“Undercover Babymoon” Release: A Vacation for the Imagination

Undercover Babymoon is a bit of a joint effort between me and a friend who’s always hitting me up with ideas for stories. Bear in mind, I don’t really welcome suggestions about what I write unless it’s in a professional capacity. Plus, this friend, while beloved, doesn’t typically offer the most serious or even sound tips!

For a change, however, he made me perk up my ears sometime around 2014. Having gone on many cruises, he suggested that I put my characters on a cruise one day. Instead of mentally discarding the notion, I filed that one away, waiting for the right opportunity to act on it. Since my family went on one voyage years earlier, I had experience I could tap into to make it realistic, which added to the viability of the prospect.

A short while later, I received my first publication deal, and my excitement was heightened by the head editor throwing out the possibility of the book beginning its own series. I already had a first draft of the sequel finished, but I wanted to impress him even more than that. Thus, I wrote up summaries of two future installments that I barely even contemplated. For the last one, I pulled out the cruise suggestion and based the premise off of that.  

What was originally a tolerated suggestion turned into such an enjoyable writing process. Despite challenges with my publisher which resulted in the company restructuring and letting me go, I worked hard to compose those next follow-ups as quickly as I could with the hope of releasing one a year. I’d never multitasked on several different projects before, but during that time, my home state of Ohio was enduring a couple of hard, cold, long winters. Hence, I spent some hours here and there writing about the cruise in order to warm up my spirits. 

As highlighted in my character spotlights over the past few weeks, I took this writing experience as a chance to have a little extra fun than in previous installments. The past books have tackled some pretty serious matters, such as the mob, corruption, and stereotyping, though they contain their share of light-hearted moments, of course. With Undercover Babymoon, however, I wanted to lean into the vacation mood, making readers get swept away by entertaining characters and comical scenes. Granted, a murder does occur, and the voyage holds some surprises for the Avery clan, so it isn’t all fun and games.

One of the elements I relished in most was giving Wes his long-awaited chance to be involved in police work. In Husband in Hiding, he took his crack at investigating, but it didn’t go too well, landing him in the Witness Protection Program. That debacle never quenched his thirst to play cop, so he’s more than eager to get in on the action in Undercover Babymoon. No matter how much he’s reminded that he really doesn’t have to take the undercover part so seriously, he does his best to channel his inner James Bond…island style, that is! Now that he has his shot, the question remains: Will he sink or swim?

I can’t thank my readers enough for the love and support they’ve shown to The Unde(a)feated Detective Series over these four installments and nine years. If I hadn’t received the kind encouragement about Husband in Hiding, I probably would have given up during my publication setbacks. You motivated me to continue to believe in it and be persistent about finishing what I started, no matter how long and how many rejections it would take!

While I don’t yet know what the future holds for the series, I hope Undercover Babymoon provides readers as much laughter and delight as it gave me to write it!

About “Undercover Babymoon”

Most mothers-to-be spend their pregnancy leafing through baby names and shopping for nursery furniture. Minka Avery spends hers trying to hunt down a murderer on the open seas.

Minka’s promotion to Orlando PD’s homicide department has some bumps at first, including her growing baby bump. Just as she and her partner begin to hit their stride, Logan Baris’s suspicious death baffles them. The investigation leads the detectives to believe he had a hand in a shady operation, but the cruise ship worker’s troubles seem to voyage into the ocean blues with him.

After they meet up with some dead ends on land, Minka convinces her partner and his wife to join her and her husband to embark on a covert investigation on the ship. Will they be able to uncover whatever scheme is underway on the vessel? Or will the choppy waves of personal drama make it run ashore?

Excerpt:

On their own yet again, Minka and Cael combed through Logan’s phone for something that hinted to drugs or his secret, but the superheroes remained their only grounds for suspicion. With no leads emerging the rest of the morning, they took longer lunch breaks than usual. Minka spotted an issue of The Miracle of Motherhood magazine she’d bought at the café a few days ago and took it with her to peruse it, skimming an article on the latest nursery fashions. After she highlighted a couple of ideas, she flipped to the next write-up, which shared ways to enjoy your second trimester. With Cael seated across from her in the break room, she had to joke with him about it.

“Guess I’m not on trend. Chasing after killers isn’t ‘the thing to do’ during my second trimester.”

“Bogus article!”

She giggled, browsing through what she was supposed to be doing, including indulging in spa days and wellness classes. With the busy life she led, all of the luxurious suggestions amused her. When her eyes crossed the words “Take a Babymoon”, she initially kept her cynicism intact, until an idea occurred to her. She put it down and told her partner, “I need a babymoon!”

Also See

Character Spotlight: The Avery Family

Character Spotlight: Griffin and Janine Garrets

Character Spotlight: Stewart and Tula Hawkins