Guest Blogger Marian Lanouette

Please welcome my guest, my friend, and my Museit Up author Marian Lanouette! I've had the great pleasure of editing her first two books in the Jake Carrington series. The second one, Burn in Hell, just released. I was able to coax Marian to come by and answer my  infamous Rick Reed questions! Have a seat, Marian, and let's get started, shall we?

The Questions

1)      You’re marooned on a small island with one person and one item of your choice—who is that person and what item do you have?

I'd say my husband. I'll call him Dakota and my Nook.

2)      Which musical would you say best exemplifies your life – and which character in that musical are you?

Hard question. I like the King and I. I'd say Deborah Kerr, because she is a strong woman.

  3)    Take these three words and give me a 100 word or less scenario using them:  capitalism, failing, propose.

I'm starting to question why I ran for office. All the bills I propose never get past the beginning stages. I'm learning the hard way, only the very rich get what they want in our government. If you want to see capitalism at its best, go sit in on a session while our elected officials work. The system is failing and no one knows how to fix it.

4)      What is your idea of how to spend romantic time with your significant other?

I like going out to dinner with him. This way neither of us is busy getting it ready and we can enjoy each other's company.

5)      When you start a new story, do you begin with a character, or a plot?

Depends on what pops into my head. Sometimes it’s the characters, sometimes the story line.

6)      If they were to make the story of your life into a movie, who should play you?

Oh, I'd love Charlize Theron because she could glam me up and she's also a great actress.

7)      Who’s your favorite horror villain and why? Don't watch horror.

8)      Do you have an historical crush and if so, who is it? No

9)      Is there a story that you’d like to tell but you think the world isn’t ready to receive it?

I think you story Revelations will do that next week.  If people don't read it, they will be missing out on not only a great read but a thought-provoking one.

Blurb:

A botched missing person’s case.

A nervous mob boss.

Lt. Jake Carrington’s gut tells him Phil Lucci is being cagey—with good reason. Jake can see this case has been mishandled from the beginning. Sloppy police work? Or does Lucci's hand reach as far as the WPD? It’s Jake’s job to find the answers.

Then Jake meets Kyra Russell, a woman with an unusual job—she runs the local crematory. Despite the heated attraction between them, Jake becomes more and more suspicious of Kyra. Her gambling problem has already cost her a marriage and custody of her son. More than that, she also happens to be friends with Phil Lucci. Kyra assures Jake that it's just coincidence, but Jake's experience and his instincts warn him not to believe in chance. Can Kyra be burning bodies for the mob? If she is, what will Jake do about it?

Excerpt

http://wp.me/prBca-2ux

“Son of a bitch,” Kyra whispered.

Life’s not fair. In the last two hours she’d dumped over three thousand dollars into the Goddamn machine. This bitch sits down right next to her and hits the jackpot on the first spin. I’ll never get my son back this way.

Kyra Russell wiped away the tears that rolled down her face. Why couldn’t she hit the jackpot? Ten grand—she only needed ten grand to pay her lawyer. Taking another hundred-dollar bill out of her purse, she stuffed it into the machine and hit the maximum-credit button, anticipating the results. Loving the rush, her stomach jumped with excitement. Each time, her mind cheered ‘this is it.’ As the wheels rolled into place, a cold chill raced through her veins. One by one, they landed. By the second symbol, she realized she’d lost again. Kyra’s heartbeat increased, pounding in her chest, beating in her ears like African tribal drums, causing her anger to spike. It’s the next one, she told herself, banging the maximum-credit button again. Lord, she needed to take a pee break, though didn’t dare leave her machine for fear someone else would hit the jackpot after she’d primed the machine.

Watching the attendant pay the woman, Kyra counted along with him. The

bitch won seventy-five hundred dollars. After the woman received her payout, Kyra tried signaling the attendant.

“Excuse me,” she called.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I need to use the restroom. Can you watch my machine or lock it down?”

“I need to call a supervisor over. It’ll be a few minutes.” He pressed the button in his earpiece.

She watched him whisper into it. After ten minutes, the supervisor came over and locked down the machine for her, letting her know she needed to be back within the hour or they’d release the machine.

“Thank you.”

“Not a problem, Kyra,” the supervisor said.

He read her name off her reward card, addressing her like he knew her. Well, screw him.

She pushed off her seat, rushing to the ladies’ room. Kyra didn’t want to stay away too long, giving them a chance to re-program the machine against her or reset it. She hated the new system with the tickets. Since they’d installed it, she hadn’t won like she used to. How else could she lose constantly? Winning used to be the norm when she first started. It became addictive. She’d won twenty-five thousand dollars on one spin. On another night, she’d won eight thousand dollars.

Boy, the cash rolled in then. The feeling was indescribable when those wheels rolled into place and the bells went off. The noise the machine made when it hit a jackpot had crowds surrounding her. Though on that night she’d gone home with only twenty thousand dollars—she’d blown five grand trying to win more. Greed always took over. Winning excited her. It was the rush, the euphoria she got every time she pushed the spin button that kept her coming back.

The casino treated her like royalty, even gave her a host. He got her into the popular shows or restaurants anytime she wanted. Nothing was too good for Kyra, as long as she showed up and put her money into the machine. She became a regular at the players’ lounge—eat and drink for free. Yeah, free, her ass. The cost was extreme. Somewhere along the line, Kyra lost her self-respect—along with her marriage, her son, and her savings.


I have to say that Jake Carrington is a great character, and if you like detective mysteries with hot men and mysterious women, get both If I Fail and Burn in Hell!

Want to win an e-copy of If I Fail? Comment here, give your email address, and Marian will choose a winner by the end of the week!

Thanks for stopping by, Marian, can't wait to read Mated for Life! Come back any time!

I'm visiting with AJ Jarrett today, at her blog, so stop by and say hello!


Until  next time, take care!

♥ Julie