A Sneak Peek…

It's coming… the release of book five, Ring of Fire, is right around the corner. Here's what you'll see on the back of the book:

An adventurous blend of love, power, greed, and personal conviction, Ring of Fire reminds us things aren't always as they seem.

When rare, violet-gray diamonds are discovered at Alexandra McAlister's clean-energy research site on a small South Pacific island, the reclusive scientist suddenly finds herself plagued by greedy gem hunters. To make matters worse, the island's government is threatening to revoke her permits so they can capitalize on the find.

Fresh from a confrontation with an annoyingly attractive government official, Alex happens upon a girl in danger. Instinct takes over and she rescues the girl, only to find out she is the island's princess, and the annoying official is her guardian, Daniel!

Alex finds herself thrust into a situation where she has to protect not only her life's work, but also her life itself and that of the precocious teenage princess she grows to love. Daniel appears to be their only chance at survival – if they can learn to get along. Undercover and acting the part of a loving family, they work to find out who is pursuing them and what it is they're after, only to realize their relationship may not be an act after all.

But here are a few things you won't see on the back of the book:

The character Danny first appeared in Throwaway, and he makes another appearance in Ring of Fire. Inspired by real-life St. Louis musician John Bartley, Danny's music is an important element of the story. I have to say I listened to him sing Ring of Fire more than once while writing. (Added bonus – John Bartley will be singing at the launch party on December 16th!)
The main character, Alexandra McAlister, is the younger sister of Devon McAlister, who first appeared in Suddenly a Spy. She's inspired by my middle sister, who is crazily pretty and smart. (There are three sisters in the Huffman clan. I'm the baby.)
In the book, I mention an underground network of caves that runs under St. Louis. In truth, many of those caves were destroyed when the interstate system was put in through St. Louis. Before that, they were used as part of the St. Louis leg of the Underground Railroad. Those same caves are the reason St. Louis became a brewery town. The caverns made for natural coolers, so the breweries were built on top of them. They say the Lemp family turned the cave under their brewery into quite the party place, complete with a swimming pool and theater.
This book took longer to write than any of the others. Partly due to the amount of research that went into the science piece, partly due to the process of re-releasing the first four novels.

As I write this, Ring of Fire is going through the process of propogating out to the retailers. Any day now, I'll be excitedly sharing links to the Kindle and Nook versions. I'm really eager to share this novel with my readers. I hope you enjoy Ring of Fire as much as I enjoyed writing it!