Author Spotlight with Kim Cox

Book Two in the Lana Malloy Paranormal Mystery series, Get Out or Die, 

was released July 1, 2015, by Kim Cox

Blurb: In this book Lana deals with new abilities and an angry ghost who does not want to leave and blames the family living in the house for his death. He wants them out. Here’s the Get Out or Die blurb:

Since the news of her first case, Lana Malloy’s Private Investigating/Mediator business is booming. At one pro-bono job, Lana helps a widow communicate with her late husband and learns of a frightening new ability she wasn’t aware she possessed, an ability that could give the spirit the upper hand if she’s not careful.

Lana struggles for control when she encounters the angry ghost who doesn’t want to leave and who doesn’t want the occupants of the house to stay. Will Lana be able to control the situation or will the ghost sense he can overtake her? Does she have other abilities she can rely on to save her?

Excerpt:

“I can’t believe your husband is angry with you,” Lana Malloy said to her new client, Angelina Fuentes. “After all, he died almost a year ago and hasn’t haunted you until now. He hasn’t assaulted you or anything like that, has he?”

“No, Senorita. My Mario only moves things to where I can’t find them. He wants me to lose my mind or something?” A tear trailed down her cheek. “Why does he do this?”

Angelina was an exotic beauty with long black hair and eyes almost as dark. A young woman who’d lost her husband way too young.

Lana closed the space between them, holding Angelina’s hands between her own as she sat beside her on the flowered sofa. Angelina’s lavender scent permeated the air around them. “That’s not Mario’s intentions at all.” She closed her eyes to concentrate. “He came back to try to help you. To let you know it’s okay to live your life, and maybe one day to marry and be happy again. Little Mario needs a male influence in his life too.”

“Why does he say this? Does he not love me?”

“It’s because he does love you that he wants you to have a happy life. Even when that life must be without him.”

Angelina broke down. “I can’t. Mario was . . . is my everything.” Her shoulders shook as she sobbed loudly. Lana would never get used to the emotional strain of dealing with broken hearts.

“What about Rodriquez?”

At the sound of Mario’s voice, Angelina’s head shot up. She searched the room before bringing her gaze back to Lana.

“Where did that come from?”

Lana knew what was happening, but was incapable of stopping it. This was a first for her. Never had one of the spirits sent his voice through her.

“From me.” Lana felt her lips move beyond her control, but the voice wasn’t hers. She was a bit leery of this situation. One thing was for sure, Mario planned to get his point across. At first, she’d been stunned by the change, but then struggled to get control. Frustration overcame her and she tried as hard as she could to dispel the presence manipulating her.

Wrinkles appeared around Angelina’s eyes and she squinted as she stared at Lana. She snatched her hands from Lana’s, jumped out of her seat, clutched her rosary in her hands, crossed herself and backed away, praying silently.

“Don’t be afraid, it is only me, your beloved husband. I won’t harm you.”

“Is it really you, Mario? What do you mean? Rodriguez knows we can only be friends.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s your best friend and I love you. I always will.”

“Rodriguez has loved you for a long time, even before I did.”

“I swear, Rodriquez, we…I…never did anything to shame our marriage.”

“My poor Angelina, I know that. This is not what I mean. He is a true friend and you, a loving and loyal wife. But I’m dead now. Both of you should move on. He loves you. Let him make you happy.”

Lana’s heart went out to Angelina. As she smoothed her dark tresses with the tips of her fingers, her big brown eyes reflected the struggle going on in her heart.

Lana continued to struggle against Mario’s intrusion. This couldn’t be happening to her. She cared for Angelina and Mario but this was a violation of her body.

“Now, I must return to where I belong,” Mario continued. “Promise me you’ll at least try to move on, to live a good life.”

As Lana kept concentrating, she could feel the spirit start to leave and wasn’t sure if she was driving him out, or if he was leaving of his own accord. Just when she thought she’d rid herself of the unwanted spirit, it latched onto her again.

“I will.” Angelina dotted the tears from under her eyes with the pink tissue she’d held in her lap. “I will try. I promise.”

 To Buy:

Amazon

Bio:

Kim Cox lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with her chain saw artist

husband Lee and their three dogs, Scooter, Harley and Candi. She has two sons and two grandsons. Besides writing Kim works a full-time job as an MIS Specialist for a local workforce development agency and has a Web design business. She also designs her own book covers. Learn more about Kim at her Web site www.kimcoxauthor.com and her blog. Kim’s Musings at kimcox.blogspot.com.

Find Kim:
Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Linkedin

Take Five with Author Kim Cox

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, Kim Cox.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Haunted Hearts?

Haunted Hearts is the first book in the Lana Malloy Paranormal Mystery series. I’ve always loved mysteries and since I started writing in the mid 1990’s, I’ve always wanted to write a private investigator series with a woman sleuth as the main character. I’ve been fascinated by the spirit world and those who are able to see ghosts and communicate with them. So my main character Lana Malloy was born and the stories took off from there. The second book in the series, Get Out or Die, will be released July 1, 2015.

How do you use setting to further your story?

The setting gives the story feeling by showing what the characters are experiencing and how they are experiencing it in the way of smell, sight, touch, taste, etc. Without these things, the story would be kind of bland or without feeling. The first two books in the series are set on the beach in Charleston, South Carolina. In the third book the setting moves to the Tennessee Mountains, and the fourth book will take place on a cruise ship. Each of these will be completely different.

  

How do you construct your characters?

After a general idea of the story and its characters, I start writing and things just sort of come to life for me as I write. I’m not saying I write without any preparation, but I always start with a general idea, write two to three chapters and then sit down and start characterization and planning. But I have to get started with the writing of a story first in order to get a start.

I begin with the main characters. If it’s going to have romance, I begin with the hero and heroine and then with any other main characters. I picture what they look like in my head and then I try to find images of people who could be them. I’m a visual person and it helps to have an image to go by and refer to during the process. I do character profiles of what they look like (hair, eyes, etc.), their habits, what they want to accomplish, etc. Some of the minor characters are just developed as I write the story. I will add a sentence or two to the character profile about their general description and maybe about what part they play in the book.

  

How is your main character completely different than you?

Well, the fact that she can see and communicate with ghosts is a huge difference. She looks pretty different too, with long slim legs. Hair color and length and eye color may be the only similarities that we do have. Her eyes are shaped better and are much larger than mine though.

Tell us something about yourself we might not expect!

Hmmm, not sure. Okay, I do have something. Just about every author you read an interview about, when asked about writing, they will say they started writing or telling stories from an early age, such as from the womb or kindergarten. I didn’t. I didn’t even like to read growing up. Well, with one exception, and that was my mother’s True Story magazines. I only found one book in the school library I liked around about junior high. Maybe it was because I was stubborn and didn’t like being told what to do. I don’t know because I love to read now and have since I was in my late teens and early twenties.

In high school, we were to read a story from our book every week or every night (can’t remember now) and we always had a pop quiz on the story the next day first thing. I would ask my classmates what the story was about the next morning just before class started. They would actually tell me and I would always pass the quiz. Not with a great grade, but a passing grade. I starting loving books when I found Historical Romances. My favorites were those with pirates. I still love a good Historical Romance to this day, and then when I found mysteries, I was definitely in love with reading forever. Now I have a well-rounded interest in just about every genre, including paranormal, futuristic, fantasy and science fiction.

Give us a brief summary of Haunted Hearts:

Lana is starting a private investigation business and she needs cash to keep the business going. Her Aunt Lucy is her resident ghost and offers to be Lana’s first client, but she is a cold case being dead for nearly twenty years. Her aunt believes her fiancé, Davide Calabria, killed her since his home is the last place she remembers being before they found her in her own home dead. But Lana’s not so sure since she seems to remember her parents saying that he died the same night, either before or after her aunt.

They later find out that the fiancé had died the same night, only an hour or two before the aunt, and that everyone including Davide and his family thought Lucy had killed him, gone home and due to her guilt, killed herself. Lana finds herself forced to work with Tony Calabria, Davide’s grandson who also believes her aunt is the murderer. Lana has to prove them all wrong in the course of her investigation. Throw in a terrified nosy neighbor and some crazy Calabria family members to give you a strange mix of some pretty lively and quirky characters.

Blurb:

Will Lana Malloy solve the twenty-year-old double murder of her great aunt and her great aunt’s fiancé by Memorial Day? If she can, they’ll spend eternity together; if she can’t, they’ll be stuck as Haunted Hearts for another year.

Buy Links:

Kindle | Nook | iTunes | Kobo | Page Foundry | Scribd

Bio:

Kim Cox lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with her chain saw artist husband Lee and their three dogs, Scooter, Harley and Candi. She has two sons and two grandsons. Besides writing Kim works a full-time job as an MIS Specialist for a local workforce development agency and has a Web design business. She also designs her own book covers. Learn more about Kim at her Web site www.kimcoxauthor.com and her blog. Kim’s Musings at kimcox.blogspot.com.

Find Kim at:

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Linkedin