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The Devil You Know

Winner of the 2008 RWA® Golden Heart® for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements

Karen Sutton, a widowed Public Information Officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, returns to Canada's Capital, intent on putting her life as the wife of a US soldier-turned-diplomat behind her. But when the US Ambassador turns up dead in the company of a call girl, Karen is drawn into the world she's rejected, where every statesman keeps a secret and protocols can protect criminals.

In spite of the American Embassy's secretive Security Officer and a Member of Parliament with an agenda of his own, Karen must face her past in order to find the only witness that can identify the killer. Yet, as Karen comes closer to the truth, she becomes a target herself -- because the killer isn't a stranger to the diplomacy game, but the devil she already knows.

A rainy day, a pot of tea, and a good book... Life doesn't get any better than that, does it?

Not if you're an avid reader.

And not if you're a writer, either.

I love to crack open a book that's new to me. Heck, I love to crack open my old favorites. After all, what better way to learn to write a novel than to read one?

Writers, I believe, should read two types of books: good ones and bad ones. The good ones can highlight what you're doing wrong. The bad ones can confirm what you're doing right.

Whether you're a beginning writer or a twenty-novel veteran, reading with a critical eye can help you push your craft to the next level. By critical eye, I mean ask yourself what about the book makes you marvel. Then, ask yourself how the writer made that aspect of her work so awesome.

Maybe a writer's dialogue blows you away. Maybe it's her description. The element you admire most may change as your skill set changes. In any case, your bookshelf can be a never-ending classroom. Here are the top ten books that have taught me:

10. Sue Grafton's A Is for Alibi

Grafton bent noir without breaking it. She made the genre into something else. In doing so, she made it her own.

9. Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters

This high Victorian serial caught Charles Dickens' eye. And no wonder. The symbolism is sometimes blatant, sometimes subtle. But it always works hard to carry a larger message.

8. Carla Negger's The Cabin

Now I get it: Peanut butter is to chocolate what romance is to suspense!

7. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Need I say more?

6. Jane Austen's Mansfield Park

Structure is the object here. In a sense, this novel is a story told in duplicate. Each character, each motive, each setting has its equal and opposite counterpart. Together, these parts tell a poignant tale -- through structure.

5. Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man
This Depression Era novel packs a punch even by today's standards. How? Hammett conveys dark truths in single sentences.

4. Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night
Sayers is always q study in theme. Gaudy Night's theme is constant throughout - and can be summed up in one word -- love.

3. Robert Crais' L.A. Requiem
Crais is a master storyteller, working point-of-view not just to gradually reveal the pertinent facts of his mystery, but also to naturally trigger an emotional reaction from the reader. Joe Pike, I love you from the bottom of my heart.

2. William Gibson's Pattern Recognition
My heart sings each time I read this novel. While the book may seem topical, its characters are really on a universal quest.

1. Frank Herbert's Dune
I first read this book when I was fourteen years old. And it rocked my world. Dune is an amalgam of messages that seem to sum up where we've been... and where we're going. I can only my books will do as much.