Kelly Irvin Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. Although I started writing as a child, I didn’t get serious about writing fiction until I turned forty-five and realized I better get moving if I wanted to fulfill my dream of being a novelist. Prior to that I worked as a newspaper report for ten years and more than twenty years in public relations. I write Amish romances and romantic suspense—a strange combination, I know, but it works for me. I’ve been married to the love of my life for thirty-two years. We have two children, three grandchildren, and two ornery, elderly cats.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. I don’t remember not wanting to be a writer. My sister and I started our own newspaper in the first and second grade. I loved reading. I wrote poetry, short stories, and plays starting in junior high. In high school I decided to focus on journalism so that I could make a living from writing. I loved being a newspaper reporter, but I didn’t have time for my first love—writing fiction. Then I got married and had children, but I never stopped writing.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. I finished my first novel on my own and I didn’t know what to do with it. I went to a small writing workshop in San Antonio and Houston author Diann Mills gave me some great advice: join American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), attend writing conferences, and join a critique group. I did all three. I honed my craft and began to query agents. Mary Sue Seymour of the Seymour Literary Agency offered to represent me. It took three more years, but she sold my first two romantic suspense novels to a publishing house that specialized in library quality hardback books. Mary Sue asked me to give writing Amish romances a shot, so I did. She sold my first attempt before I finished writing it. I’ve now published 19 Amish romances and eight novellas. My current publishing house, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, agreed to collaborate with me to publish my romantic suspense novels as well. Closer Than She Knows is my third romantic suspense novel with them. I’ve been so blessed, and I never take one minute of it for granted.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Closer Than She Knows?
A: Here’s the back-cover blurb:
A serial killer bent on revenge . . . and striking too close to home.

Teagan O’Rourke has always loved murder mysteries. In her job as a court reporter, she has written official records for dozens of real-life murders. She’s slapped evidence stickers on crime scene photos. She’s listened to hours of chilling testimony. But she’s never known the smell of death. And she never thought she might be a victim.

Until now.

A young police officer is murdered just inches away from her, and then a man calling himself a serial killer starts leaving Teagan notes, signing each with the name of a different murderer from her favorite mystery novels.

Panicked, Teagan turns to her friend Max Kennedy. Max longs for more than friendship with Teagan, but he fears she’ll never trust someone with a past like his. He wonders how much of God’s “tough love” he can take before he gives up on love completely. And he wonders if he’ll be able to keep Teagan alive long enough to find out.

As Teagan, Max, and Teagan’s police officer father race to track down the elusive killer, they each know they could be the next victim. Desperate to save those she loves, Teagan battles fears that once haunted her in childhood. Nothing seems to stop this obsessed murderer. No matter what she does, he seems to be getting closer . . .

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Closer Than She Knows?
A: Several years ago I did contract proofreading for several court reporters as a sideline to my public relations job. I read murder cases, capital murder cases, aggravated sexual assault cases, and many other court transcripts. It was a great education on everything from crime scene investigation to ballistics to autopsies. I became interested in the amazing work court reporters do in transcribing every word said during a trial. It’s an incredibly difficult job. They’re also responsible for all the evidence for the duration of a trial. I hadn’t seen a suspense novel told from the point of view of a court reporter. The seed was planted that became Closer Than She Knows. One of my court reporters served as a technical consultant for the book.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: I hope readers are entertained by the story and find it suspenseful, but I also hope they are moved by Teagan’s dilemma in regard to having children. She doesn’t want to bring children into a world that is so messed up, but she loves a man who desperately wants a big family. That dilemma leads to meaningful discussion about how we deal with what is happening to our world. Closer Than She Knows is a character-driven story so I hope readers will remember Teagan and Max long after they’ve turned the last page.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A. Writing is like breathing for me. I couldn’t not do it. I’m inspired by the world around me. Writing is where I find solace and escape. It’s how I work out my problems, my hopes, and me fears.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. I recently finished the line edits for another romantic suspense novel called Her Every Move. It’s also set in San Antonio and involves a librarian who works in San Antonio’s iconic “red enchilada” library designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. A bombing at an event Jackie Santoro helped to plan sets the stage for a showdown between Jackie and her family’s past. Her Every Move will debut in February 2021.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. I read. Right now I’m working my way through Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosh series. I’m on book 16 of 21, I think. The pandemic has made it even easier to lose myself in books every evening. I’m a voracious reader of mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense.