I am preparing to drive to Nashville next week for the National Religious Broadcasters Conference where I will talk to podcasters, radio talk show hosts, and others about Christian Fiction and my books. I’ll also be signing copies of Fatal Witness, Book 2 in the Pearl River Series.

I’ve been reviewing why I write Christian fiction because that’s what I’ll be asked. As I look back over the seventeen books I’ve written, I realize that in a lot of my stories, a character needs to forgive either another person or themselves. In others, the character has lost hope, and the story (set against the backdrop of a crime) details how they find their hope again through Christ, even though it is a subtle message.

Why is my message subtle? Because I have a lot of non-Christians who read my books, and I want to challenge their thinking without preaching to them. Fatal Witness which was released on the anniversary of my first book, is no different. The heroine in the story is Dani Bennett, and she has gone to church all her life, but when she thinks about God, she thinks of him as her uncle’s God. As the story unfolds, the hero, Mark Lassiter, challenges her by telling her maybe that’s her problem, and that nothing will change for her until she makes him her God. The rest of the story is about how that happens as they solve a murder.

So if you happen to think of it next week, I would appreciate prayers as I go to NRB, that God would make divine appointments for me–and all the others who will be there. It’s not a competition. Everyone there will be seeking ways to get their message out to a hurting world.

Here’s the cover and back copy for Fatal Witness:

As a child, artist and potter Dani Bennett witnessed the brutal murder of her parents. With no memory of the incident or her true identity, she was forced to take on a new name and a new life, hidden away in Montana for the past 25 years.

Mae Richmond has spent the same stretch of time searching for her granddaughter, who went missing the night her daughter and son-in-law were murdered. Convinced the woman she saw in a pottery magazine feature is the woman she’s been searching for, she enlists the help of K-9 officer Mark Lassiter of Pearl Springs, Tennessee, who tracks Dani down.

Skeptical but curious, Dani sets out on a journey to uncover the secrets of her past and reclaim her true identity. But someone close to her is determined to keep the truth of what happened all those years ago hidden.

You can find purchase links here.