FAQ

How do I keep up-to-date on book releases, reviews, and other news?
What are your newest releases?
Tell me about the Last Seen in Gothic suspense series.
You say A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA is historical fiction. Would I like to read it?
Will you write any more historicals or paranormals?
Thank you for sharing your husband’s projects. What is the crazy man up to this summer?
Where do you get your ideas?
How do you decide which stories to write?
Can I get a list of your books in series order?
How do you keep your ideas fresh and avoid traveling over well-worn territory?
What advice do you give writers?

Q. How do I keep up-to-date on book releases, reviews, and other news?

A: The best ways for you to stay current with my book news are:

—My mailing list: I always always always tell you about book sales and new releases. I’m open, friendly, chatty (read a sample newsletter.) Newsletter friends are eligible to enter my Reviewers’ Club contest to win an early, free copy of my next book for the chance to review it. And you’re welcome to download a free short story, THE WATCHER. Join now!

—Bookbub: You don’t have time for chatty, you simply want a brief notice about new releases. Bookbub always sends.

— Goodreads: Sends a new book notice and highlights the authors you follow!

— Amazon sends notices about new releases, reprints and sales, although on their own schedule.

So join, follow, read, enjoy!

— Christina

Q: What are your newest releases?

A: The newest Christina Dodd stand-alone thriller, FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW, is now out in eBook, trade paperback, hardcover and audiobook, and on February 20, will come out in mass market paperback with a new, brighter cover. All the Last Seen in Gothic series are set in the small village of Gothic on California’s glorious Big Sur coastline.

Upcoming in 2024

— On March 5, my next full-length romantic suspense, EVERY SINGLE SECRET, comes out in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. From the moment I wrote first line, I knew it would be amazing:

Mr. Bandara, Helen Lamb’s first and dearest client, puttered in his kitchen, cleaning up their snack of coffee and biscotti. “I need a gardener to plant my spring flowers, the toilet is leaking, and I need an assassin to kill me.”

Our heroine, Helen Lamb (real name Rowan Winterbourne,) owns The Fixer, a firm that specializes in helping her clients connect with someone to do the jobs they needed done. Most of her work involves repairs: gardeners, plumbers, housekeepers, construction workers, handymen. But she prides herself on always matching her clients with the proper laborers, people who will fix, clean, plant, repair, and most of all listen. For special clients, for an elevated fee, she also finds travel agents, nannies, doctors, and bankers. But never has she been asked to find an assassin.

But…Rowan can. Because of her shadowy past, she has connections. And because she finds an assassin for the dying Mr. Bandara, she’s distracted by grief and guilt…

Joe Grantham appears on Rowen’s doorstep, and for the first time, she gets it wrong. Horrifically, passionately wrong. She lets him in, reveals too much, and he blackmails Rowan to go with him to Raptor Island where she’s flung into a dangerous maelstrom of secrets, intrigue—and if she dares grasp the terrible challenge, the chance to reclaim the life and family she lost so many years before.

On March 5, I’ll be autographing at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore. I’d love to meet you there and sign a book for you! Can’t make it? I’ll autograph and Poisoned Pen will ship! Details.

EVERY SINGLE SECRET…what are your secrets?

I’m the daughter of Romeo and Juliet.

Yes, that Romeo and Juliet. The one that Shakespeare wrote about.

No, they didn’t die in the tomb. Rumors of their deaths were greatly exaggerated. In fact, they’re alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I’m the oldest, with the emphasis on ‘old’—a certified spinster at twenty, and happy to stay that way. It’s not easy to keep your taste for romance with parents like mine. Picture it—constant monologues, passionate declarations, fighting, making up, making out . . . it’s exhausting.

…This smart-aleck female is my newest creation, Rosie Montague (Rosaline if I’m in trouble), and the book is A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA, coming June 25, 2024 in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. Read all about how this audacious project came to be. Warning: You’ll snort the beverage of your choice out your nose.

Because A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA is so very different from anything else I’ve done (yes, it’s a historical, but Renaissance Italy and a very fictional representation of Fair Verona,) Writerspace created an entirely new website for it. It’s fresh and lively, and works with the bright tone of the story. The symbols from the cover warn that murder and mystery lie ahead, and it’s easy to remember, because it is the series name: Daughter of Montague.

Join my mailing list and the Daughter of Montague newsletter list to keep up with every new release!

— Christina

Q. Tell me about the Last Seen in Gothic suspense series.

A: The Last Seen in Gothic series is set on Big Sur, one of nature’s magical places. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. My grandmother and great-aunts, powerful women who were huge influences on me, were born and raised in Ben Lomond in the Santa Cruz mountains, and as a family we traveled and camped all around central California. As my Aunt Sadie once told The Husband, “As long as a wheel’s going to turn, we’re going to go.”

The first time my mother and I drove the scenic the Pacific Coast Highway into the heart of Big Sur, we were captivated by its frothing waves crashing against rocky cliffs, wide stunning views and mystical forests that whisper and roar in the ocean breeze. A visit to San Simeon (Hearst’s Castle) cemented my sense that here, in this place of wealth and wildness, anything was possible. There was and is an other worldly ambiance to Big Sur, a sense that this ancient area is immune to civilization. For the most part, it remains untouched.

Naturally when I looked for a glorious, isolated spot to place a small, quirky, totally fictional town with a totally fictional legend, I thought of Big Sur and created Gothic, California. I hope you enjoy your visit with the marvelously eccentric citizens of Gothic in Point Last Seen, Welcome to Gothic and FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW. Gothic also makes a cameo appearance in EVERY SINGLE SECRET.

— Christina

Q. You say A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA is historical fiction. Would I like to read it?

A: A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA blends irresistible mystery, a wicked sense of comedy, her trademark plot twists, a swoony romance subplot, and an incorrigibly determined heroine into a delightful confection that will draw in readers of historical fiction, feminist women’s fiction, mysteries, historical romance, and young adult.

If any of those check your boxes, A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA is for you!

Q. Will you write any more historicals or paranormals?

A: I’m currently under contract for contemporary suspense, and now for historical fiction (see new releases above,) but I loved writing paranormals, and I never say never because, if you’d asked me a year ago if I was going to write A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA, I would have thought you were delusional. (Suggested reading: THE 10 REASONS AUTHORS ARE WEIRD.)

If you’d like delve deeper into the paranormals, please visit the paranormal section of my website where you can read excerpts and discover how I came up with the ideas.

If you’re a historical fan, all the books and series are listed on the historical page.

No matter what you read, remember — the most important Christina Dodd website book pages are:
The Downloadable/Printable book list sorted by genre, series and in order.
The more expansive “Books by Series,” with covers and excerpts.
— Christina

Q. Thank you for sharing your husband’s projects. What is he up to this summer?

A: :sigh: Heaven only knows.

Summer 2021 started with a greenhouse (How to Grow a $730 Tomato.)

He’s finished the walk from the house to the stone circle and the star in the stone circle. (Video:The project explained.)

The treehouse and zipline are finished. (Video: Me on the zipline. The Husband calls this, “The Woman Who Could Scream.)

The 700 lavender plants are blooming, but some older plants need to be replaced, so I know he’ll tear them out and plant new ones. (Video: Lavender, Bees, Stone Circle.)

In 2023 he at last created the fountain I’ve been wanting. If you want to keep up with The Husband and the stuff he does for “fun,” please join my mailing list. You’ll get a free short story download, and a lot of laughter in your inbox.
— Christina

Q. Where do you get your ideas?

A: I get ideas everywhere — from the news, movies, books, friends, songs. There are so many ideas and not enough time to write all the books I want to write. For a humorous look at the question, here’s my take on the process.

Here’s a glimpse on how I built Virtue Falls.

The Darkness Chosen idea originated with one of my favorite movies.

The Chosen Ones came while I wasn’t paying attention to writing at all.
— Christina

Q. How do you decide which stories to write?

A: Let me tell you about how I conceived the idea for my contemporary suspense series, the Lost Hearts series. There are so many contemporary ideas to be found! In the newspaper, on television, and in real life. The idea sprang to life when I heard about a couple who adopted a family of six children from the ages of seventeen years to six months. I knew that each one of the children would have different conflicts about losing their biological parents — for instance, the oldest might understand what had happened, the middle children might feel abandoned, and the baby wouldn’t remember any other life.

From there, it was a short leap to the concept of a family who were separated from, not only their parents, but each other. I knew they would search for each other. I knew they would want to discover what happened to their parents. And I knew they would want to find a sense of belonging and true love.

As the trilogy progresses, each story ends with a clue about who the heroine of the next book will be, and partially solves the mystery of what happened to separate their family. The Lost Hearts series includes:
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE
ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE
CLOSE TO YOU
Gabriel’s story is DANGER IN A RED DRESS (The Fortune Hunters #4)
GABRIEL’S GIFT: a Lost Hearts epilogue
— Christina

Q. Can I get a list of your books listed in series order?

A: Here’s the Downloadable/Printable book list sorted by genre, series and in order and the more expansive “Books by Series,” page.
— Christina

Q. How do you keep your ideas fresh and avoid traveling over well-worn territory?

A: Story situations become clichés because they’re the tales people want to hear over and over. When I start a book, I try to think of the stories I’ve enjoyed, and use that as a basis for the plot, giving it my own twist and my own characters.
— Christina

Q. What advice do you give aspiring writers?

A: The best way to learn to write is to sit down and do it. For my articles on writing, I suggest:
— The Best Way To Write A Book (Imagine that, I have an opinion.)