I believe my journey into reading and writing romantic suspense started long before I picked up my first book. 

As the youngest of my siblings, I had plenty of time to entertain myself growing up, and I did this by creating elaborate fictional stories in my head. I loved creating them and thought that’s what everyone did until I was told differently. 

When I started school and began reading, I found the Little House Series and was hooked. Though not technically a suspense series, the books, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, were filled with adventure. I loved them so much that I wanted to live on the prairie and experience everything that Laura did. Now, I realize I probably wouldn’t have fared so well on the prairie, but as a child, it was fun to imagine.

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From the Little House Series, I moved on to reading Victoria Holt as a preteen, and a whole other genre was opened to me. The spine-tingling world of romantic suspense. 

After I read On the Night of the Seventh Moon, I was hooked and read every single one of her books. This story is one of her most chilling ones. It features a Black Forest legend, a young woman enthralled by the tales from the forest, and a night of enchantment that quickly turns into a nightmare. 

When I learned Victoria wrote under the pen names, Jean Plaidy and Philippa Carr, I was over the moon because there were more books to read. 

After reading every single one of those books, I had a friend who loved Phyllis Whitney and recommended I try her. She told me to start with Sea Jade, a historical romantic suspense that features a young woman who is suddenly alone in the world. She goes against her father’s wishes and accepts temporary lodging with a former family friend, and soon finds herself engulfed in secrets from the past that are deadly.

Once I grew up, my love for suspense didn’t fade any, but it did shift to different directions such as Christian romantic suspense where I discovered Dee Henderson’s Uncommon Heroes Series.

Nowadays, in my spare time, I love reading Christian romantic suspense, and some of my favorite authors in the genre are Elizabeth Goddard, Lynette Eason, Lynn H. Blackburn, and of course, Dee Henderson. 

The journey to arrive at reading and writing Christian romantic suspense led down a path to discovering some amazing authors, not all who were suspense writers, but each helped me find my voice as an author, and I will always be grateful for the journey. 

Mary Alford is a USA Today bestselling author who loves giving her readers the unexpected, combining unforgettable characters with unpredictable plots that result in stories the reader can’t put down. Her titles have been finalists for several awards, including the Daphne Du Maurier, the Beverly, the Maggie, and the Selah. She and her husband live in the heart of Texas in the middle of 70 acres with two cats and one dog. Learn more at www.maryalford.net. 

Learn more about Mary on her BRRC Author Page.