READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 3 September 2013 | Page 60

Nancy Kay
Nancy Kay resides near Lake Erie in Western Pennsylvania with her husband, a former member of the Marines and the Pennsylvania State Police Department, who provides valuable insight for her stories. She is a published author and her stories are set in small towns and communities near the shores of the Great Lakes. They focus on romance, intertwined with the love of hearth, home and family, yet sprinkled with suspense, danger and intrigue. Learn more about Nancy at www.nancykayauthor.com.

Stories should 'hook' readers; at least that’s the theory in the publishing world. I prefer to 'invite' readers into my stories by writing about something I love. I set stories in picturesque vineyards and small towns amidst breathtaking Lake Erie sunsets. In my romantic suspense mysteries my characters face danger, overcome insurmountable conflict, and fall in love. I believe a book's cover should relate to what readers find between the pages. A beach not far from where I live provided backdrops not only for my

website, but for all three covers of my first series, The Deadly Triad. On the cover of book one, Deadly Reflection, is the picture of a stunning Lake Erie sunset. The photo was taken by my husband, and the mysterious figure gazing at the darkening lake was provided by the cover art department at Desert Breeze Publishing. In book two of the series, Deadly Revenge, the first cover draft showed a man holding a weapon. The man's stature and the weapon he held were not right. Wrong image. Wrong weapon. My husband contacted a

friend who owns a local gun shop and we borrowed an M-14, the exact weapon depicted in my story. My husband's build was a good match for my character, so he posed holding the borrowed rifle. Using his image in silhouette against a lake backdrop, the cover artist created the perfect cover for my second book. The third book in the series, Deadly Encounter, takes place during a typical Erie winter. The wave action of the lake during winter causes ice dunes to form. Waves freeze in place and often exceed ten feet in height, creating a stark, yet strangely beauti-