With nearly one million books sold and a Daphne Du
Maurier and National Reader’s Choice Award under her belt, bestselling author
Dani Pettrey has established herself among the very top names in romance and
suspense. Recently closing out her blockbuster Coastal
Guardians series, Pettrey trades the lush coast of North
Carolina for the scenic desertscapes of the Southwest to launch a brand-new era
of stories with One Wrong Move, book 1 in the Jeopardy Falls series. Featuring an
intriguing locale, a new cast of characters to love, always-satisfying romance,
and even higher stakes, readers will get to know Christian MacLeod—and the rest
of his siblings—as they strive to outrun a family legacy of crime within the
pages of Pettrey’s newest novel, One Wrong Move.
About the story: Taunting riddles. A deadly
string of heists. Two broken hearts trapped in a killer’s game.
Christian MacLeod was
pulled into a life of crime at a young age by his con artist parents. Now
making amends for his corrupt past, he has become one of the country's foremost
security experts. But when a string of Southwestern art heists targets one of
the galleries Christian was in charge of securing, he is paired up with a
gifted insurance investigator who has her own checkered past.
Andi Forester was a
brilliant FBI forensic analyst until one of her colleagues destroyed her
career, blaming her for mishandling evidence. She now puts those skills to work
investigating insurance fraud, and this latest high-stakes case will test her abilities
to the limit.
Drawn deep into a
dangerous game with an opponent bent on revenge, Christian and Andi are in a
race against the clock to catch the perpetrator, but the game is far from
finished, and one wrong move could be the death of them both.
One Wrong
Move is the first book in your new Jeopardy Falls series. Can you share
with us what this book—and series—is about? One Wrong Move is about two people with pasts they are
ashamed of. Both are trying to make it right, but the road they’re taking only
leads down a dangerous path of lies, riddles, and murder. Only when they come
face-to-face with their pasts are they finally able to move beyond the hurt and
heartache and find healing in God and one another.
The last time
you had a new series starting was back in 2019. How do you feel about entering
a new era of your storytelling with the Jeopardy
Falls series? Wow! It’s crazy to think it’s been that long.
I’m ecstatic to be launching my fifth series with Bethany House. It often seems
like I was just meeting my editor and starting my debut series the Alaskan Courage saga. At other times, I
think of all that has happened in the last decade—all the amazing booksellers,
librarians, and readers I’ve met and been blessed by and the stories I’ve told.
Now, launching Jeopardy Falls, I’m
full of excitement and gratitude. I can’t wait for my amazingly supportive
readers to get a new journey to set out on with the MacLeod family.
How many
stories can readers expect in this series? There
will four books in the series. One for each of the four MacLeod siblings, if
the lost one decides to return home. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see J
How does
this series stand out from the other books you’ve written? I think the biggest difference is the setting. I’ve always written
coastal series. I’m a beach girl and love the ocean, so I’ve always set my
series by water, but this time I’ve gone a completely different direction into
the desert. Jeopardy Falls is set
in a fictional town in New Mexico. Why New Mexico? Because I lived there for
seven wonderful years and fell in love with the Land of Enchantment, and I
wanted the opportunity to share such a breathtaking place with my readers.
At the
same time, what will longtime readers who enjoy your work love about these
books as well? The stories are still full of romance,
suspense, adventure, those twists and turns that I love weaving in, and, of
course, faith. My characters, particularly Andi and Christian in One
Wrong Move, are real and raw and hurting. It’s through their journey
together and the unplanned paths God leads them down that they find what
they’ve been looking for all along.
This book
takes place in the fictional town of Jeopardy Falls. What do you look
forward to readers experiencing about this new locale? A brand-new experience for those who have never experienced the
Southwest. There will be beautiful sunrises over the mountains, purple- and
orange-hue sunsets, horses, open land and skies, and a close-knit ranching
community of wonderful and often quirky neighbors.
Throughout
your career, you’ve highlighted a variety of law enforcement and investigative
professions in your books. What kind of research was required to write
Christian and Andi’s characters accurately? I
spent a lot of time researching what private investigators do, the resources
available to them, and the boundaries they can’t cross. It was fascinating and
a little crazy to see all they, and anyone who’s good at research, can pull up
on an individual. I also read a lot on real-life heists and the insurance
agents who investigated them.
What kind of
reader do you envision will fall in love with Christian and Andi’s story—as
well as the rest of the series? I
think readers who enjoy sweet romance, fast-paced suspense, and the fun of
trying to figure out whodunit and how on earth the hero and heroine are going
to survive. J
Do you have
a favorite character that you’re especially excited for your readers to meet? Greyson Chadwick. He’s surprisingly not one of the siblings, but he
works with them. He’s a man of mysteries I still haven’t fully figured out, so
I’m really excited to dive in to his story thread.
One of the
main themes in One Wrong Move that both
Andi and Christian must deal with is facing the past to find healing. How do you think
confronting old and often painful memories or choices that we’ve made can help
us move forward? I think there’s a place where we should
confront past memories and past mistakes, but the key isn’t wallowing there. I
come from a trauma background, so I’m not making light of the pain of anyone’s
past, but rather speaking of a lesson I learned in my own life.
I had a lot to deal with and walk through, but at some point, I
realized I needed to stop treading water and to swim for the shore. I feel like
that’s Christian, and once he realizes he’s free to swim to shore, he will.
Andi is in a different place with her past, one that keeps her in a killer’s
crosshairs. How she deals with it is very different, which made the story
really interesting for me to write. Seeing how God has different paths of
healing for each of His children.
What do
you hope readers experience when picking up One Wrong Move? I hope they feel like they’re part of Jeopardy Falls, riding in the
car with Christian and Andi, seeing everything firsthand and experiencing the
story as if they were there. I’ve called my stories “Armchair Adventures” since
my debut novel, but it’s how I hope my readers enjoy my stories. Going along on
the journey, the ups and downs, and Tilt-A-Whirl moments right from the comfort
of their favorite chair with a yummy drink in hand.
How can readers connect with you? I love connecting
with readers. They can email me anytime at Dani@DaniPettrey.com
Visit me on Facebook at DaniPettrey and on Instagram @AuthorDaniPettrey or drop by my website www.DaniPettrey.com and sign up for my newsletter to keep up with all the fun announcements and latest news.
Thank you, Dani,
for sharing this book with my blog readers and me.
Readers,
here’s a link to the book.
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