Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
A. We are a sisters co-authoring team from Kansas. We write clean, fast-paced novels for a general readership. The first novel we published together was Path of The Jaguar. We were on a trip to the Yucatan and became so impressed with the Mayan ruins that we both planned to write a separate book using that setting. In the end we joined forces and have since written fifty-three co-authored novels.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
A. Both of us have known it all of our lives. Our mother read to us as children and had much to do with our enjoying and valuing literature. Since our dad was in the army, we also gained much inspiration from traveling. Because we developed similar goals and shared the same interests so we soon decided to pool our efforts and work together.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?
A. When we were in school, we received much encouragement from winning literary contests, which started us off on our writing careers. Our first big break was selling Path of the Jaguar to Avalon Books, who also published more of our work. After that we went on to write a number of suspense titles published by Zebra, Thorndike, and Robert Hale. Our second big break came when Books in Motion accepted our original eight-book Ardis Cole Mystery Series for their audio line (now in print from Rowe Publishing). At present time Books in Motion is recording our nine-book High Country Mystery Series.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release The Victim’s Child?
A: Our heroine, Lara Radburn, arrives at her rental property to find local artist, Crystal Mar, dead and her four year old daughter missing. Lara has come to Quachita Springs to take care of the family property after her brother died in a tragic car accident, As she is looking for the child, she encounters Dane Lanford, now the manager of her late brother’s art retreat, a place shrouded in rumors and mystery. The child cannot identify her mother’s killer, and Lara begins to link her brother’s death with Crysal’s and suspects that handsome and charming Dane Lanford might play a part in both.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for The Victim’s Child?
A: Our family spent many summers vacationing in the Ozarks. We particularly enjoyed Hot Springs where we attended art auctions and went to the mineral baths. We were intrigued with the abundant history, with Bathhouse Row and of the many artists who made Hot Springs their home. We envisioned the victim in our book as an artist whose little daughter saw her mother being killed while she was sculpting the statue of a lion. This innocent child was confronted with a terrible trauma that went beyond the realm of her experience to process. In her mind’s eye the four-year-old child perceived the killer as some predatory beast.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
A: Many of our stories take place in small towns with people who have Midwest values. We focus on characterization and believe in heroes and heroines that are positive role models and in villains that are often good people who do bad deeds that escalate. Lara feels she has been drawn to Quachita Springs for a reason she doesn’t understand until she becomes aware of how much she loves Crystal’s little daughter and how far she will be willing to go to protect her.

Q: What inspires you to write?
A: We are inspired by meeting interesting people and by traveling to unique settings. We build our plots around what could happen to this person or to anyone in this particular area. We believe that if we find material fascinating enough to create a story, it will also be of interest to our readers.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?
A. We are currently working on two novels. One is a mystery-suspense set in Kansas that centers around a young woman who returns to her home town and to a host of dangerous memories concerning a playmate she left behind years ago. We are also finishing a tenth book in our High Country mystery series.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?
A. We both love traveling and always look forward to summer. We are both interested in collecting antiques and enjoy browsing through shops. And of course reading!