Meet Jordan James, PI's Creator, Rachel Sharpe

Like Mystery? Meet Rachel Sharpe. author of The Jordan James PI series. Rachel, please tell us a little about yourself.

I was born to Baby Boomers in the Reagan era when the Cold War was still…cold. I'm an 80s kid raised in the 90s who loves life. I'm married to my best friend and we have the two greatest kids on the planet who just happen to both be under 2 years old. A lot has changed in my life in the past year and a half, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love firsts, so tell me about the moment when a publisher told you they wanted to publish your book.

 I've been writing ever since I can remember. As a child, I always dreamed of being an author. According to my grandmother, that was one of my three dream jobs, the other two being astronaut and lion tamer. But that's another story. After graduating college and beginning my first real job, I began to write in my spare time. After writing a novella about a murder at a seafood festival set in small-town Louisiana that I couldn't get published, I came up with the concept of a female PI from New Orleans living in Boston taking a chance on her dream job. After two years of query letters and constant rejections, it finally happened - Soul Mate Publishing asked for my manuscript, and in the fall of 2013, I signed my first contract for Cold Ambition.

Nice!!!

What is the most exciting moment, so far, in your writing career?

That would have to be when I was named a finalist in InD'tale Magazine's Rone Awards in the Mystery category for Cold Ambition last year. To be nominated for such an award is an honor, but to reach the level of finalist, thanks to the readers, means a lot. All I've ever wanted to do with my writing is to offer a good story that is well told. That kind of recognition makes me feel like I'm doing my job right.

Congratulations. I was a finalist last year also. Truly a thrilling moment. I'm glad we shared it.

What is your favorite pastime, other than writing?

 Traveling. I love going to new places and trying new things. Oftentimes when I'm somewhere I haven't been before or doing something I've never done, I try to take a mental picture of it so that I can come back to it in my mind's eye and use it somehow in a story.

I love to travel to! But I have to take lots of pictures if I want to use the setting in a story. My mental ones keep getting misfiled.

How do you motivate yourself when inspiration takes a vacation? 

Keep going. Writing is no different than any other muscle and it has to be exercised to stay fit. Some days I really don't feel like writing, but I do it, even if it's just a little bit. Reading is also a very effective way to get the creative juices flowing. If you're stumped, just step away from your story and read another's. That kind of distance helps when you need to think of other ways to continue your story. Rachel walks the walk. Her second novel, Lost Distinction. came out in November 2014. five months after Cold Ambition . I wish I could write that fast. And that well.

Any advice for new writers just starting out? 

Read, read, read. And don't give up. It's hard to find a publisher, even in this digital age. But with every rejection, remind yourself it's all subjective and that was not the right publisher for your book. It's hard in the moment to realize that, but as I look back, I realize Jordan James, PI couldn't have found a better home than with Soul Mate Publishing. And neither could I.

Tell us about your latest release.

Bitter Retribution is the third novel in the Jordan James, PI series. It's set in the Rocky Mountains during the winter when Jordan goes to visit her best friend who is the head writer of the most popular sitcom on TV as they film a holiday episode on location. While she's there, someone is murdered. Jordan must hurry to find the culprit before anyone else gets hurt.

Here's the blurb:

"What started out as a star-studded vacation has turned into a sensational avalanche..."

When private investigator Jordan James decided to join her best friend on the set of her hit television series in the Rocky Mountains, she had no idea she would become a key player in a murder mystery more suited for the big screen than the slopes. With one actor dead and a killer on the loose, can Jordan uncover the culprit before another victim makes headlines on Hollywood Minute?

I want to read it!

What’s your current WIP? 

The working title is Misconception. It's book four in the Jordan James, PI series. Jordan is home in New Orleans for the Christmas holidays and while hanging out in the French Quarter, a friend is kidnapped and another is shot. Jordan knows she has to act fast if she wants her friend to be found alive. Unfortunately, there's more to this situation than she knows and if she isn't careful, the next victim could be her.

Sounds great.

And finally, where can we find  you?
Website: www.rachelsharpe.com

 www.facebook.com/authorrachelsharpe

www.twitter.com/rachelcsharpe

    Rachel is giving away an eBook of the first Jordan James adventure- COLD AMBITION.   

 Blurb:

"It was my life-long dream to become a private eye. Little did I know that with my very first case, that dream would become a life-threatening nightmare..."

When Jordan James decided to embark on a career as a private investigator, she never could have imagined that a chance encounter would lead to her staring down the barrel of a gun on the roof’s edge of a high-rise building. As she begins to investigate her first case, the puzzling murder of a prominent businessman that has left Boston’s finest mystified for more than two decades, she finds herself suddenly immersed in a treacherous underworld brimming with betrayal, raw greed, and political subterfuge of international proportions. In the midst of this, she discovers she is falling for her mysterious client despite the hints of his dark past. Can this feisty Southern girl with a penchant for trouble solve this baffling case or is she doomed to become another tragic chapter in an international conspiracy?
   Thank you for being here. You know the drill, friends. Rafflecopter below. Happy Reading.

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