INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MALLORY KANE - NO HERO

Today on NOVELS ON THE RUN,  I have an interview with Mallory Kane author of 'No Hero'. Mallory has written OVER 40 works to date. Goodreads    My Review

A darkly handsome New Orleans detective who insists he’s no hero is blindsided by his one-time lover, a sexy investigative TV reporter, who exposes his secret troubled past to the whole world...and nearly costs him his job. When the at-risk teens he mentors start turning up dead, his vow to protect the other kids hits a major snag...his only clue to finding the determined killer is held by the one woman he never wants to see again. Compelled to work together to solve the vicious murders before another child dies, their passion reluctantly reignites, and their mutual mistrust slowly turns to respect as she realizes there’s much more to being a hero than outward appearances, and his deeply wounded heart gradually opens to the possibility of love.

INTERVIEW

Hi Mallory , welcome to Novels On The Run, an Australian book blog. 

I am a little ignorant here as I have only come across you as an author and noticed the many works you have written, recently. 

Thanks to Entangled Publishing and the blogosphere , I now know of you and I loved ‘No Hero‘, lovely lad your Detective Dev. 

Michelle:  In ten words or less, describe Mallory Kane, please. 

Mallory:  Determined, capricious, focused, fickle, responsible, flighty, happy, grouchy, never boring. 

Michelle:  Have you ever been to Australia? Have you ever used a blokey Aussie male in one of your many Harlequin romance works? If not would you ever consider this fine stock of lads we grow over here for your stories.

Mallory:  I have not had the pleasure of visiting Australia yet, although my husband and I have talked about it. We'd love to. While I've never written an Aussie hero, I have certainly used quite a few Aussies as inspiration for my heroes. J Alex O'Loughlin, Hugh Jackman, Grant Bowler, Richard Roxburgh, Julian McMahon, and a ton of others. Yum!!! 

Michelle: What is one Aussie food you would love to try, or one you would not like to try? I’m trying to wave the flag here for vegemite, lol!! 

Mallory:  I think it would be fun to try vegemite. I roomed with an Australian lady at RWA Nationals in New York a few years ago and she told me it's not that bad. 

Michelle:  If Mallory could travel anywhere in the world at the blink of Jenie’s eyes ( I dream of Jenie) where would you blink off to in a ...well a blink of an eye, no time to pack and why? Maybe for research purposes? I know from my interview stalking research, you love the South of France.

Mallory:  Oh you are right about that. We had the rare opportunity to visit the South of France this summer. We also went to Italy, where my husband's family is from, while we were there. It was amazing. We'd go back in a heartbeat--with or without luggage. 

Michelle:  Rick Easterling, Mr Undercover, is he getting a book? I did notice how he popped up in ‘No Hero’ near the end . It almost felt like a lead in for our new hunk of a lad to get a book, I may be mistaken? He does sound dishy.

Mallory:  Rick is another of my favourite heroes who never got his own book. Hopefully, you'll be seeing him within the year or early in 2013 in his book, tentatively titled NO SAINT, from Entangled. I can't wait to dive into his 'man of a thousand faces' personality. 

Michelle:  Are you able to tell us the first line in your next book you are writing? Or a quote from this book, please and it’s title? 

Mallory: As I mentioned just above, my next book with Entangled Publishing will be Rick's book. The title as of now is NO SAINT. Here are the first few paragraphs. 

"The day hell freezes over," Rick Easterling said quietly, slouching down in the battered chair. He stretched his legs out in front of him and frowned at the captain. Larsen could hardly have chosen a less appropriate subject for a joke. 

"Yeah well, for you that day is today. This assignment is not optional." 

"Damn it, Cap, you know -- " Rick stopped abruptly and threw himself up out of the chair, the sudden flash of dizziness reminding him he still wasn’t quite one hundred per cent. He walked carefully over to the dirty window and stared at the rain. 

"Rick, I'm sorry. I understand. But no matter what your personal feelings are, it's a job that requires your skills. You're the best. Besides, look at those guys out there." 

Without turning around, Rick knew the captain was gesturing toward the window that separated his office from the squad room. 

"Which one of those ugly mugs could pass?" 

The captain was making another feeble joke, but Rick didn't feel like laughing. He hadn't felt like laughing in a long time. He shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and concentrated on keeping his voice steady. "Anything else, Cap. Anything. But not this." He looked at his scuffed boots, then back out the window while guilt and grief wormed their way a little closer to his consciousness. They twisted his gut and drained his strength as they tugged at his heart. 

"Rick. You're the unknown legend. You're the man of a thousand faces." 

Rick almost groaned at the epithets bestowed upon him by his peers. "Not to mention the man most likely to miss all the most important events in his life," he muttered dryly. Sadness and humiliation duked it out under his breastbone. Sadness won, but not by much. What a way to wake up from a three week nap -- to find out his brother was dead and his reputation was smeared. The taut denim of his back pockets scratched his knuckles as his fists clenched. 

"Rick, I know how hard it's been for you." 

Rick wanted to laugh -- almost -- but he settled for a snort. "Do you? Do you know what it's like to wake up and find out in the same day that you've lost three weeks of your life, lost your credibility as a cop and lost your brother?" 

"I was there," Larsen said quietly. 

Rick grimaced. Larsen was right, and Rick was being a bastard. Larsen had been there the day Rick had woken up. The Cap had been one of the few people who'd come to see him in the hospital. The captain had been someone Rick could count on. Still was. 

"I know, Cap. It's just I never got the chance . . . ." He stopped. He knew what he'd been going to say. I never got the chance to tell my brother I loved him. But he didn't say it. He changed the end of the sentence to something that was almost as important to him, and a lot easier to talk about. 

". . . never had a chance to respond to the accusations." He let the sarcasm color his voice. "Of course, I wasn't very responsive at the time." 

Almost unconsciously, he touched the scar on the right side of his forehead, then realized what he'd done and covered the gesture by pushing his fingers through his shaggy hair. Every time he touched the little furrow that almost looked like a natural part in his hair, his brain slammed into a solid wall of amazement at what had happened to him. 

The last thing he remembered was Smith yelling at him, then opening his eyes to find that it was three weeks later. 

But he’d lost a hell of a lot more than three weeks. He'd lain helpless and unconscious in the hospital while his life had crumbled as slowly and inexorably as a condemned building. 

While he'd been comatose, his case had gone before the Internal Investigative Division, and the cap of heroin in his boot and a cool twenty-five hundred dollars in his wallet were dismissed as circumstantial and possibly planted. So he'd been let off with a suspension equal to his time in the hospital. 

But that hadn't even been the worst. The worst was finding out that the day he’d been shot was the day his brother had been murdered. 

Michelle:  Wow, there you go, that was a lovely little exclusive for Mallory's fans. I think I am going to like Rick * waggles eyebrows* . Thankyou for that, Mallory.

Michelle:  After stalking ..err researching for this interview I came across a question you were asked on a blog to name 5 random things we did not know about Dev. http://adiaryofabookaddict.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/no-hero-by-mallory-kane-blog-stop-and.html Your responses got my interest peeked more. I personally love Devereux, would you ever consider a little novella about the troubled Dev before he was a cop and Thibaud? 

Mallory:  I would love to write a novella about Dev. What a great idea. Maybe I'll do that one day. He has such a complex and interesting backstory. 

Michelle:  I noticed some of your earlier works have the bodyguard, security, detective type character. Would you ever weave any paranormal into your future writing?

Mallory:  I absolutely love paranormal elements in books. I've written one Intrigue in which the hero is a twin who believes his twin brother is dead In fact, his twin is in a mental institution. He and his twin are linked psychically and my hero is receiving his twin's drug-addled thoughts and thinks he's going insane. I've also written several paranormal romantic suspense novels under the name Rickey Mallory for ImaJinn Books. 

Michelle:  Here is one of my fave q’s I like to ask. If there was a song that best described Detective Devereux Gautier, what would it be? I like to put the lyric youtube vids on my interviews. Sometimes a song can say so much more.

Mallory:   This is one of my favourite questions too. Thanks for asking it. I write to Pink Floyd. My favourite Pink Floyd albums are Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell. A song from The Division Bell, called "Coming Back to Life." 

I love the story the song tells, and it seems to me to be perfect for Dev, who was so broken and helpless as a boy and who needed someone who could help him 'kill the past,' which is exactly what Reghan does. 

Here are the lyrics:

"Coming Back To Life"

Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
Where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun

Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
And headed straight..into the shining sun

Mallory:  Thank you so much for inviting me to guest on your blog. These questions are fabulous. I really enjoyed answering them. 

Michelle:  Thankyou for taking the time to answer my questions and I look forward to more Dead Sexy writing from Entangled Publishing and yourselfJ

Mallory Kane

GOODREADS

WEB PAGE