Mary Alford Interview

Susan, thank you so much for having me at The Suspense Zone today.

Q: How long have you been writing and what other careers or jobs have you had?

A: I’ve been writing for many years. I started as a pre-teen but didn’t really pursue it seriously until about fourteen years ago. It was in 2012, when I entered the Speed Dating contest hosted by Love Inspired Suspense and later received “the call” that I’d sold Forgotten Past. I truly felt like a writer for the first time and it was a dream come true. It’s still hard to believe at times.

As far as other jobs, well, for someone who loves suspense, I’d say my previous career choices have been relatively tame. I worked for a lab for many years doing accounting and then a large computer company until 2002. It was at that point that I started writing full time. Which ties into your next question. Although, I knew I loved romantic suspense, it took me a while to realize inspirational romantic suspense is where I needed to be.

Q: Do you write in only one genre and if so which one and why? If not, which ones and why?

A: Along with inspirational romantic suspense, I also write inspirational romances mostly because I love reading them as well. When I first started reading Steeple Hill books, it was their inspirational romances that I fell in love with. I enjoyed the elements of faith and love along with the obstacles the authors threw at their heroes and heroines. That made the story interesting for me. From the inspirational romance line I naturally gravitated to suspense, my first love. When you add an element of danger into the mix of a good love story, well, I knew that was the perfect genre for me both to read and write.

Q: How does your faith play into your writing?

A: Faith is a very important part of my writing. I believe we all have God-given talents. It was because of my faith that I realized I needed to write inspirational stories and not mainstream. In the beginning, I targeted the mainstream romantic suspense genre, but it didn’t feel like home. When I started writing inspirational romantic suspense, I realized that was where God had led me to use my talents.

Q: How do you choose your settings for your books?

A: I usually try to choose a setting that will add to the atmosphere of the book. In my first book, Forgotten Past, I chose the rugged Maine coastline as a backdrop.

In my February release, Rocky Mountain Pursuit, I chose the sometimes treacherous Rocky Mountains as the backdrop. Although I had never been to Maine before and was relying on research alone to bring the setting to life, in Rocky Mountain Pursuit I was right at home with that setting. My husband and I have a small cabin at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and I have discovered the mountains have a way of making their own weather. The day can go from beautiful and cloudless to dark and foreboding in a matter of no time at all. A great backdrop for any suspense story.

Q: Do you base your characters on people you know or are they totally made up?

A: Certain characteristics of people I know find their way into my books. For instance, most of my characters drink coffee. That’s all me. I love coffee, what can I say? But for the most part, my characters are totally made up.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release, Rocky Mountain Pursuit?

A: Rocky Mountain Pursuit is about former CIA Agent Jase Bradford who is forced to fake his own death and live under an alias because of something Jase and the rest of his Scorpion team witnessed while on a mission in Afghanistan. As one of the last members of the Scorpion team still alive, Jase lives a life of seclusion at his isolated mountaintop retreat. Then, Reyna Peterson shows up at his doorstep looking for him and his cover is blown. Things quickly escalate from there. Jase and Reyna are being tracked down because of some computer files Reyna’s deceased husband smuggled out of a war zone. With the enemy mere steps behind them, Jase and Reyna must stay alive long enough to figure out what is so important in the files that someone is willing to risk coming after them with great force to keep the contents secret.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for this story?

A: I love spy stories. I think it’s the danger, the drama, the intrigue attached to espionage that makes it so appealing to me. These people risk their lives daily to keep our country safe.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: Faced with what seemed like insurmountable odds, Jase and Reyna never gave up and they always turned to God for guidance and strength.

Q: Tell us what you like about the main characters of this book.

A: For me, Jase is the perfect hero. He is strong, caring, and patriotic. He has a loyalty to his team that forces him to put his own safety aside to help Reyna.

As the widow of a former CIA agent, Reyna quickly finds herself in way over her head, but she never gives up. She is determined to find Jase and bring her husband’s killers to justice no matter what it costs her.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A: I am working on a second book related to Rocky Mountain Pursuit that is told from the viewpoint of Jase’s commander Kyle Jennings. I’ve also just finished another book that is about two FBI agents chasing a serial killer who is determined to take out one of their own.

Q: If money were no object what vacation would you like to take and why?

A: I’d love to be in the middle of the mountains, maybe at a house in the woods with breathtaking views of the mountains and complete isolation with everything I needed inside and no need to ever leave the house. And snow. Lots of snow. Being from Texas, we don’t see much of it here. That would be almost perfect.

Q: What is the silliest thing you have ever done?

A:  I have three granddaughters so we do silly things together all the time. I’d say one of the funniest was when my oldest granddaughter was much younger. She was fascinated with Beauty and the Beast. So one day we decided to go hunt the Beast. We live out in the country so we had plenty of places to look for him at. Strangely enough, we never found him.

Q: What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

A:  Burying my father-in-law three years ago. It’s still hard. We were close and he lived just down from us so we were blessed enough to see him often. He passed away a few days after I found out I’d sold my first Love Inspired Suspense. It was bittersweet.

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet?

A:  My website is www.maryalford.net. I’m also on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/mary.alford.1272, Twitter, https://twitter.com/maryalford13, and Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7235798.Mary_Alford

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?

A:  Just that I truly thank you so much for having me here today. As a writer, it is a blessing to be able to write what you love and then talk about it with others. I feel so blessed to be able to write for Love Inspired Suspense and I hope there will be many more stories coming soon.