Under My Skin
Under My Skin is the story of a Milwaukee detective, Adam Southall, who is required to participate in psychotherapy, massage therapy, and yoga classes in order to deal with the death of his partner and best friend. He finds his massage therapist and yoga instructor, Tonya Avery, attractive, but a little too flaky for his tastes. Tonya is also attracted to her angry student, but knows better than to get involved with an emotionally unstable man. She's done that one too many times before. Then Tonya's best friend, also a massage therapist, disappears, and the police think she simply ran off with her boyfriend, Tonya asks Adam for help. Since he's dying of boredom riding a desk for the past month, Adam is eager for a true mystery. As they dig for clues into Alanah's disappearance, they get to know the people beneath the masks they show the world and find themselves falling in love.
I got the idea for this book while stuck in a yoga class that did absolutely nothing to clear my mind, or make my body more flexible. When I exercise, I want to sweat, not think. So, that right there answers the question of if my characters are based on myself. I chose to set this book in my home state of Wisconsin, partly because I know the locations and could lend that authenticity to the story, and partly because so few books are set in Wisconsin, and it's a great place. Plus, I couldn't bear to make my characters Redskins fans.
Please click here to read the first chapter of Under My Skin