Bio: After writing ten suspense novels seasoned with
romance, ExFeds, Diane and David Munson have completed their first Romantic
Suspense. Responding to fans of their earlier thrillers, North By Starlight offers
a romance seasoned with suspense where this spousal duo provides a glimpse into
attorney Madison Stone’s exciting legal efforts to save Jordan Star’s Vermont resort from a
mysterious and unknown relative, only to find herself entangled with a former
as well as a future love interest. It’s been said of Diane and David Munson
that “he nailed ‘em…and she jailed ‘em,” because David was an NCIS Special
Agent and undercover DEA Special Agent and Diane was a Federal prosecutor. Now
these authors of high velocity suspense novels, combine their exciting and
dangerous cases into ‘factional fiction’ by changing the names and places. Fans
of their earlier ten novels will be pleased with the return of Attorney Maddie
Stone (Hero’s Ransom) and other favorite characters from the Munson’s family
friendly, stand alone adventures.
Welcome back, Diane
and David. Since you’re being published regularly,
what new avenues will your future books take?
Our first ten Christian suspense novels were inspired by our
exciting and dangerous careers. They are realistic novels seasoned with touches
of romance. In this, our eleventh novel, we launch out into what we describe as
inspirational romantic suspense.
North by Starlight is still
suspenseful, and features attorney Maddie Stone who is assigned to rescue
bachelor Jordan Star and his inheritance from a surprise mystery heir. Maddie
Stone is the attorney in our fourth novel
Hero’s
Ransom, where she was so busy helping her client that the reader never
learned of her love-starved commitment to the law. We are thrilled this all
changes for Maddie in
North by Starlight. So we hope
readers will enjoy this lighthearted thriller and our foray into inspirational
romantic suspense.
I am eager to read this new book. What conferences will you
be attending this year? Will you be a speaker at any of them?
This year we will not be attending any conferences as we
will be promoting our new release at various churches and other speaking
engagement. In the past we have attended and spoke/presented at:
Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Writing, in Grand Rapids, MI
Breathe Christian Writer’s Conference, in Grand Rapids, MI
Evangelical Church Librarian Conference, in Wheaton, IL
Florida Southern Baptist
Librarian Conference, Lakeland,
FL
If you were in charge
of planning the panel discussion at a writing conference, what topic would the
panel cover, and who would you ask to be on the panel, and why?
Christian books and authors are in a precarious position. As
a result, we can’t help thinking the panel would take conferees on a tour of
the Book Publishing Cemetery
and examine the tombstones of Borders Book Stores, Family Christian Book
Stores, STL Christian Book Distributors, and many more.
Panel members would include an unemployed book salesman, an
unemployed acquisitions editor, and Coupon Connie who buys all her books on
Amazon, but has to buy her Christian greeting cards at Walgreens because the
only Christian Book store in her town has closed.
The last panelist would be a hybrid author who survived
traditional publishing and is now hiring professional editors, cover and
interior designers and publishing his/her own books using CreateSpace and
Ingram POD and making four times the amount on each book sold, although not in
B&N or Lifeway’s ever shrinking fictions section.
This may sound harsh, but we hear from authors of every
stripe nearly every week wondering about the future of Christian publishing. We
would want our panel to address innovative ways to reach readers of Christian
fiction, using social media, community venues, and churches. Lynn Austin, Teri
Blackstock, Brandilyn Collins, Dee Henderson, Joel Rosenberg, and Robert
Whitlow would be featured, and we all look forward to hearing about their
inspiring stories of their writing and how God is leading them on their future
writing path.
Actually, Amazon is
no longer publishing through Create Space. They’ve made KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) with
another focus as well. KDPP (Kindle Direct Publishing Print). How important is
it to you to be active in writing organizations?
We both feel it is very important to be supportive and to have
the support of Christian writers. Early in our writing careers, we both joined
American Fiction Writers Conference (ACFW), where we benefited from writing
courses. We have attended writing conferences to learn from published authors all
that we could about writing. It was through submitting sample manuscripts to
acquisition editors that we were encouraged to change our goal of writing
historical fiction, to suspense. It was also through submitting our suspense
manuscript for Facing Justice to an
acquisition editor at a writing conference, that we received our first contract.
Having said this, we caution aspiring writers to be sure they have supportive
mentors and critique groups where their writing samples are being critiqued by
other aspiring authors. We are aware of some aspiring writers who were
discouraged from continuing to write. Seek God’s wisdom and direction above
all!
That’s very good
advice. And it’s why I’ve hosted a writing critique group in my home for over
25 years. Where in the community or your church do you volunteer?
We are active in our large church where we both sing in the
choir, which puts on several large events each year, including a Broadway-type
Christmas presentation. It is very time consuming and rewarding! Also, we serve
in a Bible Fellowship class and in prayer ministry. We sing hymns at a local
nursing home with others in our class, where our teacher brings the residents
the Gospel message. Our church has a food bank to reach those in need, and we
have helped there too. We strive to share the love of Jesus with those in our
neighborhood too with different events.
Who are the five
people who have made the most impact on your life, and how?
To keep this answer from being too long as there are two of
us, we both are inspired by our parents, all Christians. They raised us to
follow Jesus, read the Bible, and to show love to our neighbors. And they
instilled in us a love for reading! God blessed us with Godly parents.
If you could write
the inscription on your tombstone, what would it be?
“Here lies David Munson who dodged early death, by the
believable lies he told (and by the grace of God).” David, as a Federal
undercover agent, used false identities, supported by government issued
documents as he met with and traveled internationally with criminal gangs, who
would have killed him, to avoid prison, if they knew who he really was.
Diane’s tombstone: “Here lies Diane Munson, who ruined her
knees praying that David’s lies were believable.”
In truth, we would both want ours to say, “Saved by the
Grace of Jesus!”
Tell us about the
featured book.
Similar to what you might see in a Hallmark Christmas movie,
North
by Starlight is the story of young, single, attorney Madison Stone who
has recently ended a relationship with attorney Stewart Dunham, who was more
interested in riches and travel than was she. Maddie’s boss sends her to
Starlight, Vermont, to represent the estate of the late Maynard Star, who built
much of the village of Starlight, it’s signature hotel, the Edelweiss Lodge and
the ski resort on Star Mountain. Maynard’s only surviving grandson, Jordan Star
grew up helping Maynard run the tourist destination, following the death of his
parents. Maddie finds the sole heir and bachelor to be quite attractive. They
are thrown together as Maddie is expected to ward off a claim by a here-to-fore
unknown family member who expects to share the estate with Jordan.
Please share the
first page with us.
Attorney Madison Stone’s spirits soared high as the judge
announced the ruling in Maddie’s favor. Though she wanted to shout, “Hooray!”
she kept her lips sealed tight. The long hours she’d spent advocating for this
family had finally paid off.
Judge Cawley tapped a stout gavel against the wooden
judicial bench and with authority intoned, “Court is adjourned.”
A winning smile crept across Maddie’s face, and she jumped
to her feet so quickly one of her high heels wobbled beneath her. She grabbed
the table edge to steady herself.
Relief washed over her. Though this was her ninetieth case,
a milestone in her six-year legal career, it wasn’t the win making her feel
giddy. Justice being accomplished for a family and their small foster child
erased Maddie’s frustration at having to battle nonstop against opposing
counsel for the past few months.
She started gathering the hodgepodge of papers spread across
the courtroom table, when the foster mother of Maddie’s court-assigned infant
client enveloped her in a bear hug.
“Thank you!” Mrs.
Wolsey chirped. “I can keep LeSwana in my home.”
Maddie was about to warn the foster mother about attempted
visits from the imputed father when Judge Cawley interrupted, “Ms. Stone, I
need a word with you.”
Alarm sizzled through Maddie. She sped to the elevated desk
unsure what she’d done wrong. Had she made a misstep? It was rare for Judge
Cawley to engage in chitchat with attorneys in her courtroom.
“Your Honor,” Maddie
said, setting both hands lightly on the bench. “I’m sure Mrs. Wolsey won’t let
us down. She loves baby LeSwana.”
The judge leaned over. As if including Maddie in a
conspiracy, she lowered her voice to a bare whisper and said, “When I assigned
you to this case, I had no doubt you would pull another rabbit from your giant
hat.”
“Your Honor, I need to correct the record.” Maddie’s face
grew warm at the judge’s praise. “Harry Black is our private investigator. He
is the one who found the imputed father’s earlier arrest for child abuse,
despite his using an alias.”
“You were the one who asked him to search.” Judge Cawley
treated her to a friendly smile. “I knew you wouldn’t quit digging.”
She patted Maddie’s hand, telling her, “Good job.”
Where can my readers
find you on the Internet?
Thank you, Diane and
David, for sharing this new book with my blog readers and me. I love reading
inspirational romantic suspense. So do they.
Readers,
here are links to the book.
North by Starlight
- Paperback
North by Starlight - Kindle
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