfriend of Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit Crime Tech Mara Gilmore, who's seen running away from the crime scene. Is she guilty? Or is she being framed. Of course, you have to read the whole series to get the answer to that question.

Two other questions. First, who stole three bloodhound puppies that were going to be trained to be K-9s? Second, which of the four candidates vying for two openings on the Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit is sabotaging the work of their three competitors?

Remember that there WILL be spoilers, as in the rest of these critiques. Here are the books in this series:

1. "Shielding the Baby" by Laura Scott.
2. "Scent of Truth" by Valerie Hansen.
3. "Explosive Trail" by Terri Reed.
4. "Olympic Mountain Pursuit" by Jodie Bailey.
5. "Threat Detection" by Sharon Dunn.
6. "Cold Case Revenge" by Jessica Patch.
7. "Undercover Operation" by Maggie K. Black.
8. "Snowbound Escape" by Dana Mentink.
9. "K-9 National Park Defenders" by Katy Lee and Sharee Stover.

Ready for a pair of items different? First, this is the first time I've read the Christmas novella duet. Second, I point out my two favorites. Why two? Well, I look at my year-end lists of favorite novels, and include those which made the list, which was two each in the previous four series. In this series, though, five out of the nine qualified! So my favorites were "Shielding the Baby," "Scent of Truth," "Olympic Mountain Pursuit," "Threat Detection," and "K-9 National Park Defenders." Out of these, "Scent of Truth" would be the top dog (sorry, couldn't resist), where the heroine is fighting a foe that looks just like her.

The main story in this series has similarities to the one from Alaska K-9 Unit a couple of years earlier. Both have a damsel in distress on the run, with the villain and his sinsiter henchman becoming apparent in the mid section of the series, and with a shining knight on his white ... uh, K-9 to rescue her in book 8. Yes, there are definite differences, but I caught some common ground.

My suspicion with the four candidates was that it was none of the four doing the sabotage, and all four would be accepted. Well, in book 7, it was revealed which of the four was trying to sabotage the others, and was dismissed. I still held to the thought that the others would all be accepted and an extra spot would be corrected, and I was right.

As far as the cute bloodhound puppies, which you see on the cover of book 7? Uh, would bloodhound puppies be that small when it took six months to find them? One Amazon reviewer mentioned they lost it when the heroine picked up all three puppies and ran. 

In spite of an easy mystery and some ignorance on how quickly puppies grow, this was definitely my favorite series out of those I've read (there were other series before True Blue K-9 Unit). And the novella duet gave me the closure I thought it was meant to do.

LOVE INSPIRED SUSPENSE BOOK SERIES CRITIQUE - ROCKY MOUNTAIN K-9 UNIT (2022)

I keep hoping for an Arizona series, but this is getting close.

Note - this critique will give spoilers of the series.

The main story involves a car crash with one fatality, one person in a coma and with amnesia when she recovers, and one missing baby. Other stories include a serial killer striking at various state parks who targets blondes (such as K-9 officer Harlow Zane in book 6) and Sergeant Tyson Wilkes working to  convince his highers up to make the K-9 unit permanent, in spite of several sabotage attempts.

This series includes:

1. "Detection Detail" by Terri Reed.
2. "Ready to Protect" by Valerie Hansen.
3. "Hiding in Montana" by Laura Scott.
4. "Undercover Assignment" by Dana Mentink.
5. "Defending From Danger" by Jodie Bailey.
6. "Tracking a Killer" by Elizabeth Goddard.
7. "Explosive Revenge" by Maggie K. Black.
8. "Rescue Mission" by Lynette Eason.
9. "Christmas K-9 Unit Heroes" by Lenora Worth and Katy Lee.

Once again, I didn't read the Christmas novella duet.

In the previous series, the broad stories are resolved in books 7 and 8, but this one completes one of the stories in book 6. My favorites are "Undercover Assignment" and "Explosive Revenge." The former one is based in New Mexico (the territory for this K-9 Unit is from New Mexico to Montana); not quite Arizona, but close enough for me to feel homesick.

While I enjoyed the series, there was one story I had a hard time getting into, a first for the K-9 series, that being "Hiding in Montana." Also, there were two different stories in this series where the heroine enters the book struggling to keep her business afloat, with her main business antagonist is a suspect for the trouble-making, and exits the book selling her business to that main antagonist (who was not part of the troublemaking after all) to take another job and be close to the hero. I may be one of the few, but that made me feel sad in both cases. 

That said, this series is full of great suspense and romantic tension. 

 

LOVE INSPIRED SUSPENSE BOOK SERIES CRITIQUE - ALASKA K-9 UNIT (2021)

Alaska K-9 Unit is the first series I read all eight of the main books (not counting the novella duet at the end). It also moved from the city where the two previous years (and maybe further back) were based into the wilderness, where it basically was since.

The big story was the runaway bride. A young lady (who it later was revealed was expecting), her best friend, and her fiance and his friend went hiking with a guide. The guide was killed, the bride's best friend was pushed off a cliff, and the bride went missing, and the men claimed the bride was responsible for the actual and attempted deaths. But were they telling the truth? Since this is a critique, and I had announced they will contain spoilers,  yes, it turns out that the groom-to-be was upset that the bride emptied her bank account that he wanted to empty. Other series wide stories include K-9 team assistant Katie Kapowski's family reindeer ranch being sabotaged by her not-very-nice uncle and Tech guru Eli Partridge trying to locate his isolationist family members.

The series includes: 

1. "Alaskan Rescue" by Terri Reed.
2. "Wilderness Defender" by Maggie K. Black.
3. "Undercover Mission" by Sharon Dunn.
4. "Tracking Stolen Secrets" by Laura Scott.
5. "Deadly Cargo" by Jodie Bailey.
6. "Arctic Witness" by Heather Woodhaven.
7. "Yukon Justice" by Dana Mentink.
   
8. "Blizzard Showdown" by Shirlee McCoy.
   
9. "K-9 Christmas Protectors" by Maggie K. Black and Lenora Worth.

As you might expect, each series closes with reintroducing you to the main characters of the series. Some are handled better than others. This one, though, seemed staged. Each couple entered for a Thanksgiving dinner in order with their K-9s, and they didn't mention that the heroine of the first book was to be the maid of honor for the heroine of the eighth (and hostess for the dinner). If this is the weak point of this series, then we've got a good series.

This series does a good job of looking at various aspects of Alaska, such as dog-sled racing, summer cruises, northern lights, reindeer ranches, and, of course, lots of winter snow. Additionally, while they do have typical breeds in the series like German Shepherds, Border Collies, and Belgian Malinois, this one includes other breeds suited for northern environments like Huskies, Wolfhounds, Norweigen Elkhounds, Akitas, Newfoundlands, and St. Bernards.

My favorites were "Wilderness Defender" (I absolutely loved the interaction between the large K-9 and a little kitten) and "Deadly Cargo" (the first K-9 story I know of that one of my favorite authors, Jodie Bailey, wrote). I will admit, though, that most villains don't stand out. Lance, the treacherous bridegroom mentioned above, is a notable exception.

This was a very enjoyable series.

LOVE INSPIRED SUSPENSE BOOK SERIES CRITIQUE - TRUE BLUE K-9 UNIT BROOKLYN (2020)

In this critique series (all of which contain spoilers), I'm dealing with six Love Inspired Suspense K-9 series. Most of them have several covers. However, I wasn't able to do that with True Blue K-9 Unit Brooklyn, and the cover I'm showing belongs to one of the two in the series I didn't read!

This series is a spin-off of the previous year's True Blue K-9 Unit, which is set in Queens. There are a few characters from the previous series - Chief Gavin Sutherland whose wife still works with the Queens Unit, Lani Branson whose romance with Queens Chief Noah Jameson, and Snapper, a K-9 MIA in the previous series and is now handled by Lani. Other than that, it's new heroes (both human and canine) and new villains.

The story starts with a man in a clown suit giving a young child a stuffed monkey before going into the house and killing the child's parents on the 20th anniversary of an identical murder. Was the same fiend involved, or was it a copycat killer, meaning there are two bad guys to catch? Also, the Unit adopt an abandoned dog and her pups, with the goal of training them. But then a neighbor claims those dogs belong to him. 

This series consists of: 

1. "Copycat Killer" by Laura Scott.
2. "Chasing Secrets" by Heather Woodhaven.*
3. "Deadly Connection" by Lenora Worth.
4. "Explosive Situation" by Terri Reed.
5. "Tracking a Kidnapper" by Valerie Hansen.
6. "Scene of the Crime" by Sharon Dunn.
7. "Cold Case Pursuit" by Dana Mentink.
8. "Delayed Justice" by Shirley McCoy.
9. "Brooklyn Christmas" by Laura Scott and Maggie K. Black.*

* Indicates ones I haven't read. Until recently, I haven't read the Christmas novella duets because those follow the main action. Also, most of these have come to the Indianapolis Library when I suggest them for purchase, but COVID was messing up ordering books during that time, which is how I missed "Chasing Secrets."

I found this series well written over all. My favorites were "Explosive Situation" - where a K-9 Detective falls in love with the internal affairs officer investigating him - and "Delayed Justice" - where a reporter finds herself threatened by a man who's been dead for years. 

Needless to say, there are two killers. Penelope McGregor solves the case where her parents were killed twenty years earlier in "Cold Case Pursuit",  and "Delayed Justice" reveals who the modern day killer is, with an exciting rescue of the heroine. 

SERIES ON LOVE INSPIRED SUSPENSE K-9 UNIT SERIES CRITIQUES

You probably have noticed that I read and review a lot of novels from Harlequin's Love Inspired Suspense imprint, and the majority of those belong to their annual multi-author K-9 series. After all, who can resist all those wonderful dogs?! So far I've read six series (or the majority of six series) and will be starting a seventh next week.  With that in mind, I thought I'd give an overview of the six series I've read.

Technically, this is my second review of a series. The first book review I did, in fact (posted September 22, 2020) was on this series. If you want to review it, click here. 

However, there is a difference between that and what I'll be doing here. This series is not of book reviews but critiques. What's the difference? In my reviews of the individual books, I go out of my way to avoid spoilers. (Anybody notice that?) My goal is to get those who would enjoy that book (or movie or album) interested in reading it and not ruining it in the process. Let me make this clear: THIS SERIES WILL HAVE SPOILERS! I'm looking at the development of each series, and thus cannot avoid spoiling parts of it. 

Typically, each series can be considered to have either eight or nine books. The story, which includes a major and usually two story threads that go through most or all of eight novels. But then, they have a ninth book featuring two novellas, which take place after the main stories have concluded. I have not read most of those final books. In the True Blue K-9 series, the main story involves the unsolved murder of the K-9 unit's chief and finding his K-9 Snapper. The other stories is the choosing of a new chief (which is one of the three brothers of the former chief, all of which are in the unit) and a restaurant that has a section for the K-9 officers and their partners called the doghouse, which closes down but is reopened at the end. One difference with this series is that it also has a prequel. 

The books in this series are: 

1. "Shield of Protection" by Dana Mentink.
2. "Justice Mission" by Lynette Eason.
3. "Act of Valor" by Dana Mentink.
4. "Blind Trust" by Laura Scott.
5. "Deep Undercover" by Lenora Worth.
6. "Seeking the Truth" by Terri Reed.
7. "Trail of Danger" by Valarie Hansen.
8. "Courage Under Fire" by Sharon Dunn.
9. "Sworn to Protect" by Shirlee McCoy.
10. "True Blue K-9 Unit Christmas" by Laura Scott and Maggie K. Black.

Note - I have not read the first two on the list nor the 9th one, due to the quickness of books going out of print and COVID. Less than 24 hours before writing this, I found the Christmas book, so I read this primarily to confirm my hunch that the restaurant reopened (it did).

My favorites were numbers 3 and 6. "Act of Valor" was the first K-9 unit book I read, and it got me hooked. It also included one of my all-time favorite villains - Javier Beck, a drug dealer who enjoyed being bad. But that one was topped by "Seeking the Truth." The heroine, reporter Rachelle Clark, basically had no family. She fell in love with widower Carter Jameson, one of the brothers of the murdered former chief. But Rachelle didn't just get the love of her life: she also got Carter's daughter and mother and rest of the family. After Carter proposed, his eavesdropping mother then told Rachelle it was time to go shopping.

Some of these older series may be hard to find, but if you can, they're worth it.

 

BOOK REVIEW - "BABY PROTECTION MISSION" (MOUNTAIN COUNTRY K-9 UNIT BOOK 1) BY LAURA SCOTT

Who kidnapped Cade McNeal's sister, and why do they want her infant? Does K-9 officer Ashley Hanson and her lab have what it takes to keep them safe? And is there any connection between this case and the Rocky Mountain Killer, who murdered three young men a decade earlier and just recently added two of their friends to the list?

"Baby Protection Mission" by Laura Scott is the first of the Mountain Country K-9 Unit series. If you've read many Harlequin Love Inspired novels, this is what you'll expect in great characters and edge of the seat action.

Criticisms that have no effect on the five point rating of this book. One, I like the picture of the dog on the cover, but to me, the baby doesn't look real. Of course, you can't judge a book by it's cover. Two, a year ago the Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit series started with "Shielding The Baby," another story where a toddler is target of kidnapping, likewise written by Laura Scott.  Like I said, does this diminish the quality of the story? Nope.

I recommend this book, and hope you enjoy it as well.

 

BOOK REVIEW - SHEILDING THE BABY (PACIFIC NORTHWEST K-9 UNIT BOOK 1) BY LAURA SCOTT

 

Was the reason for the double murder the jealousy of Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit's Crime tech seeing her ex in with single-father Luke Stark's sister? Or is it connected to the attempts to kidnap Luke's nine month old son? Will officer Danica Hayes and her K-9 partner be able to solve this case without the help of Luke's long-lost, armor-wearing brother Tony? (Sorry, no Iron Man in this novel.)

"Shielding the Baby" by Laura Scott is the first installment of Love Inspired Suspense's 2023 K-9 continuity series, Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit, featuring a different author for each of the 8 novels. 

The first story in these series has the challenge of connecting the author's novel with a crime that won't be resolved for another seven novels. This is the fourth kick-off novel I've read, and this is the best. You have plenty of plot twists, leaving you wondering if there's one or two crimes going on. I also enjoyed the development of Luke and Danica's story. 

I highly recommend this story, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. 

BOOK REVIEW - TRACKING STOLEN SECRETS BY LAURA SCOTT

 

 Alaska State Trooper Helena Maddox, along with local cop Everett Brand, are hunting for her twin sister Zoe (albeit for different reasons). Her K-9 partner Luna is a help for that goal; Christine, Helena's infant niece she didn't know about before she was left at Everett's cabin, and having their location compromised repeatedly are not.

This is the fourth part of an eight part series. If you are familiar with these multi-author series, you'll know that this is a stand-alone story with references to other plotlines that are sprinkled through the series. If you're not, you can enjoy this story without reading the others.

The plot, as you'd expect, keeps you on the edge of your seat. The characters are easy to care about, especially Everett who has reasons for discomfort in the situation he's in.

When I saw the cover for this book, I was surprised. I'm used to seeing the K-9 hero on the cover of these stories, and am used to seeing German Shepherds, Labs, and Beagles. But was that really a Norwegian Elkhound in this story? Yes, it was. A pleasant surprise.

I enjoyed this novel, and am enjoying working my way through the series.

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR LAURA SCOTT

 

JR: Laura, I've read your contributions to a pair of Love Inspired Suspense K-9 series, and just a couple of weeks ago you released Tracking Stolen Secrets in this year's Alaskan K-9 Unit collection (part 4 of 8). You also have recently written Dogged by Death, a cozy mystery. You don't like dogs, do you? Do you have any dogs? Any favorite breeds?

LS: Hi Jeff, thanks so much for chatting with me. I LOVE dogs, ha ha. I dog-sit a chocolate lab, Moose and have Otis a red fox English lab retriever. If you follow my Facebook author page you’ll see Moose on Monday posts and Otis on Tuesday posts. I honestly can’t say I have a favorite breed, although currently labs are high on the list. We’ve had Westies, Beagles and a boxer lab mix. I will say that loving dogs makes it so much more fun to write K-9 stories, as well as my cozy mystery series.

 

JR: The first story I read by you was Blind Trust. My wife and I both loved how you dealt with a heroine who was going blind. What was the inspiration for that novel, and if you can without spoilers, what was it like writing that book, both with the research and with creating the character?

LS: Blind Trust was one of my favorites. I wore super dark sunglasses in a poorly lit room to get the feel for what Eva was going through in that story. It was incredibly difficult and gave me appreciation for how those who are suffering from partial or full blindness. I also felt certain Eva wouldn’t want to be a burden to Finn, so that was also a great conflict for the story.

JR: I've read some of the K-9 series, and enjoy how a group of different writers can collaborate with tales strong enough to stand by themselves, but also moving a story line or two through out the series. How do you authors work together? Is the big story structured, or is it more seat of the pants writing?

LS: This is a great question! These multi author continuity series take a lot of structure. We have a fifty page series overview that we’re given and from there, we as authors must be in constant communication because one change impacts all of our stories. We create an author loop where we chat, and sometimes commiserate, LOL. We also brainstorm ideas. It’s much harder to write these books because of the close collaboration, but that also makes the outcome so rewarding. I was super thrilled that my latest release Tracking Stolen Secrets hit the USA Today bestseller list. I’m so blessed to have wonderful fans like you!

JR: I mentioned Dogged by Death, released July 13th, and Tracking Stolen Secrets which came out July 27th. Neither are your most recent novel: that honor goes to Cooper’s Choice, book four of six in your Smoky Mountain Secrets series, hitting the stands on August 3. How do you manage on working on different stories at the time? Do you ever take a day off? Also, does it help when one is in a different genre (I believe Dogged by Death is a cozy mystery, while the other two are romantic suspense), or does it make keeping the stories apart more challenging?

LS: I’m a glutton for punishment, huh? Ha ha. I do take Sundays off, sometimes Saturdays too, if there are family things going on. I prefer writing one book at a time, but that isn’t always possible when writing for two different publishers and my own indie series. The publishers set the deadlines so I use those as my guide. I have never missed a deadline (thankfully) and I write my own indie books in between those publisher deadlines. Writing in different series also helps keep my creativity flowing, I think if I was stuck writing one type of story, I’d probably get bored. This way, I’m always excited to get to work each morning.

JR: You mentioned you’re working with two different publishers: Tracking Stolen Secrets is the most recent you’ve written under Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense, and Dogged by Death by Crooked Lane Publishers (distributed by Penguin Random House). You also are working on two independently published series (the previously mentioned Smoky Mountain Secrets series and the three part International thriller Security Specialists trilogy (unless the fourth in the series will be out tomorrow). How does it differ between working with a traditional publisher and self-publishing? Is self-publishing more relaxing, or are you harder on yourself than editors and publishers of an organized country?

LS: Okay, its kinda hilarious that I’m currently outlining a fourth book for my Security Specialist’s Inc series, Target for Treason. How did you know? Are you looking over my shoulder, or spying on my computer camera? You may not realize that suspense authors are somewhat paranoid. LOL Other than the cozy mystery, I’ve tried to stay in one genre to encourage my readers to cross over to all my books. Self publishing is a little more stressful, because I have to work on the story, and do my own cover art and do all the formatting and uploading to all venues. I hire out the editing for my indie books because I am terrible at grammar, and I have a great editor who seems to like my stories and helps me by picking up on details such as using the same name several times in the same series or other inconsistencies. In the traditional world the editors pick up on that stuff more often than not, so when I write my own books I tend to read over them several times before they get published.

JR: Hope you don't mind one more question. Your self-published books identify themselves as being for a Christian market. Harlequin's Love Inspired Suspense series fits that bill as well. Do you see any challenges ahead in our changing culture to produce faith based novels?

LS: It’s interesting but the two biggest selling markets are Christian and super sexy. Quite the dichotomy, isn’t it? I really enjoy writing for the Christian market and I really hope that we can encourage our younger readership to turn to more faith based stories. Or at least stories that focus less on the physical and more on the emotional journey. Could that change at some point? Maybe, but so far, these two markets have remained strong for at least the past ten years. I hope that trend continues.

JR: Thank you very much for your time. I know you have two more Smoky Mountain Secrets books coming out (Trent’s Trust and Jayme’s Journey) and you mentioned working on the fourth Security Specialists novel. Any other projects? How can we keep up with what you're writing?

LS: I really think you must be connected to my computer camera. I’m just in the early phases of writing Target for Treason and don’t really have a firm deadline yet. It’s been fun so far to meet up with the other characters while still writing an international thriller. I am hoping to have this book up for publication early next year, maybe February or March.

Thanks again for having me! It’s been wonderful chatting with you.

You can keep up with Laura on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LauraScottBooks (which includes pictures of her dogs Moose and Otis) or on her author page https://www.laurascottbooks.com.