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Quirky Q&A with Cathy Perkins: So About the Money
Left-brain meets right-brain. Add in heart. Award-winning author Cathy Perkins skillfully blends all three in her newest mystery with a financial twist and a dash of romance: SO ABOUT THE MONEY.
When Holly Price trips over a friend’s dead body, her life takes a nosedive into a world of intrigue and danger. With an infinitely sexy cop—Holly’s pissed-off, jilted ex-fiancé—threatening to arrest her for the murder, the intrepid accountant must protect her future, her business…and her heart…by using her investigative skills to follow the money, before the killer decides CPA stands for Certified Pain in the Ass…and the next dead body is Holly’s.
How does Cathy do it? That’s what I wanted to know so I asked her a few quirky questions which she gamely answered for her third visit to K&T. Join me in welcoming the mastermind behind the Holly Price amateur sleuth romantic mystery series. (And be sure to read to the end to find out who won the Lark Brennan DANGEROUSLY YOURS give-away!)
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Krista passed along five sentences openers for me to complete for this guest post. Panic! My mind raced along with my heart. I have to be profound. Funny. Introspective. Yikes!
Wait a minute. I just have to be “me.” Whew. I know how to do that. So here we go. 
1) I do my best thinking when… I’m moving. “Moving” can mean running, hiking or driving—anything that lets my mind relax. It may be getting into that zone that lets my subconscious toss out ideas that have churned around down there. Aside – the idea for So About the Money came while I was hiking with my husband along the Snake River in eastern Washington. As we pushed through some tangled foliage at the water’s edge, I peered over my shoulder and said, “Wouldn’t this be a great place to find a body?” Yes, mystery/suspense authors think things like that.
2) I’m addicted to… coffee. Seriously, I don’t function without it. My husband is either an enabler or the best husband ever (my personal choice) because he always starts the machine when he gets up.
3) In my spare time… Wait, you have spare time? Can you lend me some? I’m still rocking the day job while writing. Oh, and there’s the tree farm. And building the new house. And… But soon—really, really soon—I want to get back to the other creative outlets I adore—fused glass, watercolor, hand-sewing little girl dresses.
4) Smart women are… everywhere. “Smart” comes in so many varieties—I hope all of us can appreciate what everyone else has to offer. Book smarts, people skills; natural leaders and nurturers. Life is so much better when we focus on what women do well and help each other succeed.
5) Traveling… is my favorite thing. I love exploring new cultures and new places. My personal bucket list includes items big and small, local as well as international. Diving the Great Barrier Reef, Soap Lake’s mineral springs, and seeing Qin Shi Huang Di’s terra-cotta army in Xi’an, China.
What about you? Is there a place you’d love to visit?
So About the Money by Cathy Perkins
Holly Price never expected to be back in Richland, Washington. She bolted out of the small town in eastern Washington for college—with no intention of returning. She also never expected her father to have a mid-life brain-fart and run off with his yoga instructor. His defection stranded Holly’s mother both personally and professionally. Without Holly’s CPA license, her mother would have to close the family accounting practice.
And absolutely the last thing Holly expected was for a hike with Alex Montoya to turn into the date from hell, but when he’d invited her to Big Flats, she’d heard “hike,” while he meant “hunt.”
Excerpt:
She peered forward and behind. “Alex,” she called, louder this time. “Where are you?”
She might be the commitment-phobe in this relationship, but surely Alex wouldn’t leave her out here. Everywhere she looked, dangling leaves and dried canes blocked her path. The sharp staccato of a dog’s excited bark broke the silence. Duke—ahead and to the right. The dog must have found the wounded pheasant.
She edged past a mushy spot. A harsher tang that reminded her of the dead fish they’d passed earlier grew stronger with each step. Nose covered with her hand, she rehearsed choice phrases to unleash on Alex when she finally found him, starting with a sarcastic, “Thanks for your concern,” before descending rapidly to “asshole.”
Something big rustled in the dense undergrowth behind her. Heart pounding, she spun around and peered into the thicket. They had coyotes out here. And drug grower/dealer guys. The only person they’d seen between the gravel parking area and this jungle was an Aryan Nation skinhead dude. Her heart stutter stepped. Oh, crap. What if this was his territory?
The noise from something plunging through the brush grew louder, closer. Blindly, she turned and crashed through the tangled foliage.
The rushes ended at a mound of dirt. She staggered into the clearing, her gaze zeroing in on Alex. Leaning over something on the ground, he tugged at Duke’s collar. The dog struggled, twisting his body in a muscular objection.
“Alex. Thank God.” Her knees felt weaker than she wanted to admit. “I heard something in the bushes back there.”
“Probably a deer. Stay back.” He wrestled the dog to the side.
His brusque tone shattered her mini-panic.
Well, don’t I feel silly.
A quick glance around registered the details. A drooping cottonwood canopied the clearing. Sunlit water lapped at the muddy shore. Gulls whirled overhead in a protesting flurry, lingering in a swirling complaint of dirty white feathers. The clearing looked like a teenagers’ party spot. Tattered food wrappers and empty beer bottles littered the ground. Filthy, torn clothing formed a soggy heap at the water’s edge.
The wind gusted off the inlet, carrying a stench across the clearing.
“Phew.” As bad as it smelled, she wondered if a dead fish was caught in the trash. A few birds remained near the river, their wings raised high, voices screeching defiance.
The pile of clothes had female-shaped contours. Eyes narrowed, Holly gave it a closer look. A pale, mud-streaked foot extended toward her. “Is that a woman?”
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Visit Cathy Perkins on Facebook, Twitter, and Cathy’s website.
For more Cathy Perkins K&T interviews:
The Two (Suspenseful) Sides of Cathy Perkins & A New Kind of Mile High Club with Cathy Perkins
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Congratulations to DARCY WOODS for winning the $25 Amazon gift card from Lark Brennan! And a special thanks to all of you who helped us celebrate Lark’s debut DANGEROUSLY YOURS last week. DANGEROUSLY YOURS debuts today!
Thank You! and Winner Announcement
Thanks to all of you for helping me celebrate the release of FALLEN! You made it a great release week for me! And now…drum roll…
The winner of the $10 Starbucks gift card is Julie Oest! Julie please contact me to claim your prize.
Tune in tomorrow when our very own Sarah Andre shares a very special release post for her debut novel LOCKED LOADED AND LYING. Take my word for it, you are going to love this book! 
COULD YOU BE A KILLER?
Today we welcome back multi-published author, Stacy Green. And since I’m in the chaotic stage of unpacking hundreds of boxes after moving from Houston to FL last week, I asked Stacy to come up with something intriguing that captures the tone of her newest release: ALL GOOD DEEDS. Take it away, Stacy!
COULD YOU BE A KILLER?
This question planted the seed for my newest character Lucy Kendall, a former CPS worker turned private investigator and vigilante killer of sex offenders.
The criminal mind is a fascinating place and oftentimes a mystery for investigators. Bundy, Gacy, Lucas–the worst of the worst–are almost easy to understand. They just aren’t wired right. Add a dose of lousy nurturing, and it’s a recipe for disaster.
But what about the outliers? The people who are good by society’s standards and then one day just snap? Did they have it in them all along? Do we all possess that shadow side that lurks, waiting for something to turn us bad?
I think any one of us are capable of killing someone–or at least doing serious bodily injury–if the circumstances are right.
Some of these are pretty straightforward: someone hurting our kid, our pets, our career. People have snapped over less.
But what about something that isn’t personal? Something that doesn’t directly affect you but is a sore on society? What would make you risk your freedom, and how would you do it?
Lucy Kendall snaps when a child killer walks free. But she doesn’t lash out in a clumsy, unorganized way. She thinks things through, figuring out the best method to do her work AND keep herself out of jail. And even as she figures out the most efficient way for her to end someone’s life, she doesn’t believe she’s a killer.
Her targets are men who have destroyed kids lives and will do it again. Lucy believes with her whole heart sex offenders can’t be cured, and her actions take care of a problem the justice system and society simply can’t–or won’t.
I believe that most if not all of us possess what Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called the Shadow Side.
The shadow exists as part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts and shortcomings…These latent dispositions are present in all of us, Jung believed, although people sometimes deny this element of their own psyche and instead project it onto others. SOURCE
This theory was a major influence on developing Lucy Kendall. Although there is tragedy in her past, she is a normal member of society. But her shadow side has seeped through her veneer until it now rules her choices and ultimately, her life.
She’ll have to come to terms with being a killer, her real motives, and answer the ultimate question: now that she has fully engaged her shadow side, is she even capable of not killing?
Does her choice of victim make her exempt? If she’s caught, is she a hero or a villain?
Or does her methodology make her just as evil as the famous serial killers we have such a fascination with?
I don’t have the answers to those questions, but I do know that as I get older, I realize more and more that life is not black and white. Our systems are flawed and need changing, but whether or not there are any good alternatives remains to be seen.
I think any one of us could become a Lucy Kendall if the circumstances are right, and I will further argue that instead of moral code, it’s fear of punishment that keeps most of society in check. Score one for the penal system.
What about you, thriller readers and writers? Is life black and white? Should there be exemptions? And what would it take for you to administer Lucy Kendall Justice? Comment for a chance to win a copy of my new release, ALL GOOD DEEDS!
ALL GOOD DEEDS by Stacy Green
Lucy Kendall lived her life in a strange mixture of carefully calculated moves and impulse decisions. Cracking the skull of the man who molested her sister and attacking her was impulse. Spending half her teenage years drinking and acting out were calculated cries for attention from her narcissistic mother followed by impulsive rages at her lack of concern.
The decade spent working in Child Protective Services before becoming a private investigator taught her two truths. One, CPS failed miserably in protecting children. Two, Lucy was more than willing to do it for them, meting out her brand of dark justice in spite of her own fear of death. But Lucy’s crusade is compromised when a self-proclaimed sociopath offers to help—and leaves her no choice but to accept it.
When eight-year old Kailey Richardson is abducted, it sets off a chain of events linked to Justin Beckett, a suspect in a life-changing case in Lucy’s past. The path she’s chosen since dealing with Beckett has been dark and terrifying—but she has no idea just how deep she will go or where the twisted road will take her.
She’s about to find out.
About the Author
Born in Indiana and raised in Iowa, Stacy Green earned degrees in journalism and sociology from Drake University. After a successful advertising career, Stacy became a proud stay-at-home mom to her miracle child. Now a full-time author, Stacy juggles her time between her demanding characters and supportive family. She loves reading, cooking, and the occasional gardening excursion. Stacy lives in Marion, Iowa with her husband Rob, their daughter Grace, and the family’s three obnoxious but lovable canine children.
Thanks for being our guest today, Stacy! You raise some interesting points and questions. Readers: For more information on Stacy Green here are her links.
Website: www.stacygreen.net
Facebook Stacy Green, Author
Twitter @StacyGreen26
Winner Announcement: And the winner of ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS KISS by Manda Collins is Patti Straight. Congratulations Patti! Please use our contact page to claim your prize and let us know if you prefer an e-book or print on release day. Please include your email and snail mail addy (if you want print).
A SPIRITED Winner!
Thanks so much to the awesome Mary Behre for celebrating her debut with us this week!
The lucky winner of a copy of Mary Behre’s debut paranormal romantic suspense novel, SPIRITED, is…Patti Straight!
Patti, please contact us here with your snail mail address (if you prefer a print copy) and email address to claim your prize.
Next up: Our own Carey Baldwin! Carey is one of the very first authors HarperCollins chose to help launch their new IMPULSE WITNESS line. And next Tuesday we are celebrating her first thriller with this line, CONFESSION. It’s an awesome story that you won’t want to miss. Join us on Tuesday to help us celebrate!
For fans of Allison Brennan and Karen Rose comes Carey Baldwin, a daring new name in suspense, with the story of a serial killer out for blood—and the only woman who can stop his reign of terror.
They say the Santa Fe Saint comes to save your soul—by taking your life.
Newly minted psychiatrist Faith Clancy gets the shock of her life when her first patient confesses to the grisly Saint murders. By law Faith’s compelled to notify the authorities, but is her patient really the Saint? Or will she contribute to more death by turning the wrong man over to the police?
Faith is going to need all her wits and the help of a powerful adversary, Luke Jericho, if she’s to unravel the truth. But she doesn’t realize she’s about to become an unwitting pawn in a serial killer’s diabolical game. For once he’s finished with Faith, she’ll become his next victim.
Winner of a Nursery Rhyme book…
Thank you all so much for stopping by on Tuesday to help me celebrate that my next nursery rhyme book will be released on September 10th. I’m so excited about Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Dead!
And now (drum roll please) the winners of ebook copies of the first nursery rhyme book–He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not–are…
Carmen -and- Amy Valentini!
(If you already have a copy of He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not, just visit my author website http://www.LenaDiaz.com and let me know which of my books you don’t have and I’ll be happy to substitute! )
Congratulations! Please follow instructions on the “Contact Us” page to claim your prize.
Please join us tomorrow when Gwen Hernandez will announce the winner of a copy of Crash and Burn, by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin.
HUSH Winner!
The winner of HUSH and a box of chocolates from the I Love Lucy Superstore is:
jdh2690
Congratulations!! You are going to love HUSH!
To claim your prize, please contact us within 10 days and provide us with your U.S. mailing address and preferred ebook format.
Winner Winner!
First, thank you, Kylie Brant for a fascinating interview! We loved learning more about you and are looking forward to your new CIRCLE OF EVIL trilogy.
The winner of DEADLY SINS is Maureen! Maureen, please email us via our contact page with your email and snail mail address and choice of print or e-copy. Congratulations!
Don’t forget to join us on Tuesday, March 12th when the lovely Diane Sawyer ….oops! I mean the lovely Diana Belchase presents one of her trade-mark video interviews featuring the incomparable Rebecca York.
Rita Herron Giveaway Winner…
Thank you again, Rita Herron, for visiting with us this week. And thank you so much to all the Kiss and Thrill readers who stopped by to say hello.
And now (drumroll please)…the winner of either a print or Kindle copy of Rita’s book DYING TO TELL is…
Charlotte Abel (@Charlotte_Abel) January 15th 5:00 pm)
Congratulations! To claim your prize, please email us your U.S. mailing address or email address for your Kindle gift certificate within 10 days.
Stop by next Tuesday for a very special treat. Kiss and Thrill’s very own, Sharon Wray, has a fascinating post that takes you back in romance novel time to celebrate the gothic novel!
Sharon Wray
Kiss and Thrill 