About the Book

Book: Offshore Ambush

Author: Sherri Wilson Johnson

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense (contemporary)

Release Date: January 9, 2024

Sometimes people aren’t who you think they are.

Gretchen Overton’s world is shattered when someone murders her brother on a remote offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico. As medicolegal death investigator for Baldwin County, Alabama, she vows to uncover the truth and bring the killer to justice. But little does she know, her path to finding answers requires the help of Everett Forrester, the rig’s Drilling Foreman and her ex-boyfriend.

While tensions rise and the body count increases, danger lurks around every corner…and it becomes clear that someone is determined to eliminate Gretchen and Everett before they uncover the truth.

Can they untangle the web of deception and expose the killer before everything rips them apart again?

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Author Interview

1. Do you set a plot or prefer going wherever an idea takes you?
I usually prefer to let the story take me wherever it takes me.
Even though I start out with a basic idea, it’s always exciting to
see what happens as my characters grow.

2. What, according to you, is the hardest thing about writing?
Editing the final manuscript. I usually edit each chapter as I go
along, but then when the book is finished, I always dread going
through the book as a whole.

3. What would you say is the easiest aspect of writing?
Dreaming up the initial idea and figuring out the occupations,
quirks and habits of my characters.

4. Do you pen down revelations and ideas as you get them, right then
and there?
Usually I send myself an email with the ideas as they pop up.

5. Do you need to be in a specific place or room to write, or you can
just sit in the middle of a café full of people and write?
I cannot sit in the middle of a café or any public place if I want
to get any writing done. I’m a people watcher, so if I’m in public,
it’s going to be a time of collecting ideas. When I write, I prefer
to be at home in the quiet listening to instrumental music.

6. When did it dawn upon you that you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember.
But I figured out that I wanted to write a novel when I was 18.

7. How long does it usually take you to write a book?
Usually it takes me a year to write a book. But I have written
one in eight months when life wasn’t so hectic.

8. Where do you get your ideas for your books?
Everywhere! But probably most of my ideas come when I’m
relaxing at the beach or sitting by any body of water.

9. What is your work schedule/routine when you write?
I own my own virtual assistant business and I’m an associate
literary agent, so writing time usually comes on the weekends.
Sometimes, if I’m heavy in the middle of writing a book, I also
squeeze in writing at night.

10. Do bits of yourself/friends show up in your characters?
Sure. I think it’s nearly impossible for an author not to bleed a
little of herself/himself into every character. And friends or
“enemies” can’t help but find their way into an author’s book.

11. Anything else you'd like to share?
I just want to say thank you for taking the time to interview me
and host me on your blog.

About the Author

Sherri Wilson Johnson is a Christian romantic suspense author and lover of all things book related. She’s always been a sucker for a good love story—whether it’s in real life or fiction (both historical and contemporary). Completing her first novel at the age of eighteen, and later burning the only copy in the fireplace, she continued learning the craft of writing and now writes Contemporary Romantic Suspense and Historical Romance with a splash of suspense and/or mystery. When not writing, she’s usually assisting other publishing professionals or helping authors realize their dreams of becoming published. Sherri and her husband are empty-nesters and live in Georgia with their two dogs. She loves spending time with family, vacationing at the beach, curling up with a good book or working on her current work-in-progress. She dreams of a second home on some beach somewhere someday, where she can plot and write romantically suspenseful novels.

More from Sherri

The idea for Offshore Ambush came from my annual visits to the Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan, Alabama area. Just like how the idea for Desolate Escape (book one in my Jeopardized Reunions series) came about while sitting on the deserted beach at the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge where I imagined someone discovering a dead body on the beach, discovering the oil and gas platforms out in the Gulf but not knowing what they were sparked my creative juices. So I began researching what these were while eating dinner on the screened-in porch that viewed Mobile Bay where we were staying (across the street from the beach). When I discovered that they were drilling platforms, my husband and I started brainstorming. Yes, Dan is one of my biggest brainstorming resources, for lack of a better word. He always titles my books for me, always listens daily as I fill him in on what I’ve written, and never fails to cheer me on when I’m dreaming up the next book or series idea.

I had planned to end the series (for now) with one final book that reached beyond what I’d written before. Since this series has been set on Mobile Bay and the beaches surrounding the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge plus some of the rivers that flow into the bay, I felt like it would only be fitting to venture out into the ocean. So the first half is set on the Lapis Lazuli oil platform, then the rest is set in Gulf Shores.

Now for an interesting story about how I named the Lapis Lazuli…

I’ve been reading the Bible all the way through this year, this time in chronological order. Because I’m a slow reader, I use a Bible app and let the British narrator read it to me. I follow along in my Bible and make notes or underline verses that touch me. Well, in at least two handfuls of places in the Old Testament the stone lapis lazuli is mentioned, and every time the British narrator pronounced it, it made me smile. I don’t know why, but it did. So when I did a search on what it was and found out that it was this gorgeous deep blue (which happens to be one of my favorite colors), I suddenly felt compelled to name the oil platform the Lapis Lazuli.

Exodus 24 talks about Moses and Aaron and the elders going up the mountain where they saw the God of Israel. Verse 10 says: “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.” Can’t you just see it?!

It’s mentioned that the priestly garments had lapis lazuli in the breastpiece. And in Song of Songs chapter five, the woman describes her beloved as this:

His arms are rods of gold
set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
decorated with lapis lazuli.

Okay, so now I’m in the mood for a good love story. How about you?

Offshore Ambush is another one of my second chance romantic suspense stories that reminds me of how God is the God of second chances, forgiveness, and unconditional love. I hope you will find this story to be as inspiring to read—and yet thrilling due to all the danger our hero and heroine find themselves in—as I did while writing it.