Secrets and Lies

Good news, SECRETS AND LIES, my latest 2-books-in-1-volume novel from Harlequin, is now available!  The novels, HE’S A BAD BOY and HE’S JUST A COWBOY are the first two stories that surround the fictitious community of Whitefire Lake, California.  Another volume, CONFESSIONS will be on the stands at the end of the year and it will contain the last two books of the series, HE’S A RICH BOY and HE’S MY SOLDIER BOY.

The four original books were one of my first forays into writing a series, which I now love.  They are actually  the precursors to series like the Montoya/Bentz series set in New Orleans or the “To Die” series with Detectives Alvarez and Pescoli.

Recently, my son (who works for me) and I were trying to shorten a scene to add it to the “about the book” and “excerpt” section of LisaJackson.com.   So as he’s reading from the book and we’re discussing what section will actually go up as the excerpt, he looks over the top of the novel and says, “Wait a minute, Mom!  This scene sounds a lot like something that happened when I was in grade school and these two boys who are riding bikes and wrestling and yelling at each other, they seem a lot like my brother and me.  And the mom who’s expecting a call from the principal cuz one of the kids got in a "scuffle" on the playground, that’s you . . . right?”  He looked at me in shock and, yeah, a little bit of horror.  “You mean to tell me what’s in these books actually happened?  You used parts of our lives?”
Uh oh!  Busted!
I had no option but to ‘fess up.
So, it looks like, after twenty-plus years, the jig is definitely up!

All About the Books

I thought I would take some time to try and answer a few questions I get frequently: "What is the order of *insert series here*?" Or "Which books are in a series?" Or "How many books are in this series?"

First off, let me say that while there is an order to the books, they didn't start out as series. When I first got to know Bentz and Montoya, I never thought they would hang around this long! Seriously, I can't shake those guys! Really though, the New Orleans series, and Bentz and Montoya, specifically, is one of my favorites. All that rich history, the spice of the town, it just lends itself to excitement, suspense, and a steamy romance, or two.

But, let me get back to what I was saying before, there is an order, but it's not crucial that they been read in a specific order. Sure, you'll have a little more background on the detectives and the other characters that show up in consecutive books. But it's not like you'll be lost if you read SHIVER before you read HOT BLOODED.

For those of you who are interested though, you can head to lisajackson.com and find all the answers. You can find out what books are in which series, how many books there are, and the order in which they were written. While you're there, get to know some of the characters a little better in the character galleries. Or take a walk through the streets of Grizzly Falls, MT.

And always stay connected on Facebook, I try to answer questions on there too!