Interview with Camy Tang

Deadly Intent is a change for you...Why did you decide to write romantic suspense?

I have read Steeple Hill's Love Inspired line—and especially the Love Inspired Suspense line—for many years, so when I had a chance to submit a proposal, I jumped at it. I love reading suspense, and I thought I'd give it a shot. Luckily, the editors liked my proposal and contracted Deadly Intent.

What part of writing this book surprised you by being more fun than you expected?

Even though the main story is about a murder and finding the killer, I had a lot of fun creating the Grant family: Augustus Grant, owner of the Joy Luck Life spa; the three sisters, Naomi, Rachel, and Monica; and their mother's sister, Aunt Becca. The more time I spent with them, the more interesting family dynamics came out.

What research did you have to do that you weren't sure how to explain when checking out the books from the library (for example, I got a stack of arson books for Trial by Fire.)

I can't say I got a lot of eyebrows raised by my librarians, but my HUSBAND sweated a few bullets when I did some research on the Tiffany jewelers website! LOL I wanted to find the necklace of my victim, Jessica Ortiz, which was supposed to be a Tiffany diamond necklace.

I had to admit that I cheated a bit in writing Naomi's character, because I had already done a lot of research into massage therapists for another series proposal many years ago (before I was published). My other proposal was about a posh resort in Hawaii (where I grew up). I happily razed the entire North Shore of O'ahu to put my fictional resort there, and researched massage therapy as a career for one of my heroines. The proposal never went anywhere, but I used that research for Deadly Intent.

Tell us about the book....what did you learn from the characters? What do you hope readers will take away?

The theme verse of the book is Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save."

For every book, I have a "theme song" that I play to get me in the mood for the characters. I confess that I initially hit on the worship song "Mighty to Save" as Naomi's "theme song" for the book, and then found the Zephaniah verse to go with it.

But as I was writing Deadly Intent, the verse became more and more prominent as a major element in Naomi's spiritual thread. It ended up being an integral part of her surrender to God—her trust that He is, indeed, mighty to save.

I hope that my readers will also come to that point of surrender in their own lives, and be able to trust that God is with them, that "He is mighty to save."

Thanks for having me here on your blog, Cara!
Camy

DEADLY INTENT

SCENE OF THE CRIME

The Grant family’s exclusive Sonoma spa is a place for rest and relaxation—not murder! Then Naomi Grant finds her client Jessica Ortiz bleeding to death in her massage room, and everything falls apart. The salon’s reputation is at stake...and so is Naomi’s freedom when she discovers that she is one of the main suspects! Her only solace is found with the other suspect—Dr. Devon Knightley, the victim’s ex-husband. But Devon is hiding secrets of his own. When they come to light, where can Naomi turn...and whom can she trust?

About Camy:

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every week, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ for a huge website contest going on right now, giving away fourteen boxes of books and 24 copies of her latest release, DEADLY INTENT.