Happy New Year! Yes, I know it’s the 6th. I have no defense. LOL School was supposed to go back today, but the cold and snow has the rock star home for one more day. As if I wasn’t behind enough already!
Have you made any New Year’s Resolutions? I did. Among them to blog more, keep in touch with my readers, and ‘get out’ more even if only on the Internet. (You know writers can be kind of reclusive. After all, we have a bunch of people who talk to us constantly. Even if it is only in our own heads!)
In honor of my new resolutions, I invited my talented friend and fellow author Rolynn Anderson to join us today and tell us about her latest release, Lie Catcher. Be sure to stay tuned…there’s a blurb at the end. And you don’t want to miss this!
SUSPENSE NOVELS SPIKED WITH HUMOR
Amy Lillard is my hostess today, a writer whose signature line says: Live a little; Laugh a Lot; Love for a Lifetime. I write Suspense Spiked with Romance. Today in honor of Amy’s bent toward the light side, I’ll talk about the place for fun and funny in suspense novels.
Real people laugh, even in tense moments. Sometimes they giggle out of nervousness or guffaw at an irony raised by the situation. Amusing sarcastic comments and puns bubble out of our characters at the most unusual times. They’ll smile or laugh at each other during the roughest of circumstances. And the reader is relieved and smiles, too, happy about the brief let-up of tension, entranced by characters who react authentically to events brimming with suspense.
Remember the tumble-in-the-sheets scene with Ellen Barkin and Dennis Quaid in the movie “The Big Easy”? She’s a by-the-book investigator and Quaid is a cop well on his way to the dark side and surrounded by cops more dirty than he is. In a plot thick with suspense, their attraction to one another matches in intensity. The director chooses their first sex scene to be the most awkward, embarrassing and hilarious encounter I’ve ever witnessed. Not only is the event a relief of tension, but it shows the human side of both characters and a glimpse of the potential redemption of the Quaid character. This is funny, with a purpose.
Vonnie Davis, who writes light suspense, has a special skill at crafting characters who fumble in her Red Hand suspense series. Even Niko, the conscientious investigator in MONA LISA’S ROOM (http://amzn.com/1612172962), makes the reader chuckle when he bumps up against Aly, an American woman with disarming skills and foibles. Together, Niko and Aly stutter-step their way to solving crimes and finding love.
My newest release, LIE CATCHERS is darker than Davis’s Red Hand series, but, like Davis, I try to show my hero and heroine as real people. The recession has bumped my hero down from a Treasury office job to a gumshoe; she’s struggling to save a family business as well as find a niche in a hometown she once rejected. They both fumble at their tasks and make mistakes, enough to have us smiling and cheering them on to do better next time.
So thank you, Amy for the chance to talk about the light side of suspense. Clearly both of us relish the opportunity to laugh! Here’s more detail about my new release, LIE CATCHERS, Suspense spiked with romance and a sense of humor.
BLURB
Two unsolved murders will tear apart an Alaska fishing town unless a writer and a government agent reveal their secret obsessions.
Treasury agent Parker Browne is working undercover in Petersburg, Alaska to investigate a money scam and a murder. His prime suspect, Liv Hanson, is a freelance writer struggling to save her family’s business. Free spirited, full of life, and with a talent for catching liars, she fascinates Parker.
Trying to prove she’s a legitimate writer who cares about Petersburg’s issues, Liv pens a series of newspaper articles about an old, unsolved murder. When her cold case ties in with Parker’s investigation, bullets start to fly.
Parker understands money trails, and Liv knows the town residents. But he gave up on love two years ago, and she trusts no one, especially with her carefully guarded secret. If they mesh their skills to find the killers, will they survive the fallout?
http://amzn.com/B00HJDS1LG (Amazon Kindle)
http://rolynnanderson.com/ (Website)
What a fabulous cover! Thanks for stopping in today, Rolynn, and sharing your new book with us!
What do you say, readers? How important is humor in the books you read?
amie louellen 
Hoping you like some fun/funny in your suspense reads…after all, our characters ARE flawed, like we are…and get embarrassed, make mistakes, etc. Here, I’m so organized and I lead my book club, but for the first time, I read the wrong book. Dumb! Thanks for having me here today, Amy
Thanks for coming, Rolynn! Though I’m beginning to believe that scheduling a visitor when Auburn is playing in the National Championship, the Christmas tree needs taking down, and I have a February 1 deadline was a bad idea! LOL Sorry, everyone, I’m trying to get to all the comments. Until then…War Eagle!!
Rolynn,
I love humor when I read it, wish I could write it. I’m looking forward to reading your book-Alaska-gotta be good-I’m in Alaska. Come see me sometime.
Cool, Denise! Where in Alaska? I’m traveling up/down the coast this summer…probably as far north as Glacier Bay. Hope I captured the Alaska you know all about!
Thanks for stopping in Denise. Comedy can be hard, but as a Writer of rom-coms, sometimes I wish I could be a bit more serious. I’m not sure people take comedy seriously…no pun intended! LOL
Love the excerpt, Rolynn. Thanks so much for the mention. I learned the value of comedic relief from Shakespeare’s plays. He could have the audience on the edge of their seat with all his heavy subject material and then suddenly someone would interject the most off-the-wall observation. The audience would dissolve into laughter, giving their nerves a much needed break. Plus I simply love to laugh.
Amen…cut my teeth on Shakepeare, too. I’m happy to cheerlead your Red Hand series, Vonnie. Great reads!
I hadn’t thought of it that way, Vonnie. But you are exactly right. And Shakespeare had a rather raunchy sense of humor–at least for the time. I was always taught to take what the reader thinks is going to happen and do a 180 on it! Thanks for coming by today!
Great interview ladies.Lie Catchers is waiting rather impatiently on my Kindle. And I’ve got to say, I can’t wait to see “The Big Easy”. I’m off to see if I can find it.
Oh, Angela, do you have a treat ahead of you…it is the most hilarious awkward sex scene ever! Tell me what you think when you see it. Now I want to go see it again, too!
Great…now I want to read it. Like, right now! LOL Can’t wait, Rolynn. It sounds fantastic!
It’s a definite watch, Angela. Thanks for visiting with us today! :)
Humor is essential (for me) in any book I read or write. Life without laughter, well – it holds no interest to me (hence my adherence to the Live, Love, Laugh mantra!) Looking forward to reading this and getting my daily smiles and laughs in. And, I agree, Vonnie is often responsible for a smile or laugh throughout my day.
Thanks for sharing!!
Nicole, you and I are alike in our need to laugh. I’m pretty upbeat by nature…so my characters grab a little of that ‘feel.’ I’m glad you’re newly a part of the Suspense Team. Can’t wait to read your books, as well!
We are kindred spirits, Nicole. More people should live by “live, laugh, love” and I think the world would be a better place! Thanks for coming by!
I like authors who use laughter to break up the tension. I feel like it gives me a chance to take a breath after an intense scene or more. Congratulations on your new release. The blurb is great. I know what I’ll be spending some of Amazon gift card I received at Christmas on.
LOL I write more along the lines of Vonnie’s earlier work. The couple can;t have a sex scene without falling off the bed or worse. Love to see humor used sparingly in such a suspenseful read. :) Thanks for visiting Rolynn, :)
Thanks for coming by today. Katherine. If you are having trouble spending your gift card, let me know. I’ll be more than happy to help you! LOL
Katherine, I’m so glad the story sounds appealing. Get ready for some stoic Norwegians and a quirky fishing town in Alaska. Wear rain gear!
A great premise!
Thanks, Angela. A town full of Norwegians…begged for a story!
I enjoyed this post and I love me some humor in any book. Not haha funny stuff necessarily, but light, tension-relieving fun. Vonnie does it great and so do you, Rolynn. :) Your hostess is pretty adept at that skill too. I think it grows naturally from the writer in most cases. It also shows the writer’s ability to laugh and be/have fun.