Welcome Back Susan Page Davis - Interview & Giveaway

I’m pleased to welcome prolific author Susan Page Davis back to the blog. Her latest novel is Witness (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense #98). Let’s meet Susan!

THE BIO

Susan Page Davis and her husband, Jim, have been married thirty-one years and have six children, ages thirteen to thirty. They live in Maine, where they are active in an independent Baptist church. Susan is a homeschooling mother and writes historical romance, mystery, and suspense novels. Visit her Website at www.susanpagedavis.com.

THE INTERVIEW

JA: Your latest novel is Witness from Love Inspired Suspense. Tell us a little bit about it.
SPD: Petra sees her neighbor kill a woman. She calls the police, but they can’t find any evidence of a crime. She’s afraid to tell anyone else, for fear they’ll think she’s crazy. Detective Joe Tarleton wins her confidence and determines to help her prove that she’s telling the truth. But will their investigation cause the killer to turn on Petra?

JA: Your heroine, Petra Wilson, witnesses a murder but can’t convince anyone that it happened. What sparked this story idea for you?
SPD: There was actually an incident in my family’s past that started the idea brewing. No, nobody got strangled, but there was a person who felt wronged. And we have distant relatives in Nova Scotia who sometimes take the ferry to Maine. Add that to my having read Agatha Christie’s What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw, and the story came together for me.

JA: Petra hires Joe Tarleton, a private investigator, to help her uncover the truth. What kind of a man is Joe?
SPD: Joe is laid back, a bit world weary, and downtrodden—by himself. A former police officer, he left public service when the responsibility began getting to him. But when Petra comes on the scene, he rises to the occasion. After he gets it through his head that God has forgiven him and he should agree with God on that, Joe shines.
Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.

JA: What do you hope people take away when they finish reading Witness?
SPD: Even though it sometimes seems evil is taking over, God is still in control.

JA: What’s next for you in the writing arena?
SPD: I just finished a longer suspense book, Inside Story, the third in my Frasier Island series from Harvest House. It’s coming out next January. And following that in February will be another Love Inspired Suspense, set in Maine, like Witness. The title is On a Killer’s Trail.

JA: In our first interview, I asked you about your interest in genealogy and the unique characters in your family, to which you implied that some of the quirkiest ones came from your husband’s family tree. Care to share?
SPD: Ha, ha! He’s not going to read this, right? My husband is a direct descendent of John Billington and his son Francis, who came on the Mayflower. The Billington family were the black sheep of said Mayflower. John was the first white man hung for murder in the colonies. There are dozens more “quirky” characters in Jim’s family. Take Timothy Wales, for instance. A family history book tells us that “Timothy Wales, of Milton, was eminently pious, and in the latter part of his life married a second wife, but she was so clamorous and uncomfortable, that he built a cave in the woods, where he lived alone for a number of years, and died aged 80.” (Genealogy of the Descendants of Timothy Wales of Connecticut, 1875). Maybe I’ll write about him someday.

JA: If you could choose one of your many books to be made into a movie, which one would it be, and who would you cast as the main characters?
SPD: Well, my agent, Chip MacGregor, says that if my book Witness gets made into a movie, he gets to play the Harrison Ford character. (Yeah, like that would happen. :+} ) Seriously, I think Frasier Island would make a fantastic movie. Exotic setting, limited cast, tension, romance, big boom of an ending, and American flags. What more do you need? I think I’ll leave the casting up to the director. But, no, Chip, you can’t play George. (Could we get a young Harrison Ford?)

JA: What authors get you excited about reading?
SPD: There are so many! I recently read Linda Nichols’s In Search of Eden and loved it. Ditto Susan Downs and Susan May Warren’s Heirs of Anton series. I’m in the middle of Denise Hildreth’s The Will of Wisteria. Some of my all-time faves would be Dick Francis and Dorothy L. Sayers. In CBA publishing, I always enjoy Brandilyn Collins, Colleen Coble, Dee Henderson. Looking forward to reading more Brandt Dodson very soon, and I have to say that my historicals critique partner, Vickie McDonough, always makes me laugh. Except when she burned that gal up in the house that one time. . .Oh, I digress. Anyway, she’s doing a North Dakota series for Heartsong that keeps me in stitches as I read for her.

JA: Last but not least, how can people keep up with your latest publishing news?
SPD: Come visit me at my Website: www.susanpagedavis.com. I’d love to see you!

It’s always great to talk to you, Susan. Thanks for stopping by and continued blessings to you in your writing journey!

WIN THE BOOK

If you’d like to be entered to win a copy of Witness just leave a reply to this blog. I’ll combine the responses of my Blogger and ShoutLife blogs to pick a winner at random on April 28th. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) ShoutLifers will be contacted via ShoutMail. Good luck