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An edge-of-your seat murder mystery set in a forgotten, ocean-facing town on Vancouver Island!
A body washes up on the shores of Lake Templeton, a small town on the coast of Vancouver Island. Sharon Reese, the victim, was a dedicated government employee. Everyone liked her, but no one knew much about her. Was she hiding something? Maybe a questionable past riddled with scandal. And did it lead to her plunge to death, in a drunken stupor, off the dock outside her secluded lakefront lodge?
Was it an accident? A suicide? Or cold-blooded murder? Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi, is determined to find out.
Fati arrives in Lake Templeton to find secrets that run as deep as the City’s sewers. Everyone is hiding something and nothing is as it seems. A cult escapee. A corrupt politician. A struggling airline. A multi-million dollar public-private project to revitalize the Lake Templeton waterfront. How are they all connected?
As Fati valiantly unravels the knots, another body is found on the shore. Is it the same killer? And can Fati stop them before they strike again?
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Q&A
– When and where do you prefer to write?
On weekdays, I write in the mornings from 5:30-7:00 a.m., before I start work. This is an important routine for me and pivotal to ensuring I maintain a consistent daily word count. I usually write at home, but not from my office. I need a separation between my day job in banking and the creative pursuit of writing mystery novels. So, I typically write from my living room or my dining table. In the heat of writing The Lake Templeton Murders, I took vacation days off work to enact marathon writing sprints.
– Do you have a certain ritual?
Not really. But I do need a good cup of tea or coffee before I get going. And I need to write in silence. No music, background chatter, or interruptions please.
– Is there a drink of some food that keeps you company while you write?
No food – because I find eating distracting. I do enjoy a good strong cup of Earl Gray tea or black coffee to get the brain kicking.
– What is your favourite book?
It’s hard to name just one but I’ve read everything written by Sidney Sheldon multiple times over the past 20 years. The stories are fast-paced, quick-moving, and incredibly reading. In other words, perfect for binge reading!
– Do you consider writing a different genre in the future?
I would love to write supernatural horror. That’s the other genre that’s very close to my heart besides mystery. I love reading horror novels and watching horror movies. But I am a little intimidated at the thought of writing horror. One day, I would like to conquer this fear and forge ahead into that unknown territory.
– Do you sometimes base your characters on people you know?
I always grab aspects of people I know and fuse them together with other characteristics of people I’ve read about or met. I think basing a character entirely on a person I know in real life would be lazy writing. Where’s the creativity? My characters are an amalgam of various people. I take attributes of real life people, such as fear, insecurities, dreams, ambitions, family backgrounds etc. Because I want my characters to be realistic. But they also need to be complex and multi-layered. One of the gravest sins any writer can commit is to write one-dimensional characters.
– Do you take a notebook everywhere in order to write down ideas that pop up?
We are in the digital age! I phased out notebooks a couple of years ago. They cause clutter and are not environmentally friendly. I use my Notes app on my iPhone to jot down ideas. It’s a lot cleaner too as I can delete different ideas once they’re incorporated into my stories. Like most writers, I am teeming with ideas. Everyday situations, observations, news items all give me ideas. I couldn’t possibly keep track of them in my mind.
– Which genre do you not like at all?
Romance! I have no interest in bodice-ripping, happily-ever-after, syrupy tales. Maybe it’s because of my penchant for the dark and mysterious. Although I am aware that romance is a super successful genre, so I respect it.
– If you had the chance to co-write a book. Whom would it be with?
If James Patterson came calling, I am all for it! We write in similar genres, he’s uber successful, and his entire business model is based on collaborating with lesser known authors. Many careers have been launched after a collaboration with James Patterson.
– If you should travel to a foreign country to do research, which one would you chose and why?
The Fati Rizvi Private Investigator series is based in British Columbia so no international research is required. However, I would love to set stories in places that are very different from our comfortable Western lives. I would probably go back to Asia, but focus on places I haven’t explored, such as Malaysia, the Maldives, etc. I would love to write about a murder in a foreign, touristy destination.
Thank you, HS Burney and Rachel’s Random Resources
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About the author
HS Burney writes fast-moving, action-packed mysteries set against the backdrop of majestic mountains and crystalline ocean in West Coast Canada. She loves creating characters that keep you on your toes. A corporate executive by day and a novelist by night, HS Burney received her Bachelors’ in Creative Writing from Lafayette College. A proud Canadian immigrant, she takes her readers into worlds populated by diverse characters with unique cultural backgrounds. When not writing, she is out hiking, waiting for the next story idea to strike, and pull her into a new world.
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Author Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HS-Burney-Author-113028981189771
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hsburneyauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hsburneyauthor
Website : http://www.hsburney.com
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Book Links
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Giveaway
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