From the Author

[Jacki]

Dear Reader:

Why an animal acupuncturist instead of an ass-kicking heroine? I've asked myself that question many times as I wrote An Inner Fire. How did healing animals prepare Grayce Walters with the skills to solve crimes and protect a macho, hunky fire investigator?

Maybe I've been watching too many super heroine movies but I wanted to show my heroine's strength coming from her inner force. There are many different kinds of power and I wanted to emphasize the feminine side. The part of the human brain labelled as feminine because it relies on intuition.

Grayce uses her intuitive ability to heal animals. Is there any more beautiful or potent force? I wanted to celebrate the illusive power in people who listen and heal when we or our pets are ill. Not so easy to write a strength that we can recognize but when written can easily become cliched.

I always planned to write the book as romantic suspense since I love suspense and a crime to be solved. But how to link Grayce to a crime and then how to have her actively involved in solving the mystery? The answer is obvious--through a dog, a very special dog. Mitzi, is a standard French poodle who just happens to belong to the logical fire investigator.

Grayce and Mitzi bond with a common goal: protect Davis who is oblivious to the danger and can't imagine protection from a 90 pound woman and 100 pound dog.