Diane & David Munson Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourselves.
A. We are wife and husband and both Christians who love the Lord Jesus. Our careers in the U.S. Justice system led to our writing suspense. Diane is an attorney who worked for President Reagan’s Justice Department as head of Attorney General Edwin Meese’s Juvenile Justice programs and later as a Federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. David was a Special Agent with NCIS and later with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) where he worked undercover on dangerous assignments. We are so thankful for God’s protection. Each of our novels include real events inspired by Diane’s court cases/clients and David’s experiences as an undercover agent who infiltrated criminal organizations.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. Diane was studious and enjoyed creative challenges including writing. As a voracious reader, she always had a desire to write. It was after studying the genealogy of Christ and working our family histories together that Diane felt led to write a Christian novel, and began attending Christian writers’ conferences. David would write enough to satisfy teachers in school, but was more interested in physical activities; the more challenging and exciting, the better. He is a natural storyteller, and now loves to write thrillers with Diane.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
It amazes us that we are currently writing our twelfth suspense novel. We can see God’s hand guiding us as He did in every detail of our first novel being published.

After her years in Washington and while in a general law practice, Diane wrote an historical novel revealing how Gutenberg created the first printing press and the persecution of a fictional family when they receive the first Bible in their language. She attended a writer’s conference soon after 9/11, and presented this manuscript to a top Christian publisher who advised historical fiction wasn’t as popular as suspense due to 9/11. The acquisition editor suggested, since Diane was a former Federal prosecutor and David was a former Special Agent, we should consider co-authoring a suspense novel.

Beneath a beach umbrella on vacation, we started writing Facing Justice, a fast-paced story that brings to life true aspects of our careers in law and law enforcement. We give readers an inside view of Federal Agent Eva Montanna, a Christian wife and mother, who investigates someone she knows for aiding foreign terrorists. The reader experiences search warrants, wiretaps, and grand juries as if reading a ‘tell-all’ expose. Three weeks after we presented Facing Justice to a Christian publishing house, we received our first contract.

We recast the original historical novel to feature Eva’s ancestors in our eighth thriller entitled, “Embers of Courage,” which begins in the present, traces mysterious threads back into the past, and returns to the present for a dramatic resolution. Although Agent Eva Montanna is in all of our novels, as is her partner FBI agent Griff Topping, each book stands alone.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release, “North by Starlight”?
A: In addition to our suspense novels including true-to-life experiences of characters living their faith in a faithless criminal world, we also sprinkle them with a touch of lighthearted romance. In North by Starlight, Attorney Madison Stone races to Starlight, Vermont from her D.C. law firm to save the inheritance of Jordan Star, sole heir of his late grandfather’s Star Mountain ski resort. Maddie arrives in the winter wonderland ready to defeat the claims of Jordan’s mystery relative. Instead, she finds surprising struggles in the idyllic town when her ex-boyfriend, attorney Stewart Dunham, shows up to represent the interloper. Maddie must use all her legal skills to outwit him and a greedy mining enterprise, who are bent on changing Starlight forever. She forms an alliance with Jordan, and the ensuing legal battle leaves her emotionally vulnerable until Trevor Kirk, a geologist, focuses her mind back to what is important, saving the town and finding her heart.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for “North by Starlight”?
A: North by Starlight is inspired by one of Diane’s former court cases involving a contested will and estate. The heroine, Attorney Madison Stone, helps her client fight a legal battle similar to Diane’s experiences in her law practice, one fraught with deceit and roller coaster emotions involving an unknown family member. To make the story even more intriguing, we heighten suspense with threads from one of David’s real international intrigues, which we can’t describe further without ruining the surprise ending, for which we’ve become known.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: We hope our readers will be strengthened in their lives, to rely on God as He is faithful. In the town of Starlight, Maddie must face her past mistakes. Also, when she connects with the town’s people who love and care for each other, her faith in God deepens. We want readers to be transported from their daily troubles into a compelling story where, in such a beautiful mountain setting, evil is conquered by good. God uses Believers to achieve justice in an ungodly world. North by Starlight is family friendly because we avoid bad language and unseemly circumstances.

Q: What inspires you to write?
We strive to fashion stories with compelling characters that will appeal to Christians and non-Christians alike, showing God is full of justice and mercy and how Jesus is the Light of the World.

Since our first novel was published, the writing profession has changed dramatically. Our first publisher went out of business as has one chain of secular and two chains of Christian bookstores. Internet shopping and eBooks greatly impact the way we interact with readers. Yet we keep writing because it’s our way to share with readers that God has provided a Savior for people as part of His redemption plan. We believe God led us into our legal careers, and we want to use our experiences to encourage others that in Jesus, justice and good do prevail.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. We are just finishing our twelfth suspense, The Breach, which releases in November, 2020. As Federal Agent Eva Montanna, a devout Christian, and FBI Agent Griff Topping battle against domestic terrorists, their personal privacy is compromised. Are they being doxxed? They plunge into investigating threats against U.S. Senator Cambridge Easton, and uncover allegations the assigned Judge is corrupt. Eva navigates a web of deceit when an intelligence breach impacts her daughter, her daughter’s employer, and the employer’s adopted Amish son. Eva and Griff must fight crime and terrorism with their wits tied behind their back. Who can they trust as they race to discover if the hacker is a determined foreign enemy, Eva’s careless teen, or a naïve computer geek?

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. After our many years of marriage writing together and traveling to speak with church and civic groups, we remain best friends. We enjoy our life together, going walking, photographing God’s creation, and growing flowers. We’re active in our local church, in the undisclosed location mentioned on the back our books, and sing in our church choir of more than two hundred. To God be the glory!