I hope the week is off to a good start for you, my friend! Today I have the pleasure of hosting New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Laura Griffin. As part of the celebration for the release of Midnight Dunes, I had the opportunity to connect with the author and learn about her, infusing romance in crime fiction, authors she admires and much more. Check out more about the book below and then read on for the chat.
Midnight Dunes by Laura Griffin
When the shocking discovery of a murdered woman’s body disturbs the tranquility of tourist season, the police detective in charge of the puzzling case must work alongside the new filmmaker in town to pursue every lead in the new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.
After a scandal derails her television reporting career, Macey Burns comes looking for a change of pace in Lost Beach, Texas. She’s ready to focus on her first passion–documentary filmmaking–and has a new job working for the island’s tourism board, shooting footage of the idyllic beachside community. Her plans for a relaxing rebound are dashed when she realizes the cottage she’s renting belonged to the woman whose body was just found in the sand dunes.
Detective Owen Breda is under intense pressure to solve this murder. Violent crimes are rising in his small town, and he can’t stand to see anyone else hurt…especially not the beautiful documentarian who keeps showing up at the precinct.
With the clock ticking, cameras rolling, and body count climbing, Macey and Owen must use all their resources to find the killer without getting caught in the crosshairs.
Content notes include assault, murder.
Hi Laura! Welcome to Armed with A Book. It is an honor to host you on the blog! Can you please tell me and my readers about yourself?
Thanks for inviting me! I got my start as a newspaper reporter before I began writing suspense fiction. As a reporter, I was most interested in the hard news assignments, and I still find myself skimming headlines for story ideas and character inspiration!
Even though Midnight Dunes is the third book in the Texas Murder Files series, it is actually the first book I have read by you. What drew you to write crime fiction and romance?
I have long been a fan of mysteries and romance books. So, I love writing romantic thrillers because I get to weave together both. I find that combining a suspense plot with a romance keeps the story pace moving because the action and the relationship are escalating together. And I think any mystery is more interesting if we get a more in-depth look at the characters, which tends to happen more through the romance side of the story.
I quite enjoyed the Texas setting in this book and having never been to the United States myself, it was wonderful to learn about the white sands. How do you choose the place for your novels? Do you travel as part of the research?
Whenever I travel, I am always on the lookout for new settings! I grew up in Texas and came back here after moving around for many years, and many of my novels are set here. Texas has a variety of settings—the piney woods, the arid canyons of West Texas, the Gulf Coast. There is so much variety to choose from, and I love doing road trips to various places to find unique details for a story.
For Midnight Dunes, what came first for you — the plot or the characters?
The characters came first. I had already written about Owen Breda in the novel Flight, and I wanted him to have his own book. To write Macey’s character, I did research about documentary filmmaking, which is fascinating to me. Macey is curious and assertive, which are assets to her in her job. But those traits put her on a collision course with Owen, who is leading a homicide investigation and is concerned about media leaks.
I was looking more into the Texas Murder Files and liked that the each book in the series has some overlapping characters though the protagonists differ. Now that I have met Miranda in Midnight Dunes, I look forward to learning her story through Flight. What kind of research do you put into writing mystery and crime fiction? I am particularly curious about aspects of the investigations and the murder mystery.
Well, one of the first news editors I worked for was always telling reporters, “Don’t write from your chair!” I think it is so important to get out there and meet people who do the jobs of the characters that I write about. Over the years, I have visited crime labs to interview CSIs and watched them demonstrate forensic techniques. I have interviewed FBI agents and all sorts of people involved in death investigation and the criminal justice system. I especially like visiting people in their workplace because they are more relaxed, and you get all sorts of interesting details about the their daily life.
I loved the raw emotions portrayed in Midnight Dunes. The struggles faced by the police in this investigation as well as Macey’s unintentional involvement and Owen’s draw to her added additional tension that made the situations even more stressful for the characters. When you’re writing an emotional or difficult scene, how do you approach it?
To me, it’s all about getting in the character’s head. I typically do some re-reading before I start a new scene so that I can immerse myself in the emotional situation. After I have been writing a character for a while, they have a unique voice in my head, and the scenes flow a lot more easily.
What makes a good story to you?
I love a story where the physical stakes are high (a thriller) but so are the emotional stakes. That is why I love to weave a romance into my novels. I think when there is more going on emotionally with the characters, the reader is more invested in the outcome.
Are there any authors out there that have been a source of inspiration for you?
So many! I grew up reading everything from Jane Austen to Stephen King. Lately, I have been enjoying books from women suspense authors—Ruth Ware, Liane Moriarty, Gillian Flynn, Karin Slaughter. I also love reading Kristan Higgins because her books have so much humor and heart.
You’re the author of a number of series, including The Glass Sisters series, Tracers series, and Moreno & Hart Mysteries series. If you were forced to live the rest of your life as one of your characters who would it be?
Oooh… what an interesting question! I might have to go with Alex Lovell, from the first Tracers book, Untraceable. Alex is a private investigator who specializes in helping women in trouble disappear. She has great tech skills and juggles all sorts of interesting cases. Another character whose job I would like is Miranda, from Flight. As a CSI, she has seen a little bit of everything and is constantly being thrown into new situations. I’ve interviewed quite a few CSIs over the years, and they always have some crazy stories to tell!
If you could spend a day with any author, who would you choose?
I would love to talk to Patricia Cornwell. Her books are so well-researched and she knows so much about forensic science. I would love to shadow her for a day and learn more about how she handles her research and also her writing process.
Lastly, are you currently working on a new book? If yes, would you be able to share some details about it?
I’m putting the finishing touches on Vanishing Hour, about a woman who moves to West Texas with her search-and-rescue dog and helps investigate a string of disappearances near Big Bend National Park. I love dogs, and it has been so much fun learning about the training and planning behind search-and-rescue work.
Vanishing Hour is a stand-alone romantic thriller (not part of a series) and it comes out in October. I’m also working on the next book in the Texas Murder Files series (after Midnight Dunes). It’s called Deep Tide, coming in 2023.
Thank you so much for your time! 🙂
Thank you for having me!
Thank you for hanging out with Laura and me! Connect with Laura on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads and her website.
Cover image: Photo on Unsplash
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