#PlottingPrincesses guest #author Donnell Ann Bell & a new suspense #MFRWorg #RLFblog #RWAKOD

Welcome to a dear friend to the Princesses, suspense author Donnell Bell! Let's get to know Donnell:

Donnell Ann Bell grew up in New Mexico and today calls Colorado home.  A homebody at heart, she leaves the international thrillers to world travelers, and concentrates on suspense that might happen in her neck of the woods – writing SUSPENSE TOO CLOSE TO HOME.  The author of The Past Came Hunting, Deadly Recall and Betrayed, all of which have been e-book best sellers, her fourth release, Buried Agendas is due out November 7th and is available for preorder on Amazon Kindle. Her books have won or been nominated for prestigious writing awards, including The Epic Award for Best Thriller Suspense, Greater Detroit’s Booksellers Best for Best First Book and Best Single Title, and the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery Suspense. Donnell co-owns Crimescenewriters a Yahoo group for mystery/suspense writers. www.donnellannbell.com    


The Plot Thickened then Fizzled 
Good morning, Plotting Princesses, and thank you to my neighbor and friend Vicki Batman for an invitation to visit. (Our neighbor story is one we should blog about, don’t you think, Vicki?  Absolutely, Donnell!) But back to the topic at hand, I’m envious of all of you who get together to talk about a writer’s number one love:  Plotting!  One writer’s imagination is gold, a whole gang of plotters is like hitting the mother lode.

While I’m here to tell you about my upcoming release, BURIED AGENDAS, I’m also here to tell you about an interesting scenario that had/and still has my brain spinning.  Last week during a Broncos game a man disappeared during half-time. Happy go lucky, he posed with his family, and then left his seat and never came back.  It was a real mystery; even with his friends and family going on National television saying please help us find this man.  One neighbor insisted the police let everyone into Invesco Field (home of the Broncos) to search as one woman had become trapped inside for four hours before anyone found her.) The neighbor was sure that had happened to his friend.

My writer’s brain of course was all a twitter at this one.  Where was he?  Did he have a secret life no one knew about?  Was he a gambler and had a bookie’s thugs come after him?  Did he witness something inside Invesco field that he shouldn’t have?  What happened?

Yesterday, we got our answer.  He was simply tired of football so he took off.  Hitchhiked 130 miles to Pueblo Colorado and there he stayed—for a week.  
Well, that kind of let the air out of my poor little plotting head.  Of course I’m glad he’s safe.  But it’s ideas like this that make a person a writer, don’t you agree? If we don’t know the answer, we make something up!

Something else that makes you a writer is an idea grabbing your muse by the throat and saying “What about this?”  I’m married to a chemical engineer, and the stories he’s brought home during 32 years of marriage have kept me not only entertained, but sticking ideas in my “possibility” file.

For years I watched the series Dallas. Never got into the “comeback” show, but I loved the original.  Perhaps that’s where I got a germ of an idea for BURIED ADGENDAS, my November release from Bell Bridge Books. Only my wealthy family who lives on a ranch doesn’t own an oil company; they own a chemical company, and nefarious things are afoot.

I also love reunion stories.  I love to take an impossible situation, up the stakes and see if I can’t get two people meant to be back together. That’s the crux of the story surrounding Buried Agendas.  

Here’s the blurb:  
A devastating secret drove her from her lover’s arms.  Will a secret equally as deadly lead her back to him?

Diana Reid is an investigative reporter skilled at uncovering other people’s secrets.  It’s her own that she works to keep buried. Eight years earlier, she promised to leave her fiancé and hometown of Diamond, Texas forever. That pledge vanishes when she receives a letter stating people are going to die, implicating her hometown’s largest employer, and making a veiled threat against her mother. With no other choice, Diana will return to Diamond, albeit in disguise, to discover the anonymous author.

Brad Jordan moved on with his life after Diana walked out on him. Needless to say, she’s an unwelcome topic where he’s concerned.  Leaving his brother in charge of Jordan Industries, the family business, Brad pursued a law degree and is now mayor of Diamond. Just as he rebuilt his life, he plans to rebuild his struggling hometown.  Those plans are threatened when an El Paso physician notifies Brad that she believes Jordan Industries is conducting illegal practices and sacrificing the public’s health. 

When the doctor suggests bringing in Diana to uncover the wrongdoing, Brad naturally opposes the idea. Diana is the last person Brad wants to see personally or professionally.  Still, when she appears in Diamond, he’s forced to accept that a woman he vowed to forget may be his only option to get to the truth.  
 
Together Diana Reid and Brad Jordan face a dangerous adversary—one whose only intent is keeping a deadly agenda buried.

Find Buried Agendas at: Amazon ebook

Plotting Princesses, thank you for inviting me to guest blog today.  It’s been a pleasure.  Keep up the good plotting.  I’ll keep stopping by for fabulous ideas!

And thank you, Donnell, for being with us! Many hugs.