Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
Rising Danger by Jerusha Agen is her first full length romantic suspense novel. She has a unique storyline with a private consulting all-female bomb-detection firm. Her characters are great role models for showing how they can exist in a man’s world.
The story has someone planting explosives on dams in the Twin Cities. Bristol Bachmann and her bomb-sniffing dog, Toby, are called in to help the police and the dam supervisor. Remington Jones, the dams’ supervisor, and Bristol’s ex-boyfriend is assigned to assist her. She is hopeful that he is no longer the unreliable person she knew during their police academy days. She needs his help to find the bomber who is after Bristol and Toby to make sure they do not diffuse the devices.
This is an interesting action-packed story. Readers root for Bristol and Toby to find the bombs before they explode.
Elise Cooper: Why romantic suspense?
Jerusha Agen: I have a fondness for a story that follows a group of people that are in a family or friendship. There is a team feel. I like romantic suspense novels by Dani Pettrey and Dee Henderson. They inspired me to write romantic suspense. This is my first official romantic suspense novel. In this series I am featuring an all-female detection and security agency with dog handlers and their canine partners since I love dogs.
EC: Why Labrador Retrievers?
JA: They are suited to explosive detection work. They have the nose, energy, and drive. Toby, the lab in this book will do anything for his toy. I wanted the dog to be friendly and have a goofy side. This brought out some fun scenes in the novel that otherwise would have been too heavy a story. It supplied a little comic relief.
EC: Do you have dogs?
JA: Yes. I have two dogs, a Great Pyrenees and a Leonberger puppy.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Remington?
JA: He has two sides to him. Back when he was in the police academy, he was a ladies’ man, unreliable, rebellious, and unpredictable. Someone who made his own rules because he was disorganized and a procrastinator. But ever since he became a Christian he has changed. He is now responsible, charming, an extrovert, and a people person.
EC: How would you describe the heroine, Bristol?
JA: Organized, structured, likes to be in control, and courageous. She is very direct and blunt with people.
EC: How about the relationship?
JA: When they first met, they did not complement each other. But now, even with Remington’s unpredictability Bristol realizes that some surprises can be good.
EC: Why bomb detection?
JA: I wanted to give Bristol a job where she can be in control. She is a survivor of Hurricane Katrina but has scars. Her greatest fear is being in another catastrophic flood. She moved to the Twin Cities because she thought she would never be in that position again, the feeling of being out of control. I realized the rivers and dam flooding could be possible if a bomb was set off. This allowed Bristol to have a journey spiritually and emotionally.
EC: Why the dam?
JA: In doing my research I found that there was a debate in the Twin City area about possibly taking down the dam and allowing the water flow to be “free.” I thought that those who wanted the dam gone could be part of an environmental terrorist group.
EC: Bristol was not close to her mother?
JA: The Hurricane flooding affected their relationship. Her mom was not strong during that disaster and crumpled. Bristol felt her mother recovered too quickly when she remarried. This created a division. But Bristol grew closer to her grandmother then where she experienced her strength and comfort as well as someone who understood where Bristol was coming from.
EC: Can you give a heads up about your next book?
JA: It will be the second in the series with a working title, Deception Danger. It is due to come out later this year. The setting is in the Minnesota State Fair. The heroine, Jazz Lamont, is former military along with her canine. The hero is Richard Delaney.
EC: THANK YOU!!
