Guest Post: The Course Of Untrue Love Run…To Murder by Jacqueline Diamond

Please welcome Jacqueline Diamond back to the blog with news of her latest book…

The Course Of Untrue Love Runs…To Murder by Jacqueline Diamond

Did a mistake from your past ever come back to haunt you? If you’re like most of us, those old missteps may nag a little, or perhaps serve as lessons. They don’t normally turn us into murder suspects.

In my fourth Safe Harbor Medical Mystery, The Case of the Long-Lost Lover, my hero isn’t that lucky. Here’s the blurb: When Dr. Eric Darcy is suspected of killing his former girlfriend, the young widowed physician teams with his PI sister-in-law to clear his name. The investigation gains even more urgency when he learns that his long-lost lover may have given birth to his child. Can Eric find out what happened to the missing woman before danger closes in on a daughter who might be his?

My inspiration for the series was the desire to write about a small-town doctor who solves crimes that involve his (or her) patients and friends. My main character is an obstetrician-gynecologist, which for many women today is the equivalent of the old-fashioned general practitioner.

If I’d been more practical, I’d probably be writing about Erica rather than Eric, since women sleuths are popular. However, I’ve discovered in the course of writing more than 100 novels that, for me, the writing process is a partnership between the conscious and subconscious. I don’t just pick one from column A and one from column B.

Instead, the doctor who grew in my mind is a dedicated, outspoken, sometimes short-tempered guy with a troublesome yet endearing family. His closest friends are his late wife’s sister—a private investigator who’s also his biggest critic—and a homicide detective with a snarky view of doctors.

Each of the four mysteries can stand alone, although there are continuing threads. The latest, The Case of the Long-Lost Lover, explores part of Eric’s past that he’s put out of his mind, a woman named Nicole with whom he had an affair during medical school.

Confronted by her disappearance under circumstances that appear to involve him, he must sort through conflicting clues and unexpected emotions. What did happen to Nicole? Is her emotionally unstable sister telling the truth about what she knows? And is Eric a father, something he’s longed for?

In real life, I’d hate to have my past bite me like this. But in fiction, it proved exciting to write and, I hope, entertaining to read!

Jacqueline Diamond © 2019

A former Associated Press reporter and TV columnist, USA Today bestselling author Jacqueline Diamond has sold 100+ mysteries, medical romances, Regency romances and romantic comedies to publishers including Harlequin, St. Martin’s Press and Five Star Mysteries. Jackie, who currently self-publishes her Safe Harbor Medical Mystery series, lives in Southern California.  https://jacquelinediamond.net/

Guest Post: "Reinventing Myself (Again)" by Jacqueline Diamond

Please welcome prolific author Jacqueline Diamond who has a few thoughts about how one has to adapt to changing market forces and other issues during a writing career….

Reinventing Myself (Again)

There ought to be a warrantee for authors. After a certain number of years in the book biz and/or a minimum number of novels published, you get a free pass. Write a book you love and shazam! editors and readers snap it up.

I wish it worked that way, but my scars—invisible but real—prove it doesn’t. Yet I refuse to admit defeat. After more than 30 years and 100 published books, I’m taking a big risk to (cliché alert!) follow my dream.

Let’s start with the back story. In the early 1980s, after honing my fiction skills while working at two newspapers and the Associated Press, I sold four Regency romances to a hardcover publisher. Despite strong reviews, my editor rejected the fifth with a scathing letter that, to me, came out of the blue.

The book, A Lady’s Point of View, later sold to a different publisher with minor revisions and has proved popular. In the meantime, the need to pay my bills sent me in a different direction, to contemporary romance.

At Harlequin and Berkley, my reinvented self established a reputation for romantic comedies. Although I enjoyed writing them, I hadn’t lost my taste for the puzzle plotting and excitement of mysteries.

When The Eyes of a Stranger sold to St. Martin’s Press, I figured I was on my way, but no such luck. My next mystery, Danger Music, suffered several rejections before landing at Five Star. A haunted-house mystery, Touch Me in the Dark, also struggled before finding a publisher, Triskelion, which promptly went bankrupt. Not exactly encouraging!

With two kids to raise, I settled in to writing for Harlequin. There was much to be grateful for, including a steady if modest income, some excellent editors and, of course, my readers.

Not only am I the daughter of a doctor, I owe my life to medical interventions on more than one occasion. As a result, I keep up with medical news, and many of my romances have had medical themes.

In 2010 I invented a fictional California hospital, Safe Harbor Medical Center, as the setting for three linked novels, each featuring a different hero and heroine. As more ideas came, the series expanded to six, then nine, twelve, and ultimately seventeen books.

Despite this success, I hadn’t stopped yearning to write mysteries. It was time, I decided, to take the leap to self-publishing. No more crossing my fingers and hoping some editor would decide my work fit into his or her current line. No worries about having to pad the length or squeeze into an arbitrary page limit.

However, I’d learned a lesson along the way. While freedom is great, you can’t leave your fans behind. I’d established what publicists call a brand: fast-paced, emotionally satisfying stories that unexpectedly make readers laugh. And let’s not forget the medical themes!

As my hero, I created a young obstetrician, Eric Darcy, whose best friend is a homicide detective. His inner circle also includes his late wife’s sister, a prickly private investigator. For the setting, I chose my fictional town of Safe Harbor, which has developed into a multi-layered place with a police department and detective agency as well as the hospital. 

That’s how I came to write The Case of the Questionable Quadruplet, Book 1 of the Safe Harbor Medical Mysteries. For my 101^st book, I’m starting over. But after more than 30 years in the book biz, that’s only to be expected.

Jacqueline Diamond ©2016


Available to pre-order now in advance of the April 5, 2016 Publication date.

The Case of the Questionable Quadruplet

Young, widowed obstetrician Eric Darcy is stunned when the mother of triplets claims to have borne a fourth baby, a quad, that was stolen from her years ago. When someone murders his patient, Eric believes the police are dismissing a vital clue and teams up with his PI sister-in-law to investigate, never imagining his own life might be in danger.

A former Associated Press reporter and TV columnist, USA Today bestselling author Jacqueline Diamond has sold mysteries, medical romances, Regency romances and romantic comedies to publishers including Harlequin, St. Martin’s Press and Five Star Mysteries. The Case of the Questionable Quadruplet is her 101^st published novel. The parents of two grown sons, Jackie and her husband live in Southern California.