Guest Author: Leslie Langtry & Giveaway!

I have a really fun, talented author guest blogging with me today.  She’s Leslie Langtry, the creator of the Bombay Family of Assassins, and she writes very funny romantic suspense.

Leslie has a brand new book out, and she’s here to tell us all about it.  Take it away, Leslie!

I’ve finally written a book my mother can’t read. Well, it’s not that she can’t read it – it’s that I hope she doesn’t. I’m not naïve; I know my sister and I weren’t the result of immaculate conception. But knowing that she’s reading these love scenes makes me itchy. Is it possible to get a rash from embarrassment?

I’m talking about my newest book – up today for the first time ever: THE ADULTERER’S UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO FAMILY VACATIONS, A Novel. I had to add “A Novel,” I was told by many who know. Apparently, there are some people out there who would take the title literally and think I wrote some sort of handbook. And while I like weird, I don’t think I’d want to meet these, um, folks.

How did I get the idea for this book? Not through experience, if that’s what you’re thinking. (And some of you are thinking that I’ll bet.) Actually, this book, the most emotional and spicy of all my books, came from a clinical idea. I read a story in the newspapers. That’s it. There’s no little Danny DeVito-esque fairy muse fluttering about in my head (although that would be cool). I get a lot of ideas from newspapers.

Anyway, this particular story was a year after 9/11. According to the article, this major event caused people to rethink who they dated. Men and women were frightened by what they didn’t know. So there was a move to look up old high school and college sweethearts to see what they were up to – if they were single – and interested. All across the country, singles were hooking up with their past. It made them feel safer – more secure – like dating your past. At the same time, Facebook was starting to make such things possible. It was unprecedented – needing to look into your past and actually having the means to do so.

I’m also very much a “What If” writer. Remember that bit on SNL in the ‘70’s – “What if Spartacus Had a Piper Cub?” I loved that idea. So I took the fact that people were engaging in past relationships and plugged it into my favorite vacation destination on Earth – Disney World. What if a man and a woman, ditched by their spouses for the big family vacation and trapped in crumbling marriages, found themselves next door to their first love? How would they react? Would the attraction they once had still be there?

Turns out, the attraction was there – hence the mom-inducing embarrassment rash I mentioned earlier.

Not all my ideas come from the newspaper (or sometimes, NPR). The idea for my Bombay Assassin Series came from a dream I had, where a widowed soccer mom is involved in the family business – which has been assassination for two millennia. She has to bake cookies for the kindergarten Halloween party, start a Girl Scout troop, dodge the sinister PTA president and kill the naughty terrorist. Gin Bombay and her family came to life in my dream and wouldn’t shut up until I sat down to write their story. The result was the first book I sold to a traditional publisher – ‘SCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS GUY. The rest – as they say – is history.

For those who comment today – I’d like to give away a signed copy of one of my Bombay books – I SHOT YOU BABE! Also, THE ADULTERER’S UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO FAMILY VACATIONS, A Novel – is going to be only 99cents for Kindle and Nook for this week only – so download your copy now! For those who want a paperback – I’m hoping to get that up in April at Amazon.com.

Let me know your thoughts and you’ll be in the running for I SHOT YOU BABE!

Vanessa, here.  I love Leslie’s covers and I LOVE her high concept for these books?  How about you, readers?  Don’t you think romantic suspense with an element of comedy is a great idea?  Let’s talk about that, and if you have some other favorite romantic suspense authors, tell us about them.  One person who comments will win a copy of Leslie’s book.

And don’t forget to check Leslie’s website and blog for all her latest news and info about her books!