Deliah Lawrence is a
Maryland-based attorney, author, blogger and workshop facilitator who writes romantic suspense novels as
well as poetry and short stories. Her debut novel, Gotta Let It Go,
set in Baltimore, won the 2011 Finalist Next Generation Indie Book Award in the
multi-cultural fiction category.
Constantly on the go, Deliah is also an
active member of the Maryland
I first met Dee at a Creatures, Crimes, and creativity
Conference on Columbia MD (yet another reason to catch this nifty little gem of
a con) and it’s always a treat to run into her, whether online or in person,
though in person is better. She’s a hoot.
* * *
My
love of words started at a very early age when my mother would read me bedtime
stories in an animated style. I can vividly remember her voice changing for
each character and her hands moving wildly in describing the action within the
stories. I would close my eyes and imagine being swept away to another world.
This led me to daydream quite a bit, but I also realized later on how much it
helped shape my creative thinking and writing.
As
a young girl, my library card was one of my prized possessions. I looked
forward to hanging out at the library after school and on the weekends with my
friends who were avid readers. We would read and trade mystery books like Nancy
Drew and Hardy Boys. As we got older, we would do the same with Harlequin
romance novels. But sadly, the characters I was reading about didn’t look or
sound like me.
Fast
forward many years later as an adult and I’ve added thrillers by John Grisham,
Tom Clancy, and James Patterson to my reading list. While I enjoyed reading
these books because they were exciting and adrenaline driven, I still yearned
for books that delivered stories that represented more diverse characters. Stories
about people of color that zinged with action, romance, drama, and spicy
dialogue.
So,
when I stumbled upon Eric Jerome Dickey (I’ve met him twice) I fell in love
with his characters: strong, vulnerable, sexy, smart people of color who are
multi-dimensional and complex. They love deeply, kick ass and take no
prisoners. I love the rhythm of the dialogue and the intricacies of the
storylines. EJD’s books are high octane and like a junkie I was hooked on the
deliciousness of reading them. Finally, I’ve found an author who delivers
stories with heart-pounding action and sexual tension that would keep me on the
edge of my seat.
I’m
excited that my reading list has now expanded to include Eric Jerome Dickey
along with Walter Mosely, Brenda Jackson, Leslie Esdaile Banks and quite a few
other authors. But I’m even more excited that I’ve taken the leap to write
stories that deliver a thrill ride that are anchored in Baltimore. Without a
doubt my love of words has come full circle from listening to my mother read me
bedtime stories to reading mystery/suspense and romance books to writing
romantic suspense novels.
I
currently have two novels, Gotta Let It Go and Gotta
Get It Back which are part of a trilogy (Gotta Have It All is
forthcoming). My protagonist, Deidre Hunter, is a sexy, sassy, and smart
headstrong former prosecutor on the quest for justice who unwittingly at times
gets tangled up in romantic situations between the two men in her life: her
ex-husband and her lover, the detective assigned to handle the criminal cases.
Sounds
like something you could get into? Well, buckle up for a roller coaster ride
from this romantic suspense junkie!
