What is your favorite location(s) for your stories?
You can talk country/region/city/etc. or landmark/building/type of place.

 

Joanna Wayne--My favorite setting for my novels is definitely Texas. I love the geographical variety in the state and I especially love the spirit of its people. I spend lots of time traveling around the state, visiting the cities and small towns and experiencing life on ranches of all sizes. My November Intrigue, Miracle at Colts Run Cross, is the fifth book in the Four Brothers of Colts Run Cross series.  The series is about a large, close-knit ranching and oil family who epitomize all of what makes Texas great. There is nothing quite like finding yourself deep in the heart of Texas.  

Dana Marton--For a U.S. location, I prefer the NorthEast, just because that's what I'm the most familiar with. My current release, Tall, Dark and Lethal, is set in Pennsylvania and Maryland. I also love doing international locations, something unusual. I love fun research. I really enjoyed learning about desert and jungle survival when I used that as setting for books.  

Patricia Rosemoor--Christmas Delivery: Other than my hometown of Chicago, I love setting stories in the area around Santa Fe, New Mexico. From the first time I visited, I felt it was a very special place. The mixture of cultures---Anglo, Hispanic, Native American---fascinates me. It's probably as different a place as I can imagine, almost like being in a different country.

Sylvie Kurtz--I love using New England as a setting, especially New Hampshire, because the granite mountains and thick woods lends itself so well for the dark, gothic feel of the Intrigues I write.  Having said that, I also like to visit new places and include them in stories--as I did for Honor of a Hunter, which transports my country-loving hero to a big city (Seattle) when the woman he's loved forever asks for his help.  

B.J. Daniels--Montana is without a doubt my favorite setting for books. I love Montana and I think it shows in my books. I came up with the fictional town of Whitehorse in an area of Montana that has such wonderful history because I live here now. A lot of outlaws rode this range back when it was the most lawless part of the state. The area, while rich in history, is also beautiful in a non-classic way. I wanted my readers to appreciate a part of Montana that few visitors to the state ever see. This area is also some of the least populated with an estimated less than 1 person in a three mile area. It's the uniqueness of the state and the area that inspires me.

Dani Sinclair--Give me a spooky house or a small town and I see endless possibilities. That’s probably because I grew up in a small town in an older house with a dark scary basement and an attic that was always kept locked. It wasn’t until I was older that I learned the reason for the lock was the steep stairs that had no railings making it a dangerous place for young children. But the sinister house next door was even scarier. The frame and stone house creaked, the noisy furnace made strange sounds, and there were far too many doors and hiding places for comfort. I think it’s safe to say that this combination left a lasting impression on a young mind.

As for a region or area of the country, I think it’s hard to beat the Washington, D.C. area with its countless potential for intrigue and all those terrific landmarks to choose from. Nearby Virginia and Maryland still have farms mingling with mansions and large estates. Then there are the historic old houses and clusters of rural areas and small towns. Add to that the full spectrum of seasonal weather changes and any story is enhanced. So, while I’ll continue to use any location that sparks a story idea, my favorite location has to be an old house in a small town near Washington, D.C. with the threat of bad weather for atmosphere.

Mallory Kane--Right now I'm writing a 3-book series set in the West. The Black Hills of Wyoming to be exact. And I'm loving it. The wide open spaces, the interesting locales, the cowboys....... ahem. Okay, so back to location.  These books are a lot of fun, because I've gotten to 'explore' settings I've never used before. My first book is set on a mountain in a snowstorm. The second book takes place almost entirely in an abandoned mine. I had to be careful with that one because I'm claustrophobic. So the mine in my book is not suffocatingly small and dark. It's a nice-sized mine, although I had to keep in some of the creepy factor. The third book has a more traditional locale, but there are a lot of hidden room, secret passage, sneaking-around places.  And the hero and heroine end up very far from home and out of their element.

As much as I love virtually exploring new places, I also like to write small-town stories. My December book, High School Reunion, is set in a small town in Mississippi. The murders in Dusty Springs are as creepy and dangerous as in any big city or exotic locale.  

Julie Miller-- enjoy setting books in my favorite places.  My Taylor Clan and Precinct series, including this month’s Kansas City Christmas, are set in my favorite city—Kansas City, Missouri.  I like to call K.C. my old stompin’ grounds. Several generations of my family grew up in K.C. and the surrounding area, and though I no longer live there myself, I still have lots of family there, so I visit often.  I love the feel of Kansas City—it’s very urban on one hand, giving my gritty suspense stories lots of options for setting and characters—yet it has a definite downhome feel that suits my personality and inspires the feeling of “brothers” and family ties I like to create in my Precinct series.

I’m also a big fan of the mountains, and have set some of my stories in the Tetons of Wyoming, the Rockies of Montana, and the ancient Ozarks in southern Missouri.  I’m branching off into the Four Corners area of southern Colorado with my current w-i-p, Pulling the Trigger, for the Kenner County Crime Unit continuity.  My hero and heroine are stranded in the mountains, with nothing but their wits, courage--and one desperate bad guy--to keep them company.  Now I just have to work Scotland and the Lake District of England into a story, and I’ll have my favorite places covered.