Interview: 'Dark Powers' author Rebecca York

USA TODAY best-selling author Rebecca York joins us to talk about her latest release, Dark Powers (book four in her Decorah Security series); crusty old Navy SEALs; and how she'd like to be invisible (you heard it here first).

Joyce: Welcome back to HEA, Rebecca! Decorah Security, the agency in your Decorah Security series, is run by a crusty old Navy SEAL named Frank. That seems unusual for romance — usually the company is run by a hunky SEAL. Not that I think "crusty" precludes "hunky" … well, actually I think it does. What made you choose a different direction?

Rebecca: Well, all the male agents who work for Frank are hunks.Think of him like Control in the old James Bond movies, an older guy who knows the ropes. I wanted his agency, Decorah Security, to be a place where I could have some interesting characters, including Frank. The computer guys who work there are both nerds you wouldn't take out in public. (One is modeled after an instructor I had in a seminar who came into the class with a hole in the crotch of his pants and his tie turned inside out.) Frank's agents are the sons and daughters he never had and his "adventure surrogates." He lost a leg in his final mission, so he can't climb 10-story buildings anymore. But his agents can do it for him. I introduce him and the staff in Dark Moon. And he does play an active role in Chained, where he almost hauls the heroine off to jail before she can save the hero's life.

Joyce: What kind of paranormal powers do Frank's agents have and how do they use them to solve cases?

Rebecca: I wanted Decorah Security to give me the broadest possible vehicle for storytelling. Really anything goes. Maybe a zombie or a vampire will show up. Or a guy with telekinetic abilities. Cole Marshall, the hero of Dark Moon, is a werewolf, and I'm about to add his brother to the staff, in a short story called Hot and Dangerous. The hero of Dark Powers can touch murder victims and read their last memories.

Joyce: If you could have a paranormal power, what would it be?

Rebecca: I read mostly science-fiction and fantasy when I was a teenager, and I was always drawn to stories where the characters had telepathic powers. I love to write about heroes and heroines who communicate mind to mind (as in my two Harlequin Intrigues, Sudden Insight and Sudden Attraction.) But for myself, perhaps I'd like to be invisible. Think about the opportunities for going places where you're not supposed to be.

Joyce: What do you do when you finish a book? I like to run naked around the courtyard in my apartment complex … OK, I'm kidding. I can't do that anymore, what with the arrest and all. You?

Rebecca: Celebrate with chocolate? Try to decompress for a few days before I dive into the next project. Unfortunately, there's rarely a time when I'm not busy. If I'm not writing a book, I'm doing promotion for a book. One thing I love to do is go off with my husband to a great hotel in a beautiful location. I like to find a spot where I can sit and write and look up at beautiful scenery and take breaks along the beach or the lake. I write my 10 pages. Then we go off and play for the rest of the day.

Joyce: Hypothetical question: You're stranded on a deserted island, and you can have only one kind of food and one form of entertainment other than books. What do you choose?

Rebecca: One form of entertainment? Hum — I guess it would have to be the Holodeck on the Star Trek Enterprise. I suppose that's cheating, because I could turn that into anything I wanted. One kind of food? Don't do this to me. I would get bored and go insane very quickly.

Joyce: Please tell us more about Dark Powers, the fourth book in the Decorah Security series, and what readers can expect to see from you next.

Rebecca: The hero of Dark Powers is Ben Walker, who was the security chief on an S&M pleasure ship. (Where we met him in Dark Moon.) He's suffering from extreme guilt over his role on the ship, and he sees his current assignment as a means of atonement. Sage Arnold hires Decorah Security to find her kidnapped sister, and Frank selects Ben for the job because he thinks Laurel has been taken by a serial killer. If Ben can locate some of the other victims, he can use his dark powers to discover who is holding Laurel. Ben wants to work alone, but Sage insists on coming with him, and as they navigate the dangerous waters of Doncaster, Md., they grow close. Perhaps Sage is the right woman to bring Ben back to life — if he can open himself up to her.

Ben and Sage work out their relationship against a background of suspense and danger. On the surface Doncaster looks like a perfect tourist town, but the powers that be are determined to quash their investigation. As they dig into a series of murders, they put themselves in extreme danger — not just from the killer. (Who turns out to be someone I think readers will never suspect. But they can go back and see where I've planted the clues.)

The next Decorah work is a short story, Hot and Dangerous. Jenna Brockhurst has gone to an island resort in San Marcos to decompress from her stressful job. When the resort comes under attack, she and Zack Marshall escape into the jungle, where they get to know each other a whole lot better. Then the terrorists find them, and Zack must reveal his werewolf persona to save Jenna's life. Afterward, can Jenna accept Zack for what he is?

Joyce: Is there anything you'd like to add?

Rebecca: I often think of setting as an important character in my story. Dark Powers takes place in Doncaster, a Maryland Eastern Shore community rich with watermen and historic atmosphere. I modeled it after a stunning little town called St. Michaels, but since a lot of bad things happen in Doncaster, I changed the name. The venue provided all kinds of wonderful chances to add atmosphere to the story. The abandoned warehouses and crab-processing plants along the Miles River make an excellent location to hide a dead body. There are also scenes in the seafood restaurant on the waterfront where diners can arrive on foot or by car or boat. Then there's the police station, in a converted Victorian house. It's charming on the outside and all business on the inside.

These locations allowed me to introduce clues about the kidnapper and the victim, clues that only become obvious near the end of the book.

Joyce: Thanks, Rebecca!

You can find out more about Rebecca and her books at her website, RebeccaYork.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook and Twitter (@RebeccaYork43).