Molly:
I see that you and Chris Spindler are collaborating on the Falcon’s Bend Series. Can you tell us how the two of you came to begin writing together.

Karen:
A strangling had just occurred in the park. The victim? A dancer from the local scandaleux strip joint. When the local small town lieutenant, who’s longing just to go home to his new wife, goes to the nightclub to investigate, he encounters the radical personalities of the other dancers: one far-too-young-and-innocent; another older, vengeful and jaded; and a blond bombshell with unfathomable depths.

When I woke from this intense dream in the late 1990’s, I immediately started writing. My pen flew over the paper as I wrote down everything I saw in my dream-movie. When it finally faded out, leaving a heaviness in my chest, I’d filled pages with the start of a book I couldn’t imagine myself ever writing. I was a romance writer who occasionally wrote writers’ reference books. I didn’t write mysteries or even psychological thrillers, though of late the occasional suspense plotline had slipped into my contemporary romances—always as a secondary element. So I put the notes into my plot cupboard where I expected it to fade from my imagination quickly. It didn’t. It continued to haunt me as time passed and the plots of my romances became more suspenseful, and I sold some children’s books and poetry. I even delved into an experimental paranormal (SWEET DREAMS) that won rave reviews, became a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award and was chosen as a Top Pick of the month from Romantic Times. Seems my imagination didn’t want to be contained simply because I’d started out as a contemporary romance writer.

At the time, in the year 2000, SWEET DREAMS was published by Avid Press (now available from Hard Shell Word Factory), which was also the publisher of a friend, Christine Spindler, who wrote an award-winning mystery series and happened to live in Auenwald, Germany. Christine and I started talking, almost casually at first, about writing something together. My first thought was the dream I’d had about the small town detective tracking a killer in a strip joint while missing his wife. I told Christine about this idea gathering dust in my cupboard, and she told me about an idea she had about a mystery involving twin sisters.

When she sent me the notes she had on her story, I became wildly excited. Without a break, I spent the rest of that day combining the best elements from both of our ideas, and DEGREES OF SEPARATION—a full-blown whodunnit mystery—was born. Soon Christine and I were brainstorming non-stop from our ends of the world. In no time at all, we’d completed the novel, which was so much like the dream I’d had, I knew it had to be fate. We both accepted that we wouldn’t want this to be a single book. We’d fallen for Pete Shasta (and his beloved wife Lisa) and Danny Vincent, investigators for the Falcon’s Bend Police Department, and together we plan to visit often the ‘small, sleepy Wisconsin town that owns more taverns than churches but fills both on the appropriate days. A place where nothing seems to happen...except the occasional murder’. You can visit the Falcon’s Bend Community, too! Just point your browser to www.falconsbend.com in order to find information about and excerpts from the Falcon’s Bend Series.

Christine:
This was a truly amazing collarboration, right from the start. I've written about 30 books alone, and it's a totally different experience. Working with a co-author is a lot of fun, it's so inspiring to brainstorm together.

Molly:
I've just read/reviewed THE FIFTEENTH LETTER, Book 3 of the Falcon’s Bend Series. Please will you tell us why you chose this particular setting/genre for this work?

Karen:
Chris and I had already spotlighted our Falcon’s Bend Police Department detectives, Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent, in the first two books in the series. We introduced Patrol Officer Amber Carfi (and her partner Warren Jensen) in Book 2. Even in her brief introduction in TEARS ON STONE, Amber intrigued both of us because she had so many interesting facets. Here was a cop who had a father in prison, a woman who really understood people yet was completely messed up herself, a tough cookie who occasionally showed her softer side. We knew we wanted to expand her character, and she and Jensen kind of took over in THE FIFTEENTH LETTER, where you find out what happened to put her father in prison—and almost gets Amber blown up in the process, and in ROMANTIC NOTIONS, Book 4, which is more of a howdunnit than a whodunnit that we think police procedural/mystery fans will really enjoy.

The amount of research involved in THE FIFTEENTH LETTER was monumental—let’s just say it wasn’t the kind of thing either of us would like to do again, not that it wasn’t worth it. Oh, and Chris was the one who came up with the brilliant idea about the fifteenth letter that really cinched the entire plot and gave us such a fantastically intriguing title.

Molly:
Please tell us something about yourself.

Karen:
The Falcon’s Bend Series was my first foray into the mystery genre. I’m an accomplished author with 62 books published in the past 11 years, which have been nominated for and/or won 92 awards, and 15 more titles under contract. My books cover such genres as women’s fiction, romance, mystery/police procedural/cozy, suspense, paranormal, futuristic, gothic, inspirational, thriller, horror and action/adventure. I also write children’s books, poetry, and writing reference titles such as "First Draft in 30 Days" and "From First Draft to Finished Novel {A Writer’s Guide to Cohesive Story Building}", available from Writer’s Digest Books. My previous writers’ reference titles focused on non-subsidy, royalty-paying electronic publishing, author promotion, and setting up a promotional group like my own, the award-winning Jewels of the Quill, which I founded in 2003. The group does two anthologies, edited by myself and others, together per year. In addition to my writing, I enjoy designing Web sites, graphics, and cover art. For more information about me and my work, visit my Web sites at www.karenwiesner.com, www.firstdraftin30days.com, www.falconsbend.com and www.JewelsoftheQuill.com. If you would like to receive my free e-mail newsletter, Karen’s Quill, and become eligible to win my monthly book giveaways, send a blank e-mail to KarensQuill-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Christine:
I quit my job in the late 90's to make a living as a writer. It took a while before this came true, but I feel truly blessed that I can live my dream now. Most of my books are published in Germany. I write mysteries, children's books, YA romance and novels, mostly under my maiden name, Tina Zang. My books have been translated into Spanish, Polish and Hungarian.

Molly:
Is there anything else you would like to add?

Karen:
Falcon’s Bend Series titles are available now in trade paperback and electronic formats:

DEGREES OF SEPARATION, Book 1 of the Falcon’s Bend Series re-issue
"Who is killing the midnight ladies?"

TEARS ON STONE, Book 2 of the Falcon’s Bend Series re-issue
"Is murder ever justifiable?"

THE FIFTEENTH LETTER, Book 3 of the Falcon’s Bend Series
"Sins of the father..."

ROMANTIC NOTIONS, Book 4 of the Falcon’s Bend Series
"Love—and murder—is in the air."

FALCON’S BEND CASE FILES, Volume I {The Early Cases} re-issue
The first collection of Falcon’s Bend Detectives Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent’s early cases.

FALCON’S BEND CASE FILES, Volume II
The second collection of Falcon’s Bend Detectives Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent's cases, with Patrol Officer Amber Carfi.

Steals & Deals on Falcon’s Bend Series titles!

-Buy the trade paperbacks of DEGREES OF SEPARATION and TEARS ON STONE together from the publisher and pay only $25—including shipping! (almost a $15 savings!) Find out more here: www.swimmingkangaroo.com/degrees.html

-Purchase the trade paperbacks of THE FIFTEENTH LETTER and ROMANTIC NOTIONS together from the publisher and pay only $12 each or $20 for two books! (almost a $10 savings!) Find out more here: www.swimmingkangaroo.com/notions.html

-Buy DEGREES OF SEPARATION, TEARS ON STONE, THE FIFTEENTH LETTER, ROMANTIC NOTIONS and FALCON’S BEND CASE FILES, Volume I and receive all five books for only $50! (almost a $30 savings!) Item # 425684 www.swimmingkangaroo.com/degrees.html

Buy any 3 of Karen’s titles and get them for only $9 each! Visit www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/specialorderform.html to take advantage of this sale.

Find out more about the Falcon’s Bend Series at www.falconsbend.com