Espionage Thrillers [Whiskey Tango Foxtrot] by Cat Connor

Two spies and a private eye are asked to protect a social media influencer. What could possibly go wrong?

Crockett, Ben, and Ronnie reluctantly accept an off-book mission from the Australians. They’re tasked with protecting a young social media influencer with an exceptional memory and to escort her safely to court to testify. Crockett has an extra job on his list; he’s supposed to recruit the woman for his intelligence agency but he’s not sure that is wise, or that the woman will be able to transition from ‘social media influencer’ to a career within the intelligence community.

The more time they spend with ‘Alex the influencer’ the less she seems suited to anything except taking selfies and tantrums.

The more time they spend with ‘Alex the influencer’ the more they suspect something is off about Alex.

If that isn’t enough, Ronnie’s cousin Donald suspects something dreadful has happened to their neighbours and manages to drag Nana and the Cronies of Doom into his conspiracy theory, despite Ronnie’s many misgivings.

Meanwhile, the team navigates through dangerous situations arising from an unknown number of assailants, raising the stakes with each passing moment.

Will they be able to protect Alex and uncover the truth before it’s too late?

Cat Connor recently spent some time with TheBigThrill discussing [WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT], book 4 in the Veronica Tracey Spy/PI series:

Cat Connor

Can you pinpoint a moment or incident that sparked the idea for this book?

Yes. Or should I say I know exactly where one aspect of this story came from. I was treated to the worst neighbours ever for almost a year. I began detailing their nonsense via FaceBook and discovered everyone was hooked on it! They didn’t have to live next to it so I guess they were also grateful. Very quickly I realised that these atrocious neighbours would make a great thread in a spy novel. The main idea for [WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT] came from Instagram.

A novel is such a major undertaking; there’s the writing of it, of course, then you’re spending months and months revising, polishing, and then promoting it. How did you know this was the book you wanted to spend the next couple of years on?

I knew [WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT] was my 18th project as soon as I came up with a character called Alex ‘the influencer.’ She was great fun to write.

In addition to a great read, what do you hope readers will take away from this story?

You never really know someone else’s story.

Were there any particular books, movies, or songs that were knocking around in your head while you were writing this one?

There is usually a lot of music knocking around in my head when I write. This book was no different but the music was, it was current radio rather than a playlist. I did get that new song from Taylor Swift stuck in my head. It really summed my character Alex up!

When you first created your protagonist for this book, did you see an empty space in crime lit that you wanted to fill? What can you share about the inspiration for that character?

The main protagonists in [WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT] are the three that were in the last two Veronica Tracey Spy/PI books.

So I didn’t create them for this but boy they really came through.

I thought it would be fun to write about a character that had a very unusual brain and therefore could be helpful in the espionage field and even more fun if I made her a social media influencer. A job that didn’t exist when (the main characters) Ronnie, Crockett, and Ben were younger. I pretty much wanted to see how they’d cope.

And they didn’t disappoint me!

What can you share about what you’re working on next?

I accidentally started writing another Veronica Tracey novel. It was an accident. I thought four books was enough for Ronnie but then I saw this opening scene with Crockett giving her a hard time about something and next minute their mate was missing and I was invested. 🙂

I’m also working on something completely different. My youngest daughter asked me to write something (not at all in my fav genre). I very much want the story finished and off my desk so I can concentrate on Ronnie and Crockett.

Cat Connor is a multi-published crime thriller author. A tequila aficionado, long black drinker, music lover, fruitcake maker, traveller, murderer of perfectly happy characters, and teacher of crime writing via CEC at Wellington High School.

She’s also a mother to 7 fabulous humans, an amazing partner, a fairly decent friend (except when she’s writing and forgets the world exists), a favourite daughter (only/favourite, same thing), and a very proud Grandma.

Cat has a deep love of animals and very much enjoys the company of Diesel the Mastador, Patrick the tuxedo cat, and the latest edition little Dallas the tortoiseshell Birman kitten. It’s not unusual for all the animals to be close while she’s writing, FaceTiming, Netflixing, or reading.

Surely by now Netflixing is a word?

To learn more about the author and her work, please visit her website.