Author Spotlight - Excerpt from: Perilous Shadows

Perilous Shadows: (Historical Romantic Thriller, late-1940s --- Sweet romance, warm intimacy, sophisticated themes presented tastefully)

Pioneer newspaperwoman Kiera Devane is on a mission to prove a woman can do a man's job, as she hunts a young coed's killer? Ace radio broadcaster Argus Nye lost one love to a murderous fiend and his pulse races as he tries to protect Kiera from herself as much as from this killer.

Kiera was doted upon by loving parent, but they were killed when she was a girl and she was shipped off to live with a socialite aunt who had little time for her. In her aunt's house, she learned life could be cold and cruel. As a result, she grew up to be an independent and demanding professional woman.

Argus Nye, still bereft from the loss of his first love, can't understand why this female reporter is mesmerizing him. As she takes chances with her life trying to catch a killer, he's determined to protect her.


*****

Chapter One

Sanctuary Point
South Shore of Long Island, NY
Late August, 1947, early afternoon

It shouldn't be this hard to come up with something. Argus Nye sat in his chair and stared blankly through the doorway of his miniscule office into WSAN's empty hallway. He scratched his head and a sandy brown lock tinged with gray fell into his face. His hunt for a good local news story had come up empty, making him antsy. This wouldn't do. After all, he had to live up to his rep as the Scottish Scoop Sniffer.

With one swift movement of his legs, he shoved his chair away from the desk and it hit the back wall. The old wooden chair's wheels squeaked. One day he'd have to bring in a can of oil. The radio station sure wasn't going to get him a new chair. He stretched, rubbed his eyes, and stood.

He didn't want to center the broadcast around last night's auto fatality on the Southern State Parkway. An hour of that would get dry fast, if he could even stretch it to an hour. He could. He'd done it before.

His stomach growled. Might've been a good idea to have had more than coffee for breakfast. With a movement practiced over time, he jutted a hip out and his thigh skimmed the corner of his desk. Then he propelled himself through the narrow doorway. The leather bottoms of his wingtips clapped against the linoleum flooring all the way to the tiny kitchenette.

The aroma of fresh coffee enticing him, he marched toward the two-burner stove, where Jim Heaney stood. "Any coffee left?" Last thing he needed.

His boss had one hand on the chipped Formica countertop. The other held a black and white speckled enamel coffee pot. "Argus, you gave me a start. I was lost in thought." The large man put the pot down on the stove. "Grab a cup and help yourself." He opened the small refrigerator's door, and took out a bottle of milk.
"Not much left here."

"Go ahead. I take mine black with a wee drop o' sugar." Argus deadpanned and poured, tossed two heaping spoons of sugar into the dark liquid, and stirred.

Jim rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I think I knew that." The big man paced back and forth and took a swig.

"Something got you down?" Argus sipped, grimaced, and stirred in another spoon of sugar.

"Thanks for asking. I'm not sure I did the right thing bringing that coed from Adelphi Women's College in for the summer intern position."

"Clarissa? She's a perky little lassie." All pink frilly blouses and swirly skirts. "Now what's got you thinking it was wrong taking her on?"

"She has these big plans... aspirations of someday writing a gossip column, even having a radio show featuring celebrities with a few society pieces thrown in the mix."

Lars Kronen, a thin man with a large Adam's apple and bony hands, walked in, picked up the coffee pot, and shook it. "Empty. This always happens 'cause my farm report's after most folks' lunch, so the coffee's gone. I'll ask Anna to make another pot."

Argus took another swallow. "Clarissa's sure at the right college to make society contacts so she can move into a gossip show."

Lars banged the pot on the stove. "Women don't belong in radio."

Argus took another sip. "When Kiera Devane subbed for me last fall, the lass did a fine professional job. Come to think of it, didn't she also attend Adelphi College?"

"I hear that Devane woman would stab her grandmother for a story." Lars grunted, turned on his heel, and left.

"At least Kiera had some credible news experience behind her when she subbed for you. This girl has no such thing, but she's full of big ideas for herself." Jim ran his hand over a head of thick graying hair.

Argus laughed. "That's why Clarrisa's here in the summer intern position, to get experience. She'll sharpen pencils, go out for sandwiches, help Anna with little things. What kind of trouble can she get into?"

"I just don't want her parents blaming me for turning her into a Kiera Devane."

Argus chuckled. "Little chance of that, laddie. This one's all fluffy and cute, while by all accounts Kiera's ferocious and..."

Screams coming from the reception area pierced the air.

"It's Anna." Argus ran down the hallway with Jim on his heels.

As they raced past Lars' office, the farm reporter poked his long face out, Adam's apple bobbing. "Is that Anna? What's going on?"

Another shriek.

Argus pumped his arms to pick up his pace.

Author Bio:

Nike Chillemi has been called a crime fictionista due to her passion for crime fiction. She was an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category and a judge in the 2011 and 2012 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories. She is the founding board member of the Grace Awards and its Chairman, a reader's choice awards for excellence in Christian fiction. She writes book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. BURNING HEARTS is the first book in the crime wave that is sweeping the south shore of Long Island in The Sanctuary Point series, published by Desert Breeze. GOODBYE NOEL, the second book in the series released in December, 2011 won the Grace Award 2011 in the Mystery/Romantic Suspense/Thriller category. PERILOUS SHADOWS, the third in the series released in July, 2012. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers (Ning).



Nike Chillemi ~ Crime Fictionista http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/

Nike's latest release is: Perilous Shadows, Book 3 in the Sanctuary Point Series. You can find Nike's book here:

Desert Breeze Publishing. http://is.gd/2CY13PPurchase Links:

Amazon/Kindle. http://is.gd/W2Hm2N

Barnes and Noble/Nook. http://is.gd/RJF2zy

Author Spotlight - My Former Life as a Pet Rescuer by Nike Chillemi

In the early 1990s I felt a great burden for stray animals. Particularly pets who had been abandoned and thrown away by their owners. Almost immediately, through some church friends, I ran into a young woman who also had this burden on her heart. This was the confirmation I needed. The two of us began rescuing.

My new friend was great at adoption. She'd put signs up and sit at her phone talking to prospective adoptive pet owners. I set up a mini-shelter in my basement. I had a four foot square pen for an extremely large dog, or two smaller dogs that got along together. I had two large cages for small dogs or cats, and one small cage for a cat or kittens.

We did a lot of praying and a lot of chasing after animals in parks and alley-ways. But mostly other people found the pets and having heard of us, phoned asking if we had space for one more. Sadly, often we did not.

We did meet some resistance from "church folk" who admonished us that we should be rescuing unborn babies, not animals. Or at the very least work for the adoption of children. I recall telling one woman, "If we all do what God asks us to do, when He asks us to do it, it will all get done."

After about five riotous years with the cutest, funniest, most charming pets, my pet rescue friend's husband got ill and lost time from work and we had to stop. I later became a foster mom to two gorgeous sisters who eventually went back to their father. About a year after that my husband and I adopted three half-sisters who had been raised from infancy in foster care.

The photos included here are of the animals my husband and I kept…the less social ones, less adoptable ones. Of course people in the community who love animals have long memories and I still get calls to take in pets. Maybe that's why I presently have a house full of animals. We've even rescued baby squirrels fallen out of trees, kept them in a ferret cage, and released them back into the wilds of New York City.

Author Bio:
Nike Chillemi lives with her husband and very bright and beautiful high-school-age daughter in a borough of New York City on a protected wetland, not far from the Atlantic Ocean. Nike has to be near the ocean, which she loves. Nike's husband is a senior social worker supervisor at one of the "krazierst" NYC public hospitals substance abuse programs. If she needs info for her stories on the effects of a particular drug, she goes to him. She's met him after work at the hospital enough times to have personally seen drug crazed individuals brought in to the ER. This is all fodder for her stories.

Nike Chillemi ~ Crime Fictionista http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/

Nike's latest release is: Perilous Shadows, Book 3 in the Sanctuary Point Series. You can find Nike's book here:

Desert Breeze Publishing. http://is.gd/2CY13PPurchase Links:

Amazon/Kindle. http://is.gd/W2Hm2N

Barnes and Noble/Nook. http://is.gd/RJF2zy

Author Spotlight - The Right Balance When Writing A Whodunit By Nike Chillemi

I like a lot of action in my whodunits. Maybe that's why I loved THE LINCOLN LAWYER, the book and the movie. Well, truth be told, I went totally ga-ga for Matthew McConaughey. Then again, perhaps that's a discussion best saved for another time.
To satisfy my reading tastes a whodunit must have suspense, romance, action, and a dash of humor…in that order. Of course when the fellas write a mystery story they often whip up more action than romance. Some male mystery writers eliminate the romance all together. Those stories work and I enjoy reading them. But I'm a lady mystery writer and romance is part of what I do.

Since we're talking whodunits, suspense is the main element in the plotline and will have the greatest word count. The theory of mystery writing I subscribe to starts out with a dead body. The story opens with a crime scene which in real life is often chaotic. EMS, various law enforcement personnel, and sometimes the press are all doing their jobs at the same time. To depict this type of atmosphere accurately, the writer must maintain a high level of suspense from page one. To do that the pace must be kept up. The hunt for a killer has begun. Write in short spurts. Create snappy dialog. The trick is not to reveal too much, but just enough to keep the reader turning pages.

To my mind, once the suspense is taut and fast paced what is needed is romance to balance it out. I'll often write the romance scenes in prose that are more fluid than the staccato rhythm of my suspense and action scenes. However with strict adherence to my character's voice. My favorite murder mystery characters are uber-flawed. I like to create protagonists who desperately need love in their lives, but that's the last thing they want because they've been so badly hurt. Kiera Devane, pioneer newspaper woman and heroine in my historical psychological whodunit, PERILOUS SHADOWS, is just like that. Only love can heal her tortured soul, but she's afraid to let anyone get close to her. Of course all that changes when she meets ace radio broadcaster Argus Nye.

Next in the mix comes action. Many of us who write in the crime fiction genre do not tote a semi-automatic weapon or know how to engage in combat style martial arts. However, we'd best write as if we do. The writer has to do his/her homework. What is the proper police procedure for the situation your protagonist is in? Make sure to accurately describe a roundhouse kick and know what type of ammunition your heroine should be using in her Glock. At the murder scene or when facing down the bad guys is not the time to give the protagonist prolonged internal dialog or to have him/her wax philosophical. Your main characters are human and infallible. They don't have to win every fight. Still they can't be so badly injured that it would be unrealistic for them to carry on the investigation. I like to beat up my main characters. In my debut novel BURNING HEARTS, I pretty badly beat up Harley Davidson riding, WWII war-hero Lorne Kincade. I'm not sexist about this in the least. So, in GOODBYE NOEL, I beat up heroine Katrina Lenart. My main characters are in a struggle: right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, they are trying to avenge the murder of an innocent victim. As a Christian perhaps that's why I'm drawn to this genre.

I find humor is a great way to relieve tension. It can also slow down romance when needed. In real life detectives indulge in witty and even snarky banter to break tension. Some detectives and other law enforcement personnel in the story should do this as well, for the same reason.


Purchase Links:

Amazon/Kindle. http://is.gd/W2Hm2N

Barnes and Noble/Nook. http://is.gd/RJF2zy

Desert Breeze Publishing. http://is.gd/2CY13P

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Nike Chillemi

Steph: PERILOUS SHADOWS is book three in your Sanctuary Point series. It's slightly different than the first two. Tell us about that.

Nike: PERILOUS SHADOWS has a strong psychological theme. It's a whodunit plus romance, but this one gets into the psychology of the two main characters quite deeply, and also several of the subordinate characters. I took time in this story to delve into the interior lives of the characters and to show how their pasts impact the story. Several characters have something to hide in this story.

Steph: Your first two stories featured strong-minded, independent heroines. Do you follow suit in PERILOUS SHADOWS with Kiera Devane.

Nike: I'm chuckling to myself because Kiera Devane is feisty as all get out. As a pioneer woman newspaper reporter in the late 1940s, she's fighting her way to the top in a man career. She's headstrong, and isn't afraid to take on any of her male colleagues. She's tough as nails, but her feminine side shows through in her flair for fashion. She very carefully puts her "look" together. And she's always checking to see if the seams in her hose are straight.

Steph: You've been supportive of American Christian Fiction Authors (ACFA), a new group begun by Shawna Williams, an author here at Desert Breeze Publishing. Tell us about that.

Nike: Well I think you can never have too many writers groups. The industry is huge. Groups spring up to address needs. Shawna set up American Christian Fiction Authors (ACFA) as a place for Christian authors who kind of felt they were square pegs trying to fit into a round CBA hole. They might be writing steamy novels, or Christian horror, etc. It's my understanding that ACFA is not trying to compete with any other Christian fiction organization, but rather is there for authors who might not have found a good fit in another organization. I definitely support that. There's room for everyone.

Steph: You are the Chair of the Grace Awards and you've stated that the awards is going to expand. Tell us about that.

Nike: Well for one thing, the Grace Awards has publicly endorsed American Christian Fiction Authors and is going to function as a sister organization to ACFA. Grace Awards will soon have a Goodreads group and the Grace Awards Facebook group is getting more active. The latest thing to be added to the Grace Awards Facebook Group is a prayer chain. Anyone (writers, readers, editors, etc.) can go there and ask for prayer. I believe in cross pollinating, or cross promoting. I'm hoping those who belong to the Grace Facebook page will also join the Grace Goodreads group. I'd like to see both Grace Awards groups become active and grow. If anyone is interested in the Grace Awards Facebook group, here's the link. https://www.facebook.com/nike.chillemi#!/groups/228634957153779/


Steph: Getting back to PERILOUS SHADOWS, tell us something about the story.

Nike: Let me give a summation of the story.

Historical Romantic Thriller, late-1940s ~ Sweet romance, warm intimacy, sophisticated themes presented tastefully

Pioneer newspaperwoman Kiera Devane is on a mission to prove a woman can do a man's job, as she hunts a young coed's killer? Ace radio broadcaster Argus Nye lost one love to a murderous fiend and his pulse races as he tries to protect Kiera from herself as much as from this killer.

Kiera was doted upon by loving parent, but they were killed when she was a girl and she was shipped off to live with a socialite aunt who had little time for her. In her aunt's house, she learned life could be cold and cruel. As a result, she grew up to be an independent and demanding professional woman.

Argus Nye, still bereft from the loss of his first love, can't understand why this female reporter is mesmerizing him. As she takes chances with her life trying to catch a killer, he's determined to protect her.

Purchase Links:

Amazon/Kindle. http://is.gd/W2Hm2N

Barnes and Noble/Nook. http://is.gd/RJF2zy

Desert Breeze Publishing. http://is.gd/2CY13P

Author Spotlight - Things I Tell Myself Not To Do by Nike Chillemi

Stop carping! There, I've said it. I'm tired of hearing authors gripe about all their publisher is not doing for them. Hey, it's tough out there and unless I'm pulling down a six figure advance with Random House, I'm probably not going to get everything I'd like from my publisher. Actually, I'd like a limo sent to my door to take me everywhere I want to go. Now that's pure fiction…in the fantasy genre.

Revise, rewrite, tweek, and make it better. Listen to my critique group, listen to my best friend who read the work in progress, listen to my editor. But once the book has been released, let it go. Stop rewriting in my head and get on to the next project.
Take the work seriously, but don't take myself too seriously. I've come a long way since I wrote my first serious whodunit over six years ago. I keep the manuscript around just for a good laugh, it's that bad. I can see that my writing has improved and is improving…and hopefully that will keep on going that way.

Don't stop counting my blessings. There are any number of writers who would willingly change places with me. I really do believe in the American dream. With enough hard work, over time (and that's so key because it doesn't happen overnight) even I can be a great success. That doesn't mean I'll be on the New York Times Best Seller List. But it does mean that if I keep at it, keep honing my craft, and keep up with smart marketing I will garner a reader following.

Don't ever take my readers for granted. They don't have to shell out the bucks to buy my novels. I'm very aware of that and appreciative of them. Don't sell them short. They're smart people. Don't write down to them. Don't give them pabulum. Treat readers with the respect they deserve.

Nike Chillemi ~ Crime Fictionista http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/

Nike's latest release is: Perilous Shadows, Book 3 in the Sanctuary Point Series. You can find Nike's book here:

Desert Breeze Publishing. http://is.gd/2CY13PPurchase Links:

Amazon/Kindle. http://is.gd/W2Hm2N

Barnes and Noble/Nook. http://is.gd/RJF2zy