Genesis of a Romantic Suspense Junkie By Deliah Lawrence

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

Writers’ Association, Black Writers’ Guild of Maryland, and Sisters in Crime. And most recently, Joel Furches (reviewer, CBS Baltimore) named her as one of five Baltimore authors to put on readers 2018 summer reading list. Visit her at www.authordeelawrence.com.

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.

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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!