NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Monday, December 20, 2010

Holiday Travel and Romantic Suspense

Holiday Travel and Romantic Suspense...

Greetings! I am a new fish in this talented pool of authors. My romantic suspense novel, ENDLESS NIGHT will be released by Carina Press this spring.

I am about to embark on the long trek home for the holidays, which brings me to my topic...what brings holiday travel and romantic suspense together?

The easy answer is that you read romantic suspense to get away from the stress of holiday travel. You read on the plane to avoid the meddlesome person in 14C asking where you are going, who you're visiting, and what you're having for your holiday feast. You read to ignore the fact that the gentleman in 14A has just inserted his elbow into parts normally reserved for your husband.

You read in the car to tune out the litany from the back seat. "I'm hungry. This car is lame. Are there any french fries left? I'm going to be sick," and yes, the resounding chorus, "are we there yet?" Once at your holiday destination, you read on the couch to avoid doing dishes because even though you are now mature, you still lack incentive to participate and are old enough to figure your way out of it.
In the evening, you read because most likely you are staying at the in-laws who believe that one pillow can be shared per couple—and that pillow has now been claimed by your other half.

But why romantic suspense?

Maybe now you’re sitting with your back against that stiff headboard, and you want to taste what life would be like if you weren't sleeping at the in-laws. You want to dabble in danger and fantasize that this handsome man under your blanket isn't actually your husband, but rather a government operative who has just scaled the side of the three story colonial house and climbed in this attic window to seek refuge from military forces. Tomorrow, as you sit on the couch and the kids play Wii, you hear their odd cries and envision them as a band of Navy Seals sent to rescue you.

As much as you may enjoy the escapism of romantic suspense, when you finish your book and look around the in-law’s diminutive attic room, you rehash the past twenty-four hours and come to the conclusion that your life is perfect, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

I would like to wish everyone happy holidays and safe travels. I hope to be offering you escapism for many books to come, and as a great fan of romantic suspense, I'd like to ask what draws you to this genre?

12 comments:

Julie Moffett said...

Maureen! Congratulations on your new book and I'm looking forward to reading it!

Holiday travel is always crazy with me, especially with kids and even more so if you add in a 100 pound German Shepard! The chorus of ... "The dog ate my cookie," and "So and so touched me," "He's breathing too loud on purpose," and "The dog slobbered on me," plays like a stuck recorder in my mind all vacation. Not to mention, "I have to go to the bathroom," even if we just went five minutes ago. Sigh! But I wouldn't trade it for anything ... except maybe a week in the tropics! Ha!! Happy Holidays!

Toni Anderson said...

LOL at deciding your life is perfect after all. Funny how that happens! Car trips can be hell but sometimes they can be magical too :) For us we either travel half way around the world or nowhere at all. This year it will be the latter and I'm looking forward to some cozy evenings reading stories :)

Elise Warner said...

Love to travel and love romantic suspense. Look forward to reading your book. I understand about that one pillow-my husband always seems to end up with all the blankets.

Maureen A. Miller said...

Julie, you had me with the "He's breathing too loud on purpose" hahahaha! So true.

Toni, I envy you staying home this year.

Elise, it's funny how that happens, isn't it? I think the cure is to put a king-sized blanket on a double bed...then maybe you stand a chance of remaining under a corner of it.

Josh Lanyon said...

Hi there, Maureen. Congratulations on the new book!

Happy Holidays!

Marcelle Dubé said...

Hi Maureen -- congratulations on your new book! And you couldn't PAY me to travel at this time of year. I'm staying nice and cosy at home. The world can come to me!

Maureen A. Miller said...

Thank you Josh!!

Marcelle, watch out, I may show up on your doorstep then. :)

Wynter said...

I love the escapism a good suspense plot provides. If it keeps me thinking about how it's going to work out, I'm not thinking about whatever I want to clear out of my brain!
Enjoy your Christmas. We're happily staying put this year.

Jenny Schwartz said...

Maureen, I loved your post! Congrats on your new book. And happy, safe holiday travelling, everyone :) Me? I'm thinking of travelling as far as the mall, and shuddering at the thought. I can deal with the crowds of people (almost) but the parking is a nightmare.

Maureen A. Miller said...

Thank you, Wynter. You too. I'm sure you hear this everyday but you have the perfect name for the season. :)

And Jenny, NOT THE MALL!!! Anywhere but the mall! If ever there was a place that suspense was lurking...it's at the mall. :) Merry Christmas.

Clare London said...

Hi Maureen, and happy Christmas to all! You made me smile, your descriptions were perfect of all the journeys I've taken with my family. And thank goodness for a good book when we go anywhere now, so I can tune out LOL.

Good luck with the new book in 2011 :).

Multi Trip Holiday Insurance said...

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