Jennifer Rebecca - Romantic Thrillers Featuring a Badass Detective
Jennifer is a thirty something native of San Diego, California. She is a graduate of California State University San Marcos where she studied Criminology and Justice Studies and is also a member of Alpha Xi Delta. 13 years ago, she was swept off her feet by her very own sailor. Today, they are happily married and the parents of a 10 year old and 8 year old twins. She lives in East Texas where she can often be found on the soccer fields, drawing with her children, reading, or chasing after her wiley senior citizens. She is also convinced that if she puts her fitbit on one of the dogs, she might finally make her step goals. Jennifer is the author of the Dangerous Dames romantic mysteries and shenanigans and also the Claire Goodnite romantic thrillers. As our Author of the Day, she tells us all about her latest Clair Goodnite thriller, Tell Me A Story.
Please give us a short introduction to what Tell Me a Story is about.
Tell Me a Story is about a detective in a small township jurisdiction in New Jersey. While she works to uncover the clues in the case of a missing child, secrets of her own past find a way of coming up to the surface.
When her brother’s best friend, FBI Special Agent in Charge Wesley O’Connell shows up, he wants more than her case—he wants her back too.
Tell us more about Claire Goodnite. What makes her tick?
Claire is a favorite character of mine, she has these past hurts that you find out about in the books and that history has shaped her to be who she is and she unapologetically owns it. She’s a badass, tough on the job, but she also has a vulnerable side that she will keep hidden at all costs. I love that dichotomy.
What inspired you to write about a search for a missing child?
It’s not really one thing or another. As mystery or suspense writers, each case needs to be different, but important to your main character in some way. Because the four book series is based on Claire uncovering her own past, I liked the idea that the first mystery would mirror her own disappearance.
You studied Criminology and Justice - how has this influenced your writing?
It’s actually influenced my writing a lot, particularly in this series. My other mystery series are silly rom coms that I love, but they don’t delve too deeply into the actual day to day of law enforcement and what they may be going through. The Bachelor’s program I went through at CSUSM covered all of the bases, not only theories of criminality, but also how the justice system worked and practical applications and analysis for the psychological aspects as well. It was really fascinating and a lot of it stuck with me. I use what I learned there and what I learn along the way to craft the cases as they unfold.
Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?
Secret skills, huh? More like skills I don’t have. I can’t swim or ride a bike or do any kind of math. I was once a makeup artist and a telephone operator (not the dirty kind, sadly, but wouldn’t that make a great book. hmm…) and not at the same time. I like to paint although I don’t have a ton of time for it and I’m absolutely terrible but for me it’s more about expression anyways. I like to think I get the love for both painting and writing from my late grandfather, Judge Murry Luftig. He was brilliant at both. In the late 1980’s he wrote a novel and it was going through rounds of editing and back then it took ages, there wasn’t the turn around that we have now. By the time the last round was good to go about a decade later, he was struggling with Alzheimer’s disease. He lost his battle three years ago and his novel is still unpublished to this day. I like to think that every book I publish he’s there with me. We’re in it together.
Why did you pick George Washington Township, New Jersey as the backdrop for this book?
George Washington Township is FAKE! I know. I made it up and here’s why. My husband is from New Jersey which is why this series was set there. I like to include small details in each of my books that are just for him. Maybe a man has blue eyes, or is from his hometown, it’s my little secret I love yous to Sean. GWT is based on his hometown and as I was writing it, I had it set in the real city. Sean told me that not being from New Jersey, and getting it wrong would be the worst thing I could do, so I made a fake one because the last thing I would want to do is make his family, friends, and neighbors think I was making fun of them when in reality it was a love note to my guy.
In this book, some of your characters struggle to let go of the past. Why did you write it this way?
I think everyone struggles to let go of tough things. That’s just human nature. I had the idea for this book while struggling with my own anxiety and I think it resonated in the pages.
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
That life can be messy and ugly and wonderful all at the same time. That even in the hard seasons it’s important to get up when you’ve been knocked down and put one foot in front of the other.
Claire experiences a lot of internal conflict while dealing with her past - why did you create her this way?
Even though it’s fiction, with this series, I wanted Claire to be more real. Real people struggle to come to terms with serious life events and traumas and she wouldn’t have resonated if she was like “Oh all these bad things happened, but I’m cool now.” And also because Anna is one of my most favorite sub-characters ever. I loved the psycho-analysis that happened in their late night convos. You can thank my mom for Anna’s deeper character development. She loved her and wanted more.
The book was written from different POVs, why did you take this approach?
In each of the four books, with the exception of the end of Kiss Me Goodnight, there is one chapter in the end of the book from Wes’s POV. I think he needed to be heard. I love the fact that Claire is such a badass and for years, she’s done things on her own, but they figure it out together. In the end, they both need each other and I like that immensely.
What is the hardest thing about being an author?
Letting them go. I write, read it through before sending it to my editor, and then I process the edits, but after that I never go back. I could spend eternity writing one book if I stressed over it like I know I would, so in the end, I let them go. This was actually the first series that I finished and when the final book went live, I was kind of sad to say goodbye and kind of excited for something new.
Do you have any interesting writing habits - what is an average writing day like for you?
I am the stay at home mom of two eight year olds and a ten year old, so during the day, I handle business while they are at school but I write late at night when they are asleep and don’t need me. They’ve just jumped into the world of pokemon tournaments and there is this place we go on Saturday nights as a family. We go to dinner, then head over to the game shop where they play for fun with other kids. My husband is reliving his magic glory from twenty years ago so he gets to hang with his people and I bring my laptop and write (and dole out snack and drink money). It’s a ton of fun.
What are you working on right now?
Right now I am trying to finish Layback, book two in my Murder on Ice series, and book four of the overall Dangerous Dames books. It’s silly, it’s fun and I love it. It’s been fun being back in the romcom world but it’s different. There is an energy level that can be hard to maintain. I love writing both. When I wrap up these two series in early 2020, I get to head back to GWT for Lee’s duet and I’m pretty excited about that too.
