Author interview with KJ Dahlen

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Author interview with KJ Dahlen

Hello and welcome! I am interviewing KJ Dahlen today. Please help me welcome her here today.

Hi, KJ! Please tell us about your book/series and how did the idea come to you?

Blood Memories is about a woman trying to face her past. At three she was the only witness to her parent’s murder. Since then she has suppressed the memory and lived with her aunt on the run.

She thinks it’s time the truth came out, so she goes back to Chicago and begins to relive old memories to find the truth.

When did the writing bug first bite?

I first began writing when my kids were young. Then life interrupts and they needed me. When they finally grew up enough I started writing again, and I haven’t stopped since.

Who are you favorite authors, book/series?

I don’t have just one author I have several.

What is your most favorite childhood memory?

I remember card parties at my grandparents’ house. One day my grandfather got mad and lifted the table tipping money, card and drinks all over the kitchen. I guess he didn’t like loosing.

Do you have any hobbies or special things you like to do in your spear time?

I love to read. Everything I can get my hands on. I often challenge myself to research something new every month.

Any advice for new writers just starting out?

Stay with it. Writing is a wonderful thing. It’s every author’s job to take his/her readers into their story and make them part of it. If you can do that then you are indeed a writer.

Favorite eye color?

Cobalt blue

What’s the strangest thing you’ve heard or seen?

After my parents died within ten days of each other in 2007, my aunt got a phone call in which someone played music. She had gotten a phone call like that after my dad died, and then again after my mom died. It was almost as if he was letting someone know he was at peace.

Blood Memories

by KJ Dahlen

BLURB:

When an accident turns out to be not an accident but murder Savannah must solve a double murder that happened over twenty years ago to find the truth. She was the only witness to her parent’s murder and now their killer is after her. She puts her trust into a man her aunt has known and all these years but evidence soon points to him being involved with the man she thinks killed her parents. Will she prove him innocent or fall prey to his intent? Her life and over two million dollars in diamonds is at stake.

Excerpt:

As the dirt hit the casket, the sound it made echoed through the cemetery and caused Savannah to flinch. The sound was so final but then so was death. Savannah’s heart was breaking as she listened to the thud of the earth hitting the wood of her aunt’s final resting place. She glanced at the temporary headstone marker. Tears rolled down her cheeks when she read the name on the marker, Donna Marie Kelley.

A voice inside her head screamed at her that the name on the headstone was wrong. It should have read Donna Marie Weston, not Kelley. Donna had been the one person in her young life who protected her after her parents died. She was the one who held Savannah when she was sick or the nightmares got the best of her. Donna had been there to make her laugh and kept her safe all these years.

Donna had died four days ago in a car accident. Her car plunged off the road and down into a ravine. The paramedics said she might have lived if help had arrived right after the accident, but Donna wasn’t found until the next day. She had been all alone and in pain when death came to call.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she thought of how long Donna had suffered. The medical examiner’s report told her that Donna suffered two broken legs and a fractured rib. The rib punctured her lung and eventually her abdomen filled with blood. The coroner had determined she bled to death internally. The police were looking into the accident, but she knew there was nothing they could do. There wasn’t anything anyone could do. Donna was gone and now she was alone in the world.

Savannah glanced at the temporary marker again. She knew Donna wouldn’t want her real name on her final resting place but she was tempted to put it there. Savannah George wasn’t her real name either. She had been born Georgia Michelle Corbin, but she hadn’t been called Georgia for a long, long time, almost a life time, her lifetime.

Glancing toward the sky, Savannah could see the dark gray clouds. It looked as dreary outside as she felt inside. Donna’s death had been the result of a car accident, and Savannah hadn’t had time to think about her future yet.

Savannah had turned her head to watch the sound when she felt someone walk up behind her. Spinning around she saw a man she didn’t know standing there. He was tall and blonde with a full beard. His dark grey eyes were somber as he glanced at the grave in front of him. He turned to look at Savannah before he spoke. “Hello, my name is Jack Russell. I’m sorry to disturb you at a time like this, but I was your aunt’s attorney.”

Savannah grimaced. She stared at the older, well-dressed man standing in front of her and couldn’t help but wonder why Donna felt the need for an attorney. “I wasn’t aware she had an attorney,” she finally said.

Jack tilted his head. “I haven’t had contact with her for a number of years but she first came to see me nine years ago. She told me she had just moved to Seattle, and she wanted me to keep something for her. She gave me this package to give to you upon her death.”

Savannah accepted the package from him and glanced at it. She raised her gaze back to Jack’s face. “Did she tell you what was in this package?”

Jack stared at her for a moment. “She told me to say you would find the answers to all the questions you wanted to know growing up in there. She said you would find out why she had to keep you safe and a mystery only you could solve.” He hesitated, “I didn’t know your aunt very well, but I’m sorry she died.”

Savannah watched as he turned and walked away. The package she held was heavy, and her curiosity was getting the better of her. She caught her breath as she glanced at the package and saw Donna’s handwriting on the outside. She had written her name on the package

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kim lives in a small town (population 495) in Wisconsin. From her deck she can see the Mississippi River on one side and the bluffs, where eagles live and nest on the other side. She lives with her husband Dave and dog Sammy. Her two children are grown and she has two grandchildren. She loves to watch people and that has helped her with her writing. She loves to create characters and put them in a troubling situation then sit back and let them do all the work. Her characters surprise even her at times. At some point in the book they take on a life of their own and the twists and turns become the story. Of all the stories she could write she found she liked mystery/thrillers the best. She likes to keep her readers guessing until the very end of the book.