Buried Lies
National Forest K-9 Book 4
Deadly Revenge
National Forest K-9 Book 5
Kathleen Donnelly
Carina Press
Both Buried Lies and Deadly Revenge have a layer of realism that elevates the suspense.
Buried Lies introduces Cook County Prosecutor Elena Perez who discovers that an innocent man was in prison for the murder of a senator’s daughter. When she realized that former Chicago police officer Josh Colton might have evidence relating to that crime, she reached out to Josh’s former fiancée, Amber, to get Josh to turn over the evidence. When Amber called to request his evidence, Josh foolishly agreed to meet with her. Unfortunately, things go drastically wrong and Amber ends up dead, with Josh being framed for her murder. Maya and Juniper must dig into Josh’s past to uncover the truth before the killer, fixated on revenge, finds them.
Deadly Revenge Maya and Josh are informed that there is a kidnapped girl, Hope. As they try to find her, they are hampered by a raving wildfire. Maya, Josh, and their K9s, Juniper and Finn, need to find the teen before something bad happens to her or the fire catches up to them. However, there is an informant in one of the agencies that are searching for Hope. Worse, the mole is feeding the kidnapper intel that helps them keep one step ahead. Plus, the innocent girl is tied to Maya in ways she never could have imagined.
Both books are fast-paced mysteries with engaging twists and turns, and is hard to put down.
Elise Cooper: With Buried Lies how did you get the idea for the story?
Kathleen Donnelly: It was a mix of several things with just some imagination. And a bunch of what ifs. I knew Josh, the male lead, had a past, and I knew I wanted to have a book that really brought his past into the story. Plus, there was a case here in Colorado with a young man named Timothy Masters who was not only wrongfully convicted, but the prosecution withheld evidence because they felt he was guilty. When evidence came around that proved he wasn’t, they withheld it. He spent 20 years in prison. He’s been in prison a long time. It was another police officer, a detective on his case, who stuck with it and helped overturn the conviction and prove he was innocent of the murder. We always want to think of prosecutors doing the right thing, so just the idea that someone hid evidence was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ So, it was a mix of that, and then just a lot of imagination with what ifs.
EC: How would you describe Sydney; the victim Josh is accused of killing?
KD: She was stubborn. She was a drug addict. It was interesting because we want to profile them as coming from various backgrounds, but it can be anyone. Anyone can fall into the lifestyle depending on choices. She was a bit of a wild child. And just kind of didn’t want to have rules, and was still young and free, and didn’t think there would be consequences to her choices.
EC: What role did Amber, Josh’s former fiancé, play in the story?
KD: She’s obsessed with winning him back. She is a manipulator, spoiled, and not a rule follower. She was in Killer Secrets, book 3, so readers can really discover her there. Josh realized his relationship with her was not a healthy one, and he broke it off. But because it wasn’t healthy, Amber wanted to manipulate her way back into his life. Of course, he doesn’t want that.
EC: Do you want readers to feel sorry for her?
KD: I think whenever you have someone who’s been an antagonist, because she certainly was an antagonist in Killer Secrets, it’s more you want readers to understand their motivation and say, ‘I wouldn’t do that, but maybe I understand where this person’s coming from.’ I heard it from Jeffrey Deaver, and I’m sure he heard it from someone else that said, ‘you know, the antagonist is the hero of their own story.’ But, to be that, the goals and motivations must be understandable. Something we might say, ‘I would never do that, but I get where she’s coming from.’ Maybe we’ve had our hearts broken, but would never manipulate the relationship yet, understand a broken heart, and how hard it is to move on from a relationship.
EC: Why have one of the settings in Chicago, because the violence?
KD: I had Josh come from Chicago. That’s where he grew up. I think with Chicago, I had, my dad grows up in Chicago, and my mom grew up in Illinois, so we have a lot of roots there. When my dad was growing up, it was the mob. But what’s interesting was in Chicago is the mob has kind of moved but the gangs have moved in, and have kind of taken over that criminal activity. The other interesting thing, I read in a Chicago magazine about how gang members were looking for political office and getting elected. It was just so fascinating to think that a leader of a gang could become an Alderman. Because the neighborhoods almost feel like they can protect them or understand their interests. It somewhat planted a seed that I went down my own road. I thought, ‘if they’re in politics, what does that mean for all of Chicago politics? How are they influencing things?’ It was just a little seed that turned into a lot worse, and then, I wanted to make it clear, it’s all fiction and all the imagination.
EC: How would you describe Elena, the investigative prosecutor?
KD: She survived the killing of her mother. I had her as cross country runner to be able to escape the bad guys. She is tenacious. I feel like she might come back in future books, but I don’t really know when. We’ll see what happens with her.
EC: You always put in your books tidbits about a law enforcement working dog. In this one you mention a muzzle strike?
KD: This was something I was trying to research, and I have some books on police dog training. A muzzle strike is when the dogs are wearing a muzzle so they can’t bite, but they can hit the person. It’s used in a situation where the handler doesn’t want the dog to maybe apprehend the wrong person, but kind of push them. I did a lot of research and reading, and when I found it, I thought this would work for this scenario.
EC: Idea for Deadly Revenge, book 5?
KD: Where we live, in Colorado, we’ve had nights where we’ve had several fires burning near us, and you can look to the north and see flames. You can look to the south and see flames, which is scary. I thought we need to have a fire in a book to complicate things, and because it’s become such a part of the West, a reality of the West. Tragically, when this book released, we had lost at least four firefighters. So, it’s become a part of our lives, and I just felt the mountains are their own character, and brings with them their own beauty and conflict. The story also had Abigail’s revenge and after she kidnaps someone related to Maya the fire complicated the team looking for her.
EC: What about Abigail?
KD: When I wrote Hunting the Truth, I knew, at the end of that, she’d be back. I didn’t quite know when, and then, as I was writing this, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s time for Abigail to come back.’ I also feel like it was time to start wrapping up some of those storylines. I mean, she killed Maya’s mom, and grandmother. She is a corrupt cop. And obviously we meet her in jail. She met Maya’s mother when Maya’s mother ran away from home, and made some bad choices, which is how she ended up getting pregnant with Maya. So, Abigail was one of the cops that Maya’s mother, Zoe, ran across during that time, and Zoe had evidence on Abigail that made it worth Abigail killing to get it back, Abigial, she always had a plan, an endgame. She knows how to work the system. She’s manipulative, thought she was above the law, persuasive, narcissistic, unhinged, likes to extort people and hires people to do her dirty work.
EC: What was the tidbit in this book about working dog?
KD: Dogs overheating and that sometimes they cannot wear a protective vest because of that. I try to put in the tidbits, but it comes up naturally in the story. As a handler, back when I was working, heat was a huge factor when I was working the dogs. Since we worked at schools in the fall and the spring, I had to really watch the temperature. If the tidbits come up naturally and it’s something I can throw in and something that I find interesting, then I hope the reader finds it interesting. So, I don’t necessarily sit down and think, this is the tidbit I’m going put into this book. It just kind of happens organically.
EC: How would you describe the kidnapped victim, Hope?
KD: She’s a loner, doesn’t have a lot of friends, from divorced parents, and her dad is kind of a deadbeat dad. She can be sarcastic, a fighter, survivor, anxious and stubborn. She is close to her uncle. She’s a teenager.
EC: You said that she has some of Maya in her. What part of her personality, do you think, relates to Maya?
KD: I think they both are fighters and survivors. When we meet Maya in Chasing Justice, she’s a little bit of a loner at that time. It’s really, Josh and Pops, who help pull her through that, but, after she’s come back from the war, she’s a little bit of a loner, so I see them kind of similar, like, in those ways.
EC: Next books?
KD: Book 6 is called Blood Tracker, and comes out August of next year. The plot deals with poaching. There’ll be a book seven, and we’ll get more info later.
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