Deadly Fear by Cynthia Eden

By Debra Webb

Recently, I sat down with Cynthia Eden to talk about her latest novel, Deadly Fear.

Cynthia, as always, I love hearing about the author’s journey. Please tell us a little about how you started and your first big break in the industry.I’ve always loved writing.  Unfortunately, as I grew up and completed college, I lost sight of my dream. You know the story–life gets in the way sometimes.  But, I found my way back to my dream (lucky for me).

My  “big” break came after I signed with literary agent Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency. Laura pitched my first paranormal romantic suspense novel, Hotter After Midnight, and landed me a deal with Kensington Brava.  This book allowed me to explore two of my favorite things: monsters and suspense. I was one very happy writer.  Since that sale, I haven’t looked back–I’ve written over twelve novels and over seven novellas.  And it has been a great ride!

Deadly Fear is a new trilogy. Will you tell us a bit about this trilogy? Any characters related to previous books?

Deadly Fear is the first book in my Deadly series. All of the Deadly books will focus on FBI Agents who work in my fictional Serial Services Division (the SSD). The agents in the SSD track and apprehend serials–killers, rapists, arsonists.  In Deadly Fear, FBI agents Monica Davenport and Luke Dante must track a killer who turns his victims’ worst fears into reality.

None of the characters in Deadly Fear have appeared in any previous books, but the characters will show up again in future Deadly books.  The FBI agents continue to work together on different cases.  I love that continuity, and I hope readers enjoy being able to follow-up with the characters.

When you set out to do the research for your work and then write the story, how different is what you do for your dark romantic suspense and your paranormal?

In terms of research, my romantic suspense novels tend to be much more research intensive.  When I write my paranormals, I get to create the “world” for my characters–so I make up the rules. I create the characteristics for demons and shifters. But, for my romantic suspense novels, it’s a whole new game. Readers are very savvy, and I have to be absolutely certain that I am getting all the crime scene details and evidence analysis information correct.  I also want to make sure that my characters are behaving appropriately.  My FBI agents had to seem legitimate to the reader–and that legitimacy required deep research.

What’s next for Cynthia Eden?

I recently turned in the page proofs for my second Deadly novel, Deadly Heat.  Deadly Heat will be available in February of 2011, and then the third book in the series, Deadly Lies, will be released by my publisher in March of 2011. Deadly Heat was a particularly fun book to write.  In my previous response, I was talking about research…well, Deadly Heatrequired extensive research. The heroine of Deadly Heat is a firefighter, and I was lucky enough to be able to visit a firehouse so I could get some up-close experience.  For some books, you just can’t beat a good research trip!

Thanks for interviewing me–it was a pleasure!