Bittersweet End to the Tennessee SWAT Series

Tennessee Takedown introduced readers to the fictional town of Destiny, Tennessee and the sexy, funny detectives and part-time SWAT team of five alpha men and one kick-butt woman. Readers loved it. Tennessee Takedown won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence. And to this day, it’s still my best-selling Harlequin Intrigue.

Fabulous reader response to Tennessee Takedown resulted in the creation of an entire series in 2017 and 2018. The fifth and final installment, SWAT Standoff, releases on June 19. It’s been a fun, wild ride and saying goodbye to this series is bittersweet. I’ll miss the heroes and heroines of Destiny, Tennessee. But as I learned after Tennessee Takedown‘s release, you never know where a book – or a series – might lead. One day perhaps another new series may intersect with this one and I’ll revisit the SWAT team of Destiny, Tennessee. You never know!

A SWAT team vanishes.

Can two partners put aside their differences to save them?

Playing hero backfires on sexy SWAT team member Blake Sullivan. He infuriates his partner, Donna Waters, as much as he attracts her. But before they can resolve their differences, they discover that the rest of their team has been kidnapped by an unknown assailant. Now as they race to rescue the small Tennessee town’s real heroes, they share a growing mutual trust…and a hot, life-changing connection.

 

Learn about these and other books by Lena Diaz by visiting her website.

YESTERDAY’S NEWS is Today’s Hot New Crime Novel by R. G. Belsky!

Former Journalist turned Crime Novelist, R.G. Belsky, has a New Book out. Happy Release Day to R. G. for YESTERDAY’S NEWS, a Clare Carlson Mystery!

A CLASSIC COLD CASE REOPENED―ALONG WITH PANDORA’S BOX

When eleven-year-old Lucy Devlin disappeared on her way to school more than a decade ago, it became one of the most famous missing child cases in history. The story turned reporter Clare Carlson into a media superstar overnight. Clare broke exclusive after exclusive. She had unprecedented access to the Devlin family as she wrote about the heartbreaking search for their young daughter. She later won a Pulitzer Prize for her extraordinary coverage of the case.

Now Clare once again plunges back into this sensational story. With new evidence, new victims, and new suspects―too many suspects. Everyone from members of a motorcycle gang to a prominent politician running for a US Senate seat seem to have secrets they’re hiding about what really might have happened to Lucy Devlin. But Clare has her own secrets. And, in order to untangle the truth about Lucy Devlin, she must finally confront her own torturous past.

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This is the first novel in a new series, featuring Clare Carlson as the protagonist. If the rest of the series is anything like YESTERDAY’S NEWS, it will be suspenseful and exciting with satisfying twists and turns.

If you haven’t read a novel by R. G. Belsky, this is a great place to start. I highly recommend his work, particularly because R. G. has led a fascinating life and incorporates the wisdom and unique experiences of being a former crime reporter into each story that he crafts. But don’t take my word for it. Look at what critics and other fellow authors have to say.

“Belsky’s Yesterday’s News elicits all parents’ deepest fear―the disappearance of a child. But this intelligent, gripping novel is about so much more: ambition, secrets, and, most shocking of all, truth. Read it.” ―Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times best-selling author of What You Break

“[Yesterday’s News is an] engrossing mystery…Belsky puts Clare’s journalistic integrity to a dramatic test in this gut-wrenching tale.”―Publishers Weekly

“Belsky’s behind-the-headlines story of the story news director Clare Carlson can’t let go has enough twists to keep even the best-read fan on their toes. Yesterday’s News is a thriller about truth, lies―and how much of each we’re willing to live with.” ―Lori Rader-Day, Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of The Day I Died

“Taut, fast-paced and compelling characters make Yesterday’s News a page-turner.” ―Mary Burton, New York Times best-selling author of The Last Move

“What a terrific book! A complex and compelling non-stop cat-and-mouse chase―and you’re never quite sure which one’s the mouse. Even the savviest of readers will be gasping in awe at Belsky’s impressive story-telling skills.” ―Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author

“…Belsky’s extensive news-media background allows him to paint behind the scenes of a TV-news set realistically and with a wry sense of humor.”―Booklist

Below are just some of the interesting things about R. G. and some tidbits about YESTERDAY’S NEWS, along with some pictures of him both as an author and as a reporter. And now, in R. G.’s own words…

I’ve covered a lot of big murder stories as a journalist – Son of Sam, O.J., John Lennon. But I’ve always felt that missing persons cases could be even more tragic. Especially when it involves a missing child. At least in a murder, there’s a sense of closure for the friends and family of the victim. But when someone goes missing – and is never found – there are never any answers. That’s why I decided to write this book about an 11-year-old girl named Lucy Devlin who disappears on her way to school in New York City and is never heard from again. Until my character, TV journalist Clare Carlson, goes digging for the truth years later.

Yesterday’s News (Oceanview – May 1, 2018) is the first in a series featuring Clare Carlson, a former newspaper reporter who is now the news director of Channel 10 News in New York City. A second Clare Carlson book THE CINDERELLA MURDERS will be published by Oceanview in the spring of 2019.

APPEARANCES

• There will be a book launch party at Mysterious Bookshop in New York City on May 8.
• I will be attending numerous mystery conferences including Maine Crime Wave, Thrillerfest, Deadly Ink, Killer Nashville and Bouchercon.
• There will also be appearances at a number of bookstores in cities around the country.
• You can check out my website for more details on my schedule. Wwwrgbelsky.com

I write about what I know. My book (like all my earlier mystery books) is set in the world of the New York City media where I worked as a journalist for many years as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. The inspiration for many of the mystery novels I’ve written have come from stories I covered (the “Ripped from the Headlines” technique) and colorful people I worked with at all those places. Whenever anyone has asked me where I got the ideas for my crime novels, I always replied: “Hey, I just go to work every day!”

I’ve done some pretty good things as a journalist, but the thing I became most famous for was something that wasn’t even my idea. The famous New York Post Headless Body in Topless Bar headline. I didn’t write that headline, but I was in the newsroom that day and helped pull together the bizarre story for it. About a holdup man who robbed a topless bar, killed someone, cut off their head and then – for some unfathomable reason – took the head away with him. It became a legendary tabloid headline, and I’ve written about how it was created numerous times since then. So I’ve become linked with that headline as maybe the most notable thing in my journalistic career. Oh, well there are worse things to be known for.

Amazingly enough, I interviewed best-selling author Douglas Preston recently about his new book City of Endless Night with co-author Lincoln Child. That book is about a murderer in New York City who cuts the heads off his victims – and takes them away with him. And yes, he remembered that New York Post headline! Even though he said the idea came from somewhere else. But we had a pretty interesting discussion about that once I told him about my involvement in the Headless Body in Topless Bar headline.

Yesterday’s News is my 11^th mystery novel. Most of them were written while I was working fulltime as a journalist. Lots of people wonder how I could work all day in a newsroom and then sit down for a few hours every day on top of that to write a novel. Hey, writing a novel is fun and relaxing compared to working in a newsroom. My job in the newsroom involved lots of work and stress to make sure the stories – and all the facts in them – were completely accurate. As a mystery novelist, I get to make stuff up. How cool is that!

I have plenty of journalist friends who actually believe that my characters are based on them. I’m sure when this book comes out, there will be women I worked with in newsrooms telling me: “I’m the real Clare Carlson, right?” The answer is no. Clare Carlson, the hard-driving, news-obsessed TV journalist in this new series, is not based on any one person. But she is a compilation of plenty of women I’ve met in newsrooms. Let’s just say I’ve worked with a lot of Clare Carlsons in my time.

My last book before this was Blonde Ice (Atria – 2016), the third in a series featuring Gil Malloy, a New York City newspaper reporter. (Like I said, I tend to write about what I know.). That book was about a cold-blooded woman serial killer – a kind of female Son of Sam – who murdered men on the streets of New York City just for the thrill of it. One interesting footnote on that book: I was able to get an author blurb praising it from from Joe Eszterhas, the legendary Hollywood screenwriter who wrote Basic Instinct – featuring Sharon Stone as a blonde murderer.  Joe and I go way back together. We were best friends in college at Ohio University in the ‘60s, working together when he was editor of the daily paper there. Years later, when I was at Star magazine, we covered him as a Hollywood celebrity. So I thought it was really cool to get that praise from him on my book.

I try to write the same kind of books that I like to read. Colorful characters; a fascinating story with lots of twists; and fast-paced, taut writing that keeps a reader turning the pages (this last one is easy for me because of my tabloid background of telling a story quickly and clearly). I had a lot of fun writing Clare Carlson and Yesterday’s News. Hopefully the readers will enjoy it too.

 

Thanks R. G.! Congratulations and good luck with the new release. Readers, below is a complete book list by this fascinating author. I hope you read and love YESTERDAY’S NEWS!

COMPLETE BOOKLIST

As Dick Belsky…

• ONE FOR THE MONEY – Academy Chicago (1985)
• SOUTH STREET CONFIDENTIAL – St. Martin’s (1989)
• BROADCAST CLUES (Paperback version from Berkley Prime Crime of South Street Confidential) – 1993
• LIVE FROM NEW YORK – Berkley Prime Crime (1993)
• THE MOURNING SHOW –Berkley Prime Crime (1994)
• SUMMERTIME NEWS – Berkley Prime Crime (1995)

As R.G. Belsky….

• LOVERBOY – Avon 1998
• PLAYING DEAD – Avon 1999
• THE KENNEDY CONNECTION – Atria (2014)
• THE MIDNIGHT HOUR – Novella – Atria (2015)
• SHOOTING FOR THE STARS – Atria (2015)
• BLONDE ICE – Atria (2016)
• YESTERDAY’S NEWS – Oceanview Publishing (2018)

Learn more about R.G. Belsky by visiting his website.

Lena Diaz Sweeps 2017 Nominations!

Romantic Suspense author, Lena Diaz has swept nearly every major published book award this year. This comes as no surprise. The author of more than 18 books, Lena has always been a favorite among judges of great literature, and most of her books have been nominated or been winners.

But this year her nominations are exceptional. Look at this incredible list:

Deep Cover Detective is a finalist in the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense.

No Exit is a finalist for the 2017 Holt Medallion award.

Hostage Negotiation is a finalist in the Romantic Suspense Category of the 2017 Carolyn Readers Choice Award.

Arresting Developments is a finalist in the Series Action Adventure Category of the 2017 Carolyn Readers Choice award.

Deep Cover Detective is a finalist in the Series Action Adventure Category of the 2017 Carolyn Readers Choice award.

A total of four books up for five national book awards! In the book biz this is something that gives all of us the vapors, as Southern girls like to say. 😉

A former Navy Brat, Lena’s books have authenticity, action, and heat. They have been translated in to German, Turkish, Japanese, and Norwegian and have been sold in many countries including the USA, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, France, Australia, Holland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Iceland, Mexico, Turkey, and Italy.

More than the awards listed here, and the dozens of awards Lena has won over the years (for a partial list click HERE), is the role she plays in the writing community. She is always there with a supportive word, a can do spirit, and she’ll go out of her way to help everyone, even newcomers. There are few like her and I’m so very proud to know her.

Congratulations to Lena Diaz from everyone here at Kiss and Thrill!

New Release – Tennessee SWAT Continues with SECRET STALKER!

A SWAT officer loves a suspected murderess. What could possibly go wrong?

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Ten years ago, Bexley Kane and Max Remington were high-school sweethearts hoping to get married and start their future together. But a stalker, and his death, ended their hopes and dreams and sent Bex fleeing town under suspicion of murder.

Now she’s back, and the past has caught up to her. But will SWAT officer Max Remington learn to trust and love her again? Or will Bex’s secrets destroy them both?

In 2014, award winning book TENNESSEE TAKEDOWN introduced readers to the sexy SWAT team of Destiny, Tennessee. This year readers get to experience more stories about the wonderful men and women in the TENNESSEE SWAT series, beginning with MOUNTAIN WITNESS. The newest release is out now, SECRET STALKER. And there will be more stories after that.

Below is an excerpt from SECRET STALKER. Enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

The whispers started thirty seconds after Bexley Kane walked down aisle three in the Piggly Wiggly on Magnolia Street. Not that there was a Piggly Wiggly on any other street in the tiny town of Destiny, Tennessee. With a population the size of a large high school in other parts of the state, this town could only support one grocery store. And one movie theater. And one Waffle House. But, oddly enough, there were four Starbucks. Too bad not one of them was anywhere close to Magnolia Street. Bex sure could use a venti caramel macchiato right now.

Head high, shoulders back, she began filling her cart as quickly as possible while pretending not to notice the other shoppers talking behind their hands as she passed. But, come on, did they really believe that she didn’t know they were gossiping about her? She could well imagine what they were saying.

Is that who I think it is? What’s it been, ten years? Why is she back in town?

You didn’t hear? Her mama done passed away. I heard she died of a broken heart, on account of her daughter didn’t visit even once after she got run out of town.

You think Chief Thornton will arrest her this time?

Is there a statute of limitations on murder?

“Miss Kane, nice to see you today.” Mr. Dawson gave Bex a genuine, welcoming smile from behind the deli counter. “I was hoping I’d see your lovely face at least one more time before you left Destiny. You here for lunch? We’ve got a brand-new batch of pickled pigs’ feet.” He proudly thumped a large jar on top of the display case that looked like a science experiment gone horribly wrong.

Bex very nearly lost her breakfast. She averted her gaze from the nauseating sight and smiled at one of the few people in Destiny who hadn’t treated her like a pariah in the week that she’d been back.

“Hello, Mr. Dawson. I called in an order for some lunch meats and grilled chicken. Could you see whether it’s ready, please?”

“Gladys must have taken that order. I’ll check the cooler. Won’t take but a minute.” He opened the massive walk-in refrigerator behind him and headed inside.

Bex checked her grocery list. The only thing left to get was mustard, one of several things she’d forgotten the first time she’d been in the store. After today’s shopping trip, she should have enough to tide her over for several more days, until she finished taking care of all of the details of her mother’s estate. Then she could hop into her car and leave Destiny in the dust. Again. And this time, she’d never come back.

If she remembered correctly, Mr. Dawson kept the condiments across the aisle from the meat case. Since little else had changed in this town, she doubted that had, either. She turned around—and locked gazes with the one person she’d hoped to avoid.

Max Remington.

His golden-brown eyes stared at her in shock for all of three seconds. Then they filled with anger. His jaw clamped tight and, without a word, he circled around her and headed to the sandwich counter at the other end of the deli.

Gladys miraculously appeared as if from thin air, eager to take Max’s order. Bex couldn’t help noticing that he was all smiles and yes, ma’ams, no, ma’ams when speaking to the older woman. But he couldn’t even spare a hello for his former lover.

His curt dismissal shouldn’t hurt. After all, she was the one who’d left him. But he’d been her first love. And she’d built him up in her mind over the years as her handsome hero, dreaming of what life could have been, should have been, if she’d said yes that night.

And if Bobby Caldwell hadn’t died.

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FINAL EXIT – The Explosive Conclusion to the EXIT Trilogy

It’s here! The last book in the EXIT Inc. trilogy, FINAL EXIT!

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FINAL EXIT is the story of washed-up FBI agent, Kade Quinn, trying to redeem himself and rehabilitate his career after a personal tragedy sent him on a downward spiral into addiction. Rounding up all of the Enforcers who used to work for EXIT, so they can be re-trained and sent back out into society without the controls and oversight of their former agency, seems like “the right thing” to do. And Kade is proud to be a part of this mission. Until he meets Enforcer Bailey Stark. Her resistance to being taken, and her repeated assertions that the government is killing Enforcers instead of retraining them, is met with denial and then shock as Kade begins to suspect she might be right.

While Kade and Bailey work together to bring down the evil forces behind EXIT Inc. once and for all, they fall in love along the way. Of course! This is, after all, a romance. It’s full of action, like all of my stories. But I’m particularly pleased with the romantic arc of these two very damaged people. And if you’re a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, I really think you’re going to enjoy this one.

As with all of the EXIT books, there’s a host of sexy alpha-male secondary characters from earlier books, including the Buchanans from my Deadly Games series. The below flowchart is something I put together to show the connections between the characters in the DG series. (Yes, I’m a nerd, who loves flowcharts and spreadsheets.) You might have to click on the chart to enlarge it and see it better.

Did I mention that I love flowcharts? Here’s another one, showing an overview of the EXIT series. (Click on the chart to enlarge it and see it better.)

 

So how are these series linked? The picture below is a BIG hint. Devlin (Devil) Buchanan is one of the brother’s from the Deadly Games series. Unbeknownst to his family, he’s also an Enforcer for EXIT Inc. In TAKE THE KEY AND LOCK HER UP, Devlin’s two world’s collide and he fights to protect both the woman he’s starting to love and his family from the employer he’s trusted his entire adult life. The aftermath of that struggle is the creation of the Equalizers, a group of former EXIT Enforcers and others who join together to fight against what EXIT has become. That struggle continues throughout the EXIT series, beginning with EXIT Strategy and ending in an explosive climax in FINAL EXIT.

Lena Diaz Website Books Page with Buy Links

It was so much fun bringing in the Buchanan’s and even Logan Richards (a friend of the Buchanan’s from HE KILLS ME, HE KILLS ME NOT) as secondary, but extremely important, characters throughout the EXIT series.

Although the four-book Deadly Games series and the three book spin-off EXIT series are incredibly fun to read in order, each story contains a unique and fulfilling love story and can be enjoyed as a stand-alone book. You’ll understand what’s going on even without reading the earlier stories.

I hope you’ll give FINAL EXIT a try. And let me know what you think! Shoot me an email through my website. And please join my newsletter list if you’d like to receive notifications of future releases or giveaways. Sometimes I do giveaways ONLY to my subscribers, like last week when I gave away ten books to randomly drawn names from my newsletter list.

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Birth of a Series! The Sexy SWAT team of Destiny, Tennessee!

In 2014, TENNESSEE TAKEDOWN introduced readers to the fictional town of Destiny, Tennessee and the sexy, funny SWAT team of five alpha men and one kick-butt woman. Readers loved it. TT won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence. And to this day, it’s still my best-selling Harlequin Intrigue.

But why am I talking about a book that released three years ago?

Because, in response to reader emails asking for more of the sexy heroes of the Destiny, Tennessee SWAT team, I’ve created a new Tennessee SWAT series. And the first book, taking up where TT left off, is MOUNTAIN WITNESS!

MOUNTAIN WITNESS – Print releases January 17. eBook releases February 1st!

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A woman in hiding and a man on a mission in the Smoky Mountains

Detective and part-time SWAT officer, Chris Downing, doesn’t know much about his neighbor. In the rural town of Destiny, Tennessee, Julie Webb lives a life of seclusion, rarely even offering a smile or wave. Only when Chris hears her frantic screams one night does he gain a glimpse into the life of a woman in hiding, and in saving her life, he is forced to kill her attacker. But Julie’s troubles are only beginning to unravel. When Chris learns the identity of Julie’s attacker, questions of trust are raised and suspicions run high. Together they will uncover the motives of a killer…and the undeniable attraction between them.

MOUNTAIN WITNESS begins one year after TT ended. All of the SWAT characters from TT make appearances in MW. And readers get a very special glimpse into the lives of the hero and heroine from TT and what has happened to them since that book ended.

I had a blast writing this book, and have three more to go to finish out the series–including SECRET STALKER, which comes out next month!

So far the feedback from readers about MOUNTAIN WITNESS has been wonderful. I’m looking forward to hearing from readers of TENNESSEE TAKEDOWN as well, and how they’re receiving the continuation of that world in these new books. I hope everyone loves the fabulous alpha-heroes, and heroines, of Destiny, Tennessee!

To celebrate the release of MOUNTAIN WITNESS, I’m giving away a print copy of both MOUNTAIN WITNESS and SECRET STALKER to a random commenter on this post. So, tell me readers, what makes a SWAT hero sexy? What makes any hero sexy?

The randomly drawn winner of the two print books will be announced in the comments of THIS post on Tuesday, January 24th, so be sure to check back to see if you won.

Learn about these and other books by Lena Diaz by visiting her website.

Author Lena Diaz Breaches FBI Security!

It wasn’t easy, but I persevered and got inside an FBI field office. What I saw was…

AMAZING! It was so cool to be there! And it was like breaching Fort Knox to get inside. Seriously.

I was part of a tour group from my local Sisters in Crime chapter, a non-profit organization of lovers of mysteries and thrillers (both readers and authors.)

Weeks before the planned visit to the Jacksonville, Florida field office, I had to fill out forms giving the FBI permission to perform a full background check on me. Since they approved my visit, I’m guessing they totally missed my questionable internet searches such as “how to kill someone and make it look like an accident.”

At the appointed time for the visit, I was told to leave my cell phone and anything that contained GPS tracking technology in my car. So, after divesting myself of all of my clandestine spying equipment, I went into the maximum security prison office visitor’s booth.

All the walls inside were glass from about waist-level up. A security guard was behind a thick wall of glass to my left and was apparently too scared to come out, because he stayed behind that wall the entire time. He spoke to me by talking into a phone on his side. His voice came through a speaker in the ceiling on my side. First order of business, “The Speech”–the warning about leaving my guns and weapons of mass destruction at home.

Then he instructed me to open a heavy, thick metal door in the bottom part of the wall and to place my purse, my notepad, and my Driver’s License inside the little cubby area behind the door. Once I did that and my door was closed, he opened a door on his side and took my belongings out.

I was then instructed to pass through a metal detector while the guard sent my belongings through an airport-type of scanner. He also instructed me to pass through to the next glass-walled room, after buzzing the lock to open the door for me.

Next was “The Search”. He checked every nook and cranny inside my rather large purse. He felt it up so much that I’m fairly certain there will be dozens of baby purses in my home nine months from now.

Once satisfied that I wasn’t hiding any evil clowns, he placed the purse, my notebook, and a temporary ID into another metal cubby inside the wall. He kept my Driver’s License hostage until the tour was over. Once the door was closed on his side of the cubby, he again directed me through the phone/intercom to open the door on my side to get my belongings.

Armed with my temporary ID (okay, it was just a name-tag sticker, but it did say Federal
Bureau of Investigation on it), I was then permitted to exit the next door–after the guard buzzed the lock.

After all of that, I had finally achieved access to…the courtyard outside the actual FBI building. (sigh) Did I mention the entire facility is surrounded by super-high black metal fencing that could probably stop a tank?

From there, I had to go through another series of security measures. Here’s the short version.

• FOUR FBI agents escorted our tour group of nine people the whole time.
• EVERYTHING is secured and requires codes typed into keypads.
• Before going through a door, the door behind you has to be closed and locked.
• If one person needs to go to the bathroom, we all go to the bathroom. The tour group stays together no matter what.

What did I see while inside the building? Here are some highlights.

• Guns. LOTS of guns. Some of them on the hips of FBI agents. Others in an armory.
• I got to hold a Tommy gun. It was HEAVY.
• I got to hold some bullet-resistant vests. The one the FBI SWAT team wears is super heavy. I could barely hold it up.
• There is a Samurai sword in the armory. Don’t ask me why.
• There are bomb blast doors inside.
• They have commercial washers and dryers inside for the ERT (Evidence Response Team) and others to use. Why? Because when you go to crime scenes in really grungy areas you don’t want to bring the roaches home with you (shiver).
• There was a presentation from a special agent who was on one of the ERT teams sent to Orlando to investigate the night club shooting.
• The gun guy showed us all of those guns. Did I mention they were heavy? Oh – and he was CUTE.
• Best part of the tour? The gym. There were two very special agents working out when we went inside. VERY special.
• We met the Special Agent in Charge. How cool is that? He’s the top guy. In case you didn’t know.
• There was a presentation by a female FBI Special Agent who talked about her specialty, white-collar crime.
• Then we got to ask questions. Crazy questions. And they answered us without even blinking. Which is kind of scary if you think about it.
• Oh, and I forgot to mention. The FBI had a photographer following us around the entire time, taking tons of pictures. To what end, I have no idea. But we did get one picture to take home with us (thus the picture posted on this blog.)
• At the end of the tour, we got to go to a very important last stop–the FBI gift shop. I am now the proud owner of a set of handcuffs and lanyard that say FBI on them. I do have to say, their gift shop was a bit disappointing. Very small without a lot to choose from. I highly recommend the gift shop at the LAPD Police Academy instead. But that’s another blog post.
• My hijacked Driver’s License was returned to me at the visitor’s booth at the end of the tour in exchange for my temporary FBI badge/sticker. Bummer. I wanted to keep the sticker and would have gladly forfeited my license in exchange.

Oh, and did I also mention that when anyone leaves the FBI fortress compound employee parking lot, they have to punch in a special code to get the gate to open? I guess if you forget the code you have to live in the field office forever.

If I had to describe the visit in one word, I’d say INTENSE.

Now I’m off to correct the myths and errors in my current novel that includes some references to the FBI.

Lena Diaz is an award-winning author of romantic suspense for both Harlequin and Avon. Her books have been translated into French, German, Norwegian, Turkish, and Japanese and are sold in many countries around the world. With fifteen books published so far, she has three more scheduled to come out in 2017, and two (so far) scheduled to release in 2018. Lena lives in northeast Florida with her husband of 30 years, her son, her daughter, and her daughter’s cat–Weasley (yes, he’s named after a Harry Potter character.)

Learn more about Lena Diaz by visiting her website.

Move over Jack Reacher…Enter Gil Malloy!

Meet Crime Fiction Novelist R.G. Belsky

and the newest installment in the Gil Malloy series…

BLONDE ICE

Son of Sam. Ted Bundy. The Boston Strangler. All of these infamous serial killers who made front page news shared a common trait—they were men who killed women for a sexual thrill.

But now Gil Malloy—ace reporter for the New York Daily News—is on the trail of a different kind of serial killer who breaks all of the rules. Dubbed “Blonde Ice” by the media, she’s a sexy blonde who picks up seemingly random men at bars and clubs, has sex with them, and then brutally murders them afterwards.

Malloy—who is already in the middle of a major political story about the election of the next New York City mayor—finds himself drawn to the case by secrets from his past. As he digs deeper, he begins to suspect that there could be some kind of link between the mayoral race and the emergence of the Blonde Ice killings.

As the body count and the political stakes continue to rise, Malloy soon realizes he’s covering what could be the biggest story of his career. All he has to do is live through it.

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Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013, in New York, NY (John Makely / NBC News)
NBC News
Dick Belsky.

Does that sound like an awesome story or what? This is the third novel in the Gil Malloy series. Now meet the fabulous author, R.G. Belsky.

R.G. Belsky is an author of crime fiction and a New York City journalist. His new mystery BLONDE ICE – the latest in a series featuring newspaper reporter Gil Malloy – was published by Atria on October 18. Previous books include SHOOTING FOR THE STARS and THE KENNEDY CONNECTION. Belsky is a former managing editor of the New York Daily News; metropolitan editor of the New York Post; news editor of Star magazine; and managing editor at NBCNews.com. He recently won the Claymore award and finished as a Silver Falchion Finalist at Killer Nashville.

Lena – Welcome to Kiss and Thrill! You have a long, prestigious history as a journalist and are still an active journalist. But you also write crime novels. Did you always want to write novels? What finally made you take that leap?

R.G. – I’ve actually been writing crime novels for a long time. I started back as a young journalist when I first read Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie and a few others – and got inspired to try my own. Most of my crime novels have been written while I was also working as a fulltime journalist at the NY Post, NY Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. I always thought that gave me a big advantage in my fiction career because:

• Being a news person gives you great ideas for crime novels. I’ve covered most of the big crime stories over the years – Son of Sam, O.J., Jon Benet, etc – and also been involved in some of the most sensational tabloid stories like “Headless Body in Topless Bar” – the famous NY Post headline. So when people ask me where I get the ideas for my crime novels, I always say: “I just go to work in the newsroom every day:”

• There’s no place better than a New York City newsroom to find colorful characters. None of the characters in my crime novels are real, but they certainly have been inspired by many of the real life characters in my journalistic life. Much of the dialogue in my books too comes straight out of newsroom banter. I don’t think I ever could have created someone like Gil Malloy if I hadn’t been around a lot of Gil Malloys as a real life journalist.

• A journalist has to deal all the time with the facts. He or she is consumed by them – everything in a news story has to be accurate. But in fiction, I get to make stuff up! I generally start with some real life facts as in The Kennedy Connection – pegged to the JFK assassination. But then I create fictional items like a secret son of Lee Harvey Oswald to propel the plot forward. Now that kind of freedom is really fun to do for a longtime journalist like me!

Lena – When you and I last spoke, your first novel in the Gil Malloy series, The Kennedy Connection, was coming out. Since then, you’ve published the second in this series—Shooting Stars. And the third, Blonde Ice, just came out (Happy book release!) This series has received amazing critical acclaim. To what do you attribute your success? What makes your books so different? What makes Gil Malloy so compelling?

R.G. – I follow a pretty basic rule when writing my fiction. I try to make the books – especially the characters – things I would want to read about. That’s especially true with Gil Malloy. He’s flawed, immature at times, and has a lot of other issues = but he’s basically a good guy with integrity who’s also very interesting. I guess I patterned him to a degree after some of the TV characters I’ve loved over the years like Jim Rockford and Columbo. I also try to make sure the story has as many twists and surprises as possible – but the character is still the most important thing to me. One of my favorite reader reviews on Goodreads consisted of just three words: “Gil Malloy rocks!” That’s the reaction I’m going for.

Here’s what critics and fellow authors are saying about his novels…

• “Bombshell Twists” ~ Publishers Weekly
• “Sensational! R.G. Belsky dazzles with his new mystery novel…Gil Malloy shines!” ~ Killer Nashville, Book of the Day
• “Sinewy, compelling and addictive” ~ The Huffington Post
• “Excellent thriller…establishes Malloy as a formidable hard-boiled hero.” ~ Booklist
• “Malloy is a terrific character” ~ Sandra Brown
• “completely entertaining” ~ Hank Phillippi Ryan

Lena – What’s next? More Gil Malloy books or a new series? Something else?

R.G. – I recently won the Claymore award at Killer Nashville for “Forget Me Not,” the next book I’ve been working on. It’s about the long ago disappearance of a child in New York City and a woman TV reporter who becomes obsessed with finding out answers about the case. I think it’s different than the Gil Malloy books – but still captures that same New York City media world that I know so well. Of course, I also hope to do more Gil Malloy books in the future too. I like writing Gil!

COMPLETE BOOKLIST

As Dick Belsky…

• ONE FOR THE MONEY – Academy Chicago (1985)
• SOUTH STREET CONFIDENTIAL – St. Martin’s (1989)
• BROADCAST CLUES (Paperback version from Berkley Prime Crime of South Street Confidential) – 1993
• LIVE FROM NEW YORK – Berkley Prime Crime (1993)
• THE MOURNING SHOW –Berkley Prime Crime (1994)
• SUMMERTIME NEWS – Berkley Prime Crime (1995)

As R.G. Belsky….

• LOVERBOY – Avon 1998
• PLAYING DEAD – Avon 1999
• THE KENNEDY CONNECTION – Atria (2014)
• THE MIDNIGHT HOUR – Novella – Atria (2015)
• SHOOTING FOR THE STARS – Atria (2015)
• BLONDE ICE – Atria (2016)

R.G. is giving away a PRINT COPY OF BLONDE ICE to a random commenter (Giveaway limited to U.S. mailing addresses.)

Just answer the below question to be entered into the drawing…

Who’s the scariest serial killer you’ve ever read or seen on screen?

Learn more about R.G. Belsky by visiting his website.