2009’s bestselling novel, SILENT KILLER was set in the fictitious Alabama town of Dunmore, a small town similar to my own hometown of Tuscumbia. When secondary characters in this book demanded their own story, I listened to them and they “star in” my latest Zebra romantic suspense novel. Sheriff Mike Birkett is the hero in DEAD BY MIDNIGHT (Zebra Romantic Suspense, February 2010) and Lorie Hammonds, his high school sweetheart who is being stalked by a ruthless killer, is the heroine. Also, readers who have become intrigued by mysterious billionaire, Griffin Powell, will see more of Griff, Nic, and their friends in this book, just as they did in SILENT KILLER last year. DEAD BY MIDNIGHT -- the first book in my DEAD BY trilogy -- spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and five weeks on the USA Today bestseller list. Look for Book II, DEAD BY MORNING, in May 2011, featuring Maleah Perdue and Derek Lawrence. And the final installment, with Griff & Nic as hero & heroine of their own book again, is tentatively set for a December 2011 release.

You will not want to miss my September novel, DON’T CRY, set in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I’ll be introducing a new cast of characters. Leading off as the hero is J.D. Cass, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent and heroine, Audrey Sherrod, a mental health counselor. A startling connection ties a string of recent bizarre murders to a long-ago series of horrifying crimes that Audrey hoped would never resurface – crimes that hit all too close to home. Halfway in the middle of writing this novel, I realized there would be a sequel, so readers can expect to see Audrey & J.D. again, along with other characters from DON’T CRY in an early 2012 release tentatively titled DON’T SAY A WORD.

2010 will see four reissues/reprints, including two for HQN. In January this year, my first HQN The Protectors novel, WORTH DYING FOR, repackaged with a new dynamite cover, was reissued. So if you missed the book when it was first released, this is your chance to pick up a copy. The second HQN will round out the year with the release of a 2-in-1 HQN reissue, WITNESS, featuring my first two The Protectors novels, DEFENDING HIS OWN and GUARDING JEANNIE. For readers who have been asking for Harlequin to reprint the series, here’s your chance to start at the beginning.

Avon/Harper Collins in the UK will release two Beverly Barton novels. In March, BEG TO DIE hit the stands. This is a reissue of the Zebra novel, THE LAST TO DIE. Then DEAD BY MIDNIGHT comes out in the UK in September.