The Heist
July, 2014
B&B
Publishing
ASIN:
B00LNE7366
Romantic
Suspense, 81,000 words
Heat
rating: Three Flames (Warnings: explicit sex, m/f; light bdsm; sex toys)
Planning
a heist
Our
latest release, The Heist, got its
start on a rainy Monday a while back, when hubs and I attended a
behind-the-scenes tour at our small Iowa town’s exquisite art museum. A new
exhibit was about to open, and we were treated to detailed descriptions of the
process of locating and ordering traveling exhibits, shipping them, storing
them, uncrating them, hanging them, insuring their safety, and repacking them.
You
must know by now that hubs is a criminologist
by profession. It didn’t take us long to be looking for vulnerable spots
in the museum’s process, and by the end of the day, with a little internet
research on the high stakes world of stolen paintings, we had our basic plot
sketched out.
Our
next problem was—what painting should be stolen? Clearly, we couldn’t go with
an existing well-known piece of art. We opted to create The Three Maids, an entirely fictional trio of medium sized
Impressionist portraits, based on what we knew about Monet, Manet, Renoir,
Caillebotte, and the women they painted. We’ve put so much detail into the
paintings’ descriptions that I keep expecting to see them when I enter an
Impressionist display. If no one has painted them yet, I definitely think
someone should!
I’ll
leave the details of how the actual heist was planned, carried out, and (we
hope) foiled for readers to discover—we hope you enjoy reading The Heist as much as we enjoyed creating
it!
A heist? A murder?
It’s villain’s choice.
A
special-order art theft? Tedious, but seamless – until small town museum
director Kara Daniels calls in the experts. Furious her favorite trio of
priceless impressionist paintings has been stolen from its traveling exhibit on
her watch, Kara is determined to save not only the paintings, but her future in
the art world. She’ll stop at nothing to entrap the thief.
Ted
Springs knows the underbelly of the criminal world a little closer than he
might like—but he’s turned it to good advantage, first as a police officer, and
now as detective for the Upper Midwest Arts Council. His job? To guarantee the
security of the valuable paintings in the Council’s traveling exhibits.
Heat
sizzles when Ted and Kara collide—can they work together, before it’s too late?
BUY LINKS
“I
and my staff have already done fairly thorough background checks on all the
museum employees,” Ted said.
“Oh.”
Kara scowled. “I’m not sure I like that.”
“But
you expected it?”
“Of
course. At some point.”
“I
believe in being efficient. Even before certain added incentives.”
“I
can always change my mind. I don’t know a thing about you.”
“You
know enough. I have large hands.” Ted chuckled when she winced. “I’ve worked
for the Upper Midwest Arts Council for five years.”
“And
before that?”
“I
was a Chicago cop.”
“Oh.”
“I
went into the army right out of high school and completed my BA degree at
U.I.C. while on the force. Funny, isn’t it? While you were working on your MA
at the University of Chicago, I was patrolling the streets of Hyde Park and
South Chicago.”
“Really?”
“That’s
right.”
“Maybe
we bumped into each other.”
“I
highly doubt that. I wouldn’t forget bumping into you. Remember?”
“Oh,
right.” Kara’s flush returned.
Adriana
Kraft is the pen name for a husband/wife team writing sizzling romantic
suspense and erotic romance. The award-winning pair has published over thirty
romance novels and novellas to outstanding reviews. Romantic pairings include
straight m/f, lesbian, bisexual, ménage and polyamory, in both contemporary and
paranormal settings.
ADRIANA KRAFT ON THE
WEB
Website:
http://adrianakraft.com
Thanks so much for hosting me! Hubs and I had a lot of fun writing these characters.
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