Back in the mid-1990s, I was an established author of young adult suspense and paranormal fiction when seemingly overnight, the market for those books all but vanished. My editor suggested that I try my hand at an adult thriller, but I had mixed feelings about shifting gears. He soon went from suggesting to insisting, and of course, I acquiesced. Little did I know that a brand new career was about to be born!

Around that time, my husband and I visited New England’s Block Island in the off-season. Spooked – and inspired -- by the desolate atmosphere, I sat down and wrote DEARLY BELOVED. I set the novel on a fictionalized Atlantic coastal island and created a madman who lures three unsuspecting women there in the dead of winter to play out his own vengeful fantasy. To my surprise, my editor loved the book, and so, when it was published in 1996, did readers.

Flash forward sixteen years and eighteen adult thrillers (many of them bestsellers), and I find it hard to believe that I was ever ambivalent about the shift to adult fiction! I found my creative voice and hit my stride spinning twist-filled grown-up tales about characters to whom I could relate: ordinary people living ordinary lives. Ordinary people who were about to discover that danger can strike when—and where--they least expected it…

Until now, my first six thrillers have only been available in print format. But I’m excited to reveal that Harpercollins has acquired the rights and is publishing them all as e-books! First up, fittingly, is DEARLY BELOVED. If you missed it the first time around and are in the mood for a good old-fashioned thriller that will keep you turning e-pages into the wee hours, it goes on sale on July 24 and you can order it now for Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, or ibooks! 

Five other early thrillers will be released as e-books as follows: THE LAST TO KNOW (10/16/12), FADE TO BLACK (12/18/12), IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE (2/19/13), ALL THE WAY HOME (4/23/13) and SHE LOVES ME NOT (6/18/13).