THE KILLING HOUR features a self-proclaimed, Eco-Killer, a man who feels he is forced to commit murder to call attention to the desecration of the world's environment. In this case, he kidnaps women in pairs, leaving the first woman's body as a "map" bearing clues to the second victim's location. These clues include soil samples, water samples, rare flora and fauna, etc. Bring in the right experts, trace the evidence and find the second woman still alive-if you're in time. Over the course of four years, the Eco-Killer struck in Georgia four times. Only the last woman did the police find in time and then… the Eco Killer never struck again.

Now, however, years later, another heat wave has descended. And FBI New Agent Kimberly Quincy is out for a run on Quantico grounds. She stumbles upon a dead body, and finds herself in the middle of an investigation of a lifetime. For the Eco-Killer has started up again, and this time, he has Kimberly in his sights.

It seems like almost all of my book ideas have their roots in true crime. In the case of THE KILLING HOUR, I literally went crime shopping. I already knew the heroine for the story-Kimberly Quincy from THE KILLING HOUR who I felt had a good story to tell. And I knew the location-the FBI Academy at Quantico, which I thought would be very neat. But what type of villain? I wanted someone really chilling and diabolical. Someone unique.

Basically, I spent the spring researching crimes. I read books, watched TV, dug into history and then ran across a creepy little story that clicked everything together in my mind, courtesy of the French. Who knew? But apparently, in between making champagne and baking croissants, they ran a truly evil penal colony called Devils Island.

The French used the island as a penal colony starting in 1852. Nicknamed, "the Green Hell," Devil's Island was reserved for political prisoners and considered the worst punishment possible. By day, the men hacked down giant trees while trying to survive on meager servings of gruel. At night, they were herded into concrete bunkers deep in the jungle where they awaited an even worse fate. Poisonous snakes. Venomous spiders. Vampire bats. The prisoners wrote in their journals of waking up to find bats feasting on their emaciated arms and snakes curling up their legs. Ewwww, I thought. And then I knew I had a book idea.

The real dilemma for me was creating the proper "clues" for the Eco-Killer to use in his crime spree. To be true to the Eco-Killer's character, I needed to outline a series of dual kidnappings, where the first woman's body would serve as a "road map" to finding the second woman, who has been abandoned in a geologically dangerous location. But what locations to use? What clues? I'm an avid outdoorswoman, but I know New England, not Georgia or Virginia.

I confess, I got very lucky. On the plane ride down to the FBI Academy, I happened to introduce myself to the man next to me, who happened to be a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey team in Richmond, VA. Not only did he know how I could use water as a clue, but he put me in touch with the entire team of experts. And that's what it took to write THE KILLING HOUR-the entire U.S. Geological Survey team of Richmond, VA. The team was amazing, not just helping me understand the science involved, but taking my husband and me on a week-long tour of Virginia, where we selected the best places for people to die.

Maybe it's not everyone's idea of a summer vacation, but we loved it.

I never intend half of the stuff I do in my novels. That's part of the magic of writing. Kimberly really grew on me while I was writing THE NEXT ACCIDENT, so I decided she needed her own story. In that way, THE KILLING HOUR is unique. It's truly about Kimberly's journey. I've crafted the plot as a sort of Kimberly Quincy boot camp-to break her down and build her up again as a better, truer person. This is a woman who lost half of her family to violent crime. She's young in years, but old at heart. She feels most comfortable when armed, and hopelessly vulnerable when not. I've given her a villain who's just as bad as she's always imagined. But then I've also given her a partner who's nothing like she's expected. Special Agent Mac McCormack is warm, funny, and sexy-basically everything Kimberly's never known how to handle. He sees hers as a woman, whereas she's only ever seen herself as a law enforcement machine. We'll see how Kimberly does with both of her challenges, but I'm counting on her not to disappoint.

Like most children, Kimberly has always wanted her father's attention. In her case, that meant competing with his job for his time. Unfortunately, given the urgent nature of her father's work, that wasn't a war Kimberly won very often. So, in a classic case of "if you can't beat them, join them," Kimberly got involved in law enforcement as well. By sharing her father's world, she is finally getting his attention-and his respect.

As someone who lost her mother and her sister to a psychopath, Kimberly is haunted by death. Violence in her world isn't an abstract concept, but something that can happen to her at any time. She is more aware of her surroundings than an ordinary person, more obsessed with personal security, body language, the stranger in a crowd. While she is training to be an FBI agent-someone who hunts predators-she inherently feels hunted. By taking on the Eco-Killer, Kimberly gets to rise to the challenge. She wants to prove to her peers, but mostly to herself, that she is strong, capable and powerful. She is shedding the mantle of victim, for the shield of law enforcement. I think her mother would be very proud.