Interview with Jessica Dale, Alter Ego of Author Kassandra Lamb

​Welcome to Matter of Inquiry!

This week's guest author is Jessica Dale, alter ego of mystery writer Kassandra Lamb.

Good morning, Jessica. Before we get started on the questions, please tell us something about yourself.

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BIO:

​Jessica Dale is the alter ego of retired psychotherapist turned mystery writer, Kassandra Lamb. She has been a human resources administrator, counselor, business owner and college professor. Now she enjoys writing romantic suspense stories with a psychological twist (and the occasional ghost). She is the author of the Unintended Consequences trilogy, the Binding Love duet, and the romantic thriller, Bartered Innocence.

​Tidbit not in the bio: Kassandra tries to keep me suppressed most of the time because I’m the impish part of her. I tend to say, and sometimes do, things that get us in trouble.
 
You can connect with Jessica/Kassandra at:
 
WEBSITE: https://kassandralamb.com/jessica-dales-books/
FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/kassandralambauthor~ https://www.facebook.com/JessicaDaleAuthor/
INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/kasslamb/
BOOKBUB PROFILE:  https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kassandra-lamb ~ https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jessica-dale
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Kassandra-Lamb/e/B006NB5WAI/ ~ https://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Dale/author/B071HTX5S9/

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​INTERVIEW with Jessica Dale:
 
JLB: Do you write full time or do you have a day job?
 
JD:  Kassandra writes full-time. She has a retirement income so she can afford to do that. Unfortunately, she only lets me out to write every once in awhile, so I write part-time.
 
JLB:  What book/author has influenced you the most? In what way?
 
JD:  I would have to say Kassandra. Before retiring, she was a psychotherapist and then taught psychology. So a lot of psychological stuff sneaks into my stories. I hate to admit it, but I think that influence from her does make my writing better.
 
JLB:  What inspired your featured book or series?
 
JD:  Kassandra woke up one morning with a complete story laid out in her head, only it wasn’t her typical mystery and it had nothing to do with either of her two mystery series. It was the story of James Fitzgerald, whose closest friends are murdered in his own house.
 
Originally she published it as a stand-alone mystery/horror story for Halloween. Then she had another story pop into her head full-blown. It was a steamy romantic thriller. At that point she figured she needed a separate pen name for these stories that were rather different from her usual mysteries. So I was born.
 
We added a love interest to James’s story and republished it as a romantic suspense and the first book in the Unintended Consequences trilogy. Then I started wrestling with her for writing time so I could finish the trilogy, and also a couple of other steamy thrillers my muse insisted I write. I now have six books out.
 
JLB:  What is the easiest—or the hardest—part of writing for you?
 
JD:  The easiest parts for me are the love scenes. Kassandra has romantic subplots in her mystery series, so we already knew how to write a good love/sex scene.
 
The harder part is exploring all the intricacies of a budding relationship. I use multiple points of views, so the reader and I are inside the heads of both characters, listening in on their thoughts, feelings, and most of all their fears.
 
The other challenge with romantic suspense is balancing the romance with the mystery. You’re supposed to give them close to equal time on the page. But you also have to maintain a suspenseful pace. These two expectations with romantic suspense are rather contradictory. It’s tough achieving both of them.
 
JLB:  Have you killed off a recurring character? If not, would you do so?
 
JD:  It’s really difficult for me (and Kassandra) to kill off one of the good guys or gals. But it’s hard to have a murder mystery without murders.
 
Kass killed off a recurring but likeable minor character in Book 4 of her Kate Huntington series, and she got some grief from readers about it. It took her cousin months to forgive her.
 
And I started off killing a supporting character in Backfire but couldn’t quite make myself do it. Instead, the character was seriously injured. (And I’m not telling whether they end up dying or not.)
 
I think that’s how ghosts started sneaking into Kass’s and my writing. It was a way to keep a murdered likeable character alive, at least for a while. In the first few books of the Kate Huntington series, Kate talks to her dead husband in her head, and he talks back. Neither Kate nor the reader (nor Kass, for that matter) is ever quite sure if he’s really a ghost or just a figment of her imagination.
 
There are two ghosts in the Unintended Consequences trilogy. One is James’s murdered friend, who mainly communicates with laughter, which sounds like wind chimes in a gentle breeze (unless she’s angry or trying to warn James or Carrie of danger; then it might sound more like wind chimes in a storm).
 
I actually think Annaleise makes a more interesting character as a ghost than she might have if I’d let her live!
 
JLB:  How do you feel about the banning of books from libraries? What criteria would you use?
 
JD:  I don’t think any books should be banned from libraries, for the most part. Banning topics that are controversial is not protecting anyone from those controversies. Kids are dealing with them already. They’re hearing about them on TV, social media, from friends and family, or maybe even living with them themselves.

Keeping them from information that might help them better understand and cope with these issues is just exacerbating whatever they may be struggling with. And since teens are already highly emotional and vulnerable to depression and suicide, this ignorance can become deadly.
 
Okay, I’ll step down off my psychologist soapbox now and say that there is one exception—erotica. Certainly, it doesn’t belong in elementary or middle school libraries, and maybe not even in high school (I certainly don’t want my teenage grandson reading some of the stuff I’ve written...lol.)
 
JLB:  Which of the short answer questions did you pick to answer?
 
JD:
 

• An author (living or dead) you'd love to chat with?  Maya Angelou
• Favorite comfort food?  Grilled cheese and tomato sandwich 
• Your worst job ever? Selling encyclopedias door to door in college; I lasted a week.
• If you couldn't write anymore, what would you do?  Travel and read more.
• A beer at the bar or a book on the deck? Definitely a book on the deck (with a chilled glass of white wine)

 
JLB:  Thanks for visiting with us today, Jessica. As we finish here, can you show us your featured series?
 
JD:  Of course, but before I go, I just want to say, thank you for making Kassandra let me out to do this interview...I may not go home right away. Maybe I’ll go find a coffee shop first. There’s a mocha latte out there with my name on it!

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SERIES BLURB:
 
One autumn afternoon changed everything! James Fitzgerald is looking forward to a relaxing weekend with friends. Instead he walks into a blood bath, and a cryptic message points to him as the killer.
 
The Unintended Consequences Trilogy follows James and his budding romance with his neighbor, Carrie through three complete mysteries. In Payback, both James and Carrie are fighting their attraction to each other, while trying to solve the murder of James’s best friend and her husband, and stop the killer from taking more lives.
 
In Backlash, Carrie’s teenage son tracks her down and leads her abusive estranged husband right to her, along with some other deadly baggage.
 
In Backfire, when James and Carrie’s shy friend, Mary starts dating again after a messy divorce, she’s assaulted by a masked man who smells of her first date’s aftershave. As James tries to help her identify and find her attacker, he struggles with the legacy of the murder of his best friend—a rescuer complex that threatens to drive a permanent wedge between himself and Carrie.

Links to purchase the trilogy can be found at:
 
Payback:  https://misteriopress.com/bookstore/payback/
Backlash:  https://misteriopress.com/bookstore/backlash/
Backfire:  https://misteriopress.com/bookstore/backfire/

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​EXCERPT from Backlash, Book 2 in the Unintended Consequences Romantic Suspense Trilogy
 
CHAPTER ONE
Carrie
For the half-second before the dog reacted, I assumed the person ringing the doorbell was James, arriving for dinner.
Then Ginger went ballistic.
Heart pounding, I power-walked into the living room, trying to convince myself that Greg hadn’t found me, that it wasn’t him at the door.
I really had to get a handle on my fear. This was no way to live.
The doorbell rang again and Ginger raced ahead of me to sniff the crack at the bottom of the door. Another burst of ear-splitting barks bounced off the walls.
Definitely not James. He only rang the bell once before using his own key.
My chest so tight I could hardly breathe, I looked through the door’s peephole. My hand flew to my mouth to stifle a scream.
Wait! Greg’s features, yes, and brown hair like his, but… The face was younger, with dark stubble on boyish cheeks and wide eyes staring back at me—the same sky blue as my own.
I fumbled with the locks and threw the door open. “Philly!”
He grinned, then ducked his head a little. “Hi, Mom.”
***
James
My mind was elsewhere, on the auditions I had lined up over the next week. It was always nerve-racking to be between plays. I rounded the front corner of the old farmhouse and stopped cold, trying to process the scene before me.
Carrie didn’t know any local men well enough to be hugging them. Therefore, this man was from her past, which did not bode well, despite the hug.
My stomach hollowed out.
Was this Greg? Was she the type of woman who ran back into her ex’s arms the minute he was kind to her?
I felt nauseous.
Ginger shoved past Carrie’s leg and trotted over to me. I absently patted the golden retriever’s head as I watched Carrie and the man step apart.
No, more a boy. My insides unknotted some, but my heart hammered harder. Not Greg, but still not good.
“Look at you,” Carrie said to the boy, a big smile on her face.
I stepped up onto the end of the long front porch, my footsteps dull thuds on the wooden floorboards.
The kid startled and pivoted to put himself between me and Carrie, a reflexive move that should not be instinctive in a teenage boy.
He was almost as tall as me, already five-ten, but slender. His blue eyes, so like Carrie’s, were wide in a boy-man face.
Carrie waved for me to approach. “James, this is my son. Phillip, this is my neighbor and friend, James Fitzgerald.”
The son, at this point, didn’t surprise me, but the friend did a little. We were a hell of a lot more than friends.
But hey, it’s her kid. I’ll follow her lead. I stuck out my hand. “Pleased to meet you, Phillip.”
I used the handshake to turn him toward the open front door and began herding them inside. “Best not to be standing around out here,” I said without thinking.
Carrie’s delighted expression deflated like a popped balloon, and I felt like a heel. I could’ve let her enjoy her reunion with her son a few minutes longer before reminding her of the threat that reunion represented.
Once we were all inside, Carrie laid a palm against Phillip’s cheek. “I can’t believe it. You’re shaving.”
His cheeks turned pink under the smattering of dark hairs. “This started a few weeks ago…” He trailed off, his expression part pleased, part sheepish.
“Hey,” I said, “you two catch up for a few minutes.” I slipped back outside, locking the door behind me.
I scanned the stretches of grass on either side of the gravel lane leading down to Carrie’s and my houses. They were beginning to green up after a long winter.
Then I moved my gaze to the woods up by the main road. No signs of movement and no sounds that didn’t belong. A cool breeze carried the scent of damp earth. I headed across our lawns to my own front porch.
A few minutes later, carrying a small paper bag of shaving supplies, I let myself in Carrie’s door with my key.
She and Phillip were sitting in the middle of the living room sofa, their heads bent together. The boy was chattering away—something about school—his voice cracking a bit.
She looked so damned happy that I couldn’t help smiling, even though the implications of his presence were terrifying.

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