Author Alexa Grace's recipe for romantic suspense

Author Alexa Grace, whose latest release is Deadly Relations, knows a thing or two about romantic suspense, because she writes it. And well. Here, she shares what makes romantic suspense really pop for her.

Alexa: My recipe for romantic suspense is: non-stop suspense with a healthy dose of passion and a pinch of humor. Stir well, then add some other critical ingredients, like a kick-butt heroine, a hotter-than-hot hero and sizzling love scenes. Let's start cooking with some of my favorite romantic suspense authors and scenes.

Non-stop suspense

Indie author CJ Lyons' Snake Skin: A Lucy Guardino FBI Thriller (2011) made me tense just by reading the word "snake" in the title. But when her heroine FBI agent, Lucy Guardino, struggles with a religious fanatical child predator in a 4-foot-deep pool filled with slimy algae, murky water and writhing snakes, I lost it. This scene definitely hits the top of the ick factor and suspense scale. And that is just the first scene. CJ doesn't let up on the suspense throughout the book, which makes for a wild ride. It also makes the book one of my favorites for non-stop suspense.

One of the main characters in Allison Brennan's Fear No Evil (2007) is 18-year-old Lucy Kincaid, who is abducted by an online predator. Lucy's repeated rapes and torture are broadcast live on the Internet. To make the situation even more suspenseful, online viewers vote on the method of the teenager's slaughter. The clock ticks as her family and FBI agent Kate Donovan race to save her.

Both CJ Lyons and Allison Brennan keep me on the edge of my seat throughout their books and inspire me to do the same for my readers.

Non-stop suspense is my goal for my latest book, Deadly Relations. Detectives Blake Stone and Jennifer Brennan race to stop a vicious serial killer in their Indiana community. My antagonist is both handsome and lethal. He prides himself on his ability to hunt and capture his "prey." Like serial killer Ted Bundy, he is charming and persuasive, normal and unthreatening. He is able to persuade the most cautious and experienced young women to drop their guard, trust him and go off with him willingly — to their deaths.

Healthy dose of passion

Karen Robards' Bait (2004) has an eight-page love scene between heroine Maddie Fitzgerald and her FBI protector, Sam McCabe, that begins against a kitchen counter and ends on top of her oak kitchen table. The scene is amazingly sensuous and leaves the reader wanting more. (At least I did.)

Laura Griffin's motel scene with Sophie Barrett and homicide detective Jonah Macon in Snapped (2011) is another one of my favorite love scenes. Laura does an excellent job in creating two characters who are meant for each other and she has the reader cheering for the moment they finally get together. In this scene, Sophie, who should be in Jonah's protective custody, takes off for the beach but is discovered by Jonah at a cheap motel. The result is one sizzling hot love scene between a strong, sassy heroine and her alpha male.

In my Deadly Trilogy, my favorite love scene occurs in Deadly Deception (2012) after Lane Hansen, the smokin' hot detective, bakes up a batch of his smokin' hot, Pillsbury Bake-Off-worthy chocolate-chip cookies. I mean, what's sexier than a hunk baking in your kitchen? The heroine, Frankie Douglas, bites into a cookie warm from the oven, leaving a swirl of chocolate on her lower lip. The result is a love scene that starts in the kitchen with Lane licking the chocolate off Frankie's lip and ends on a winding staircase.

Pinch of humor

I like a pinch of humor to spice up my suspense, and author Laura Griffin in Whisper of Warning writes two of my favorite scenes.

One is a scene that made me laugh so hard that I couldn't breathe. The heroine, Courtney Glass, returns home after witnessing the murder of her ex-boyfriend and nearly being killed herself to discover she is starving and the only food in her refrigerator is growing mold or at the least is expired. She tosses all questionable food in the waste can. Detective Will Hodges arrives at her apartment with some additional questions about the murder. As they talk, there is a loud pop that Courtney believes is a gunshot and she dives for the floor, sprawling flat on her stomach with her arms covering her head. Will crouches beside her and tells her that it is not a gunshot she heard. Still terrified, she insists it is. He ventures into the kitchen from where the sound came and comes back with an expired can of biscuits that exploded in her waste can.

The other scene in the book cracking me up was a bar scene where Courtney waits for her friend. A guy with gelled hair that makes him look like an otter tries to make conversation when Courtney asks him what his zodiac sign is. He answers then leans closer to ask for hers. "Do not disturb," she responds as she slides off her stool to leave.

There is a scene in my book Deadly Deception that makes my daughter and me laugh every time we think about it. Lane Hansen is at Frankie Douglas' house, asleep on her sofa, when he hears a shrill scream from the front porch. When he investigates, he finds an orange cat he assumes belongs to Frankie and lets it in. What ensues is a hilarious scene with the alpha male who fears nothing being terrorized by an orange tabby. My favorite part of the scene is when the cat launches himself from behind the sofa like a flying ninja and latches himself onto the zipper of Lane's jeans and hangs on as Lane does a frantic dance to get him off.

There you have it — my personal recipe for romantic suspense success — non-stop suspense with a healthy dose of passion and a pinch of humor.

To find out more about Alexa and her books, you can visit her website, Alexa-Grace.net.