About the Book

Book: Bold of Heart

Author: Susan K. Beatty

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release date: May 28, 2024

A reporter, a rich man, and a chaplain walk into a mystery…

Tamzin Murray has three goals: Follow Jesus. Control her no-filter mouth. And no romance. When her friend offers her a job as a reporter on the South Pacific Suamalie Islands, she jumps at the chance for a fresh start. But when she’s forced to meet the handsome, wealthy investor, she not only finds herself involved in a love triangle, but also a dangerous mystery.

When Wentworth “Sully” Sullivan’s yacht is sabotaged, he did not expect to fall for the reporter covering his story. Especially since his experience with women has mostly been with gold-diggers.

Émile Durand is too shy to date, but when he meets his sister’s new coworker, he can’t help his attraction to her. And the more he helps her out of scrapes, the further he falls in love with her.

As the mystery becomes more dangerous, and the more their hearts get entangled, how will Tamzin, Sully, and Émile get out of the messes they’ve put themselves into?

Take a trip to the Suamalie Islands where palm trees sway, the sand and sea pulse with life, and the people will steal your heart.

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Author Interview

***Do you set a plot or prefer going wherever an idea takes you?
I wish I was a plotter, but every time I try to develop a detailed outline of my plot, I go
bonkers and practically die of tedium. I begin with a general idea and where to start and
how I want the ending. Maybe I know a couple of the plot points. But I start writing and
sometimes the story just flows, sometimes I get blocked because I don’t know where I
want to go next (this is definitely not the fun part), and often my characters just start
acting out on their own (this is the really fun part).

***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?
Once I was volunteering at a writers conference, with a couple hundred folks milling
about, and my author friend, Chautona Havig, sat right in the middle of the chaos and
wrote. I was amazed. Gathering research and ideas in the middle of a coffee shop is
okay. But to be creative, I need privacy and quiet. I have two laptops, and I use my Mac
for creative writing only. Both computers are tied down in my office with so many cords
(external monitors, external keyboards, etc.), I rarely make them portable. Thus, 90% of
my fiction writing takes place at a specific desk with a specific computer in my home
office.

***How long does it usually take you to write a book?
I seem to be the slowest writer ever. Being a pantser, not a plotter, I spend a lot of time
in the beginning figuring out where I’m going by writing, so that takes extra time. Even
when I’m on a roll, I can write only about 1200 words a day. Then, I let life get in the way
of my writing all too often. So, the short answer to how long does it take me to write a
book is “a looooong time,” perhaps a year for an 80,000+ word novel or four to six
months to write a novella of 50,000 words.

***What is your work schedule/routine when you write?
My routine changes depending on the stage of writing. When I’m first developing my
ideas for a book, I may not write at all, other than content for blogs, newsletters, and
social media. When in serious writing mode, I start the day with devotions/Bible reading
and coffee. Then I take care of business (emails, social media, etc.), because I can’t be
creative until I get those often-mundane tasks completed. By early afternoon, I sit at my
appointed, creative-writing-only MAC laptop, edit the previous session's text and then
write until my brain won’t cooperate anymore, usually about dinner time.

***Do bits of yourself/friends show up in your characters?
Oh, yes, indeed bits and pieces of myself, friends, and family show up in my characters.
For example, in my younger days, I was a newspaper reporter like Margo in my
Suamalie Islands series. I, too, suffered from insecurity when asking questions of news
subjects. My daughter’s strength and spiritual tenacity during her 13 1/2 -year breast
cancer journey shows up in several of my novels/novellas that include breast cancer
thrivers. I also “borrow” from celebrities and their movie roles. I fashioned my Suamalie
Islands character Steve Grayson after Elvis in his movie Speedway, in which his
character’s name was also Steve Grayson. My Steve Grayson is a racecar driver, but
not a rock ‘n roll singer.

About the Author

Susan K. Beatty is in her third career—from journalist to homeschool tech writer to her life-long dream of becoming a novelist. She is proof you can start a new writing career late in life. Susan released her first published fiction in September 2019, and now an awarding winner author, this is her third novel, with several novelettes and short stories to her credit. She is passionate about finding courage through faith and grit. Susan lives with her husband of forty-nine years in Southern California. Add children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to the mix and she has little time for her favorite hobbies of reading, watching classic movies, British crime dramas, and traveling.

More from Susan

I love to follow my characters from struggling with a character flaw (or two or three) to victory, even if it isn’t complete. Yet. It blesses me when I see the characters becoming bold and courageous through following Christ and with the support of those around them.

Yes, I know I’m talking as if they do this without my help as the author. And, in some respects, that would almost be true. I may have an idea what the character is going to say or do next, but often what appears on my computer monitor is not what I expected. Yes, as if they had a mind of their own.

Such is the case with my three main characters in Bold of Heart. I had planned that Tamzin would fall for one character, only to have her go for the other one. Then there was of who was Sully’s bad guy. Again, I thought was going to be one character until another character shot to the forefront. And Émile? I didn’t expect him to be so bold. It would be a spoiler if I gave more detail here. (Do you hear Simon Legree-like laughing here?)

I’ve known a couple people who just have no filter on their mouths, but still good-hearted, well-meaning folks. Thus, Tamzin’s major character flaw. Getting her to the Suamalie Islands, and away from her prime example, her mother, for a fresh start, gives Tamzin a chance to work on softening her remarks.

How can a hospital chaplain be shy? Well, that is Émile’s issue. Actually, he’s only shy outside of the hospital room. Near women.

I’ve never been wealthy, and don’t expect to be, so I had to imagine how our millionaire Sully could be wary of dating. It didn’t help he’d already been through an unpleasant experience after his wife passed away.

Love triangles are a familiar Christian romance trope, but to keep it from getting sticky, I threw in some mystery and suspense. It was a bonus that the experiences helped the characters develop their bold hearts.