(More snippets from the blog tour! This one was written for the Australian Romance Readers!)
Thanks for having me back for another visit the day before my new book, Fatal Affair, launches at Carina Press. I thought I’d talk to you all today about one of my favorite places to visit: America’s capital city!
Driving into Washington, D.C. at night from the Northern Virginia side of the Potomac River is one of my favorite things to do and see. On the far right by the Tidal Basin is the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument. I never look at Jefferson that I don’t think of my late dog Roscoe getting a big idea to jump in the freezing water many years ago and us having to fish him out. Oh how we laughed! He was not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes!
Moving along the waterfront we come to the Lincoln Memorial, Kennedy Center, the Watergate, and Georgetown University. As we cross the 14th Street Bridge, airplanes leaving Ronald Reagan National Airport fly overhead, so close that it feels like you could reach up and touch them. Looming in the distance, the U.S. Capitol stands watch over the entire city. Just crossing the bridge, you begin to feel the heartbeat of Washington.
I’ve driven over the bridges that lead into Washington hundreds of times and that night view never, ever gets old for me. There’s something so magical about the monuments lit up at night, especially Lincoln. Before the mid-1990s, I had only visited Washington as a tourist. In 1996, I was hired by a company headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, which is just over the 14th Street Bridge from the city. Suddenly, I was in and out of Washington all the time, and I soon discovered there was a lot more to the city than what the tourists see. For one thing, there is traffic. Lots and lots of traffic! There are beautiful neighborhoods and then there are desolate stretches marked by poverty and neglect. America’s capital city is no different in many ways than most other large cities, but the monuments lend an aura of history and magic that make it a one-of-a-kind destination.
Often when starting a book, one of the biggest decisions authors face is where to set their story. However, when starting Fatal Affair, I knew a United States Senator was going to be found dead in his Washington apartment. The idea of setting a book in one of my favorite cities was exciting. And then Fatal Affair grew into a series, and Fatal Justice will soon follow, also set in Washington. As I ponder book 3 in the Fatal Series, the opportunity to set multiple books in Washington makes me giddy with writerly joy.
I’m curious about your impressions of Washington. Have you visited America’s capital city? Or just seen and heard about it on T.V. and in the news? Do you follow U.S. politics at all? What do you really think of what goes on in Washington? Honestly! I want to know! :-)
