The title of my book, Be Mine Forever would suggest a story about romance but nothing could be further from the truth. My story is about serial killers.

I created the setting of a fictional alpine town in Montana for the Kane and Alton Series of crime thrillers. The county is widespread and the variety of the landscape offers me a vast number of places for crimes to be committed, from towns to lowlands, forests, and mountains. In Black Rock Falls, the scenery and climate add as a perfect backdrop to my stories.

My main characters have secret pasts. Sheriff Jenna Alton is in witness protection, hiding in plain sight with a new face and name. Formally, Special Agent Avril Parker, she brought down a drug cartel family and testified against them under threat of death. Her deputy, David Kane, whose real name is never revealed, was once a black ops sniper and has ties that go to the White House. The world believes he died in a terrorist car bombing that killed his wife. These characters form the mainframe of my stories and use their expertise alongside a team of deputies to solve the crimes.

I have a fascination with the criminal mind and forensic science. I find myself reading every possible medical journal in search of information to absorb. During my research, I discovered that psychotic behavior comes in many forms and not all psychopaths are killers. The ones that do kill, are usually triggered by an event or series of events that often reflect back to an episode of mistreatment during their childhood. As they grow older, something similar may occur that sets off a reaction that leads to murder.

Serial killers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. In Be Mine Forever, I set my story within a school environment. All the aspects of a psychopath’s trigger can be found at school: bullying, jealousy, anger to name a few. Utilizing the members of the football team and cheerleading squad, offered me a minefield of emotions to work with. Girls becoming jealous of other students chasing their boyfriends. Boys wanting that all important position on the team. All are normal problems in life—but how far would a psychopath go to get what they want? In their minds the problems intensify to such an extent they need to remove people to solve their problems. Its at that point they discover the thrill of killing makes them feel again.

The majority of psychopaths have no empathy—they don’t care about their victims. They can’t be reasoned with or talked down once the urge to kill has begun and they have a victim in their grasp. To them murdering is only a thrill during the killing and as soon as the person is dead, like a bag of candy, once they have enjoyed the treat, they throw away the wrapper.

Most serial killers work alone, using their charm and wits to draw their prey into a web of security before killing them. They like to be in control. So, what better killer could I chose than a teenager hiding in plain sight? Charming and charismatic is the usual profile and killing sprees can come in many different types but this time I wanted a psychopath who enjoys controlling others. Holding the decision of life or death in their hands. Planning their kills to the second and having a devoted follower to help them. This is what I needed in Be Mine Forever, a young controlling psychopath that wanted to hold onto someone forever, not by love, but by using control.

I wanted to shock my readers into realizing, teenagers are quite capable of killing. They are fully aware of forensics and often gain information from the TV or the web, to plan their crimes. In Be Mine Forever, I take the reader inside the minds of both the victims and the killers. I wanted to show my readers how a psychopath thinks and their reasons for killing. When cheerleaders, start to go missing in Black Rock Falls, the reader is faced with a chilling question. “How much do you love someone to kill for them?”

I’ve always had a wicked sense of humour and was the kid who told the ghost stories around the campfire. I am lucky to have family all over the world and have spent many vacations in places from Paris France to Montana USA and Australia. I use the wonderful memories from these visits to enhance my stories. My interest in the development of forensic science to solve crime goes back many years. I enjoy writing crime, mystery and thrillers. With many stories, waiting for me to write I’ll look forward to sharing many spine-tingling stories with you. D.K. Hood is an active member of International Thriller Writers.

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