Monday, August 3, 2020

Blog Tour: A Venomous Love by Chris Karlsen #blogtour #interview #historical #suspense #thriller #giveaway #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours @chriskarlsen1



Book 3 of the Bloodstone Series
Historical Suspense/Thriller
Date Published: February 28, 2020
Publisher:  Books to Go Now

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The killer whispered-“A pretty damsel...worth a pretty risk.”

A veteran, Detective Rudyard Bloodstone has fought a brutal battle and witnessed war horrors that haunt his nightmares. Now one of those horrors has followed him home from Africa.
A vicious predator, the Cape cobra, can kill a man in thirty minutes. A suspect using the snake as a weapon in robberies is terrorizing London.
When the crimes escalate into murder, a victim’s daughter, Honoria Underhill, becomes the focus of the killer. After several attempts on her life, Scotland Yard threatens to take over the high profile case. With few leads to follow, Bloodstone and his partner must now fight department politics and catch the killer before Underhill becomes another murder victim.





Interview

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I don’t have a message per se other than I hope you enjoy this story, this cast of characters and their world. I truly love creating the settings, people, and situations that surround my protagonists. For me setting is a character in and of itself in all the books. The Bloodstone series is set in Victorian London, a time and place that is perfect for murders. The city is a brilliant example of extreme lifestyles, varied architecture, with a historical overlay. The same is true of my previous series, Knights in Time. Those books were set in both modern and medieval England. The settings influenced the lives of the characters in many ways.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Yes, love scenes. I don’t like reading extremely graphic sex scenes, nor do I have a desire to write them. Depending on the book, I do include love scenes. I have a devil of a time trying to make them sensual without sounding mechanical or awkward. I have writer friends who can whiz through them. Not me, and it hasn’t gotten easier over time. (Injecting a smile here)

How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I’ve written twelve and am working on the thirteenth. I love all of the stories. If I had to choose one that is closest to my heart, it would be Heroes Live Forever. It has a special place because it was my first book. My latest book, A Venomous Love, is the third story in my favorite series of books is the Bloodstone series. My detective, Rudyard Bloodstone, is my favorite character to write. I suppose because he is a detective and I am a retired one that the connection to him is the strongest.
Part of A Venomous Love is based on an actual event told to me by a London detective friend. We were having dinner talking funny police stories and she told of a vacation in Morocco. She was at the hotel desk when a British couple came in hysterical as they’d just been robbed at snake point. I tucked that unusual weapon story away thinking I might use it down the road, if I ever wrote a book.

If you had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
I’ve always seen Rudyard Bloodstone (Ruddy) as Karl Urban. I’ve been a fan since his LOTR days. Ruddy has a certain look that Urban embodies. He isn’t a pretty boy type, like Brad Pitt or Leo and I don’t mean to diminish their talent by saying that. I enjoy Pitt and Leo’s performances. But there’s a ruggedness to Urban, that dark-haired, sharp featured, collar turned up on a windy cliff kind of look. I should clarify that Karl Urban is older than Ruddy now. When I started writing Ruddy, I pictured Urban from his Chronicles of Riddick or early Star Trek days as Ruddy is only in his mid-thirties. Urban is in his forties now.
Just FYI, nothing would please me more than to have any of my series made into a movie or television series.

When did you begin writing?
I started in 2003 after I had retired from law enforcement. I had this story bouncing around in my head for years. My husband suggested since I had the time, I should write me story. I also knew I had to learn the craft and began taking workshops and going to writing seminars at the same time.
How long did it take you to complete your first book?
It took me three years. I was learning the craft while writing that book so I’d learn something new and go back in and rewrite a scene. I had a ton of editing and I am a slow writer in ordinary circumstances.

Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
A few inspired me: Julia Garwood and her romances, Bernard Cornwell and his historicals, J.R.R. Tolkien and his LOTR series.

What is your favorite part of the writing process?
I really enjoy world building, creating a support cast for my protagonist(s). When I write I am deeply inside the head of my hero or heroine. I like “seeing” and “developing” an attitude as to how my protagonist(s) chooses to react to the forces around them.

Describe your latest book in 4 words.
Unique, engrossing, colorful, humorous

Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?
A year ago I decided I’d like to write a novella series of World War Two romances, something a little different than the historical suspense world of the Bloodstone series. My first story in the WW2 series was Moonlight Serenade. It is about a U.S. Marine on leave for three days in Melbourne, Australia.
I’m currently in the middle of the second story called, The ACK-ACK Girl. It is set in England. Ack-Ack girls were teams of women who worked in anti-aircraft units. People thought the guns made an “ack-ack” sound when fired, thus the nickname for the women. My heroine falls in love with an RAF pilot. I hope to have it released right after the holidays.
After The Ack-Ack Girl, I am co-writing a World War One romance with Jennifer Conner, my dear writer friend. And after that, I hope to start another Bloodstone book but with Ruddy’s brother as the protagonist.





About the Author

I was raised in Chicago. My father, a history professor, and my mother, a voracious reader passed on a love of history and books along with a love of travel. 
I am a retired police detective. After twenty-five years in law enforcement I decided to pursue my dream of writing. I write a historical-time travel romance series called Knights in Time and a historical suspense called The Bloodstone Series.
I am also working on a world war two series of novella romances. The first is Moonlight Serenade and currently available. The second is my work in progress at the moment and will be titled, The Ack-Ack Girl.

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