Interview with Margaret Daley!

SUSAN: Welcome back, Margaret! It’s always a pleasure to have you with us. Tell us about your new book, Buried Secrets.
Hidden Treasure.

MARGARET: Fresh from her grandfather’s funeral, Maggie Somers was shocked to find his home—all she had left of him—ransacked. What wasn’t so shocking was that a Collier stood among the wreckage. Maggie had grown up hearing all about the Collier clan—liars and thieves who couldn’t be trusted. Yet Zach Collier asked Maggie to have faith in him, to put their feud and their families’ to rest. His grandfather had also recently passed away. Zach was sure the man—like Maggie’s grandfather—had been murdered for something hidden among his possessions. Something Zach and Maggie had to uncover before they became targets.

SUSAN: This book is a sequel to Heart of the Amazon. Can a reader who didn’t read the first book read this one alone? How closely are the two connected?


MARGARET: Buried Secrets definitely can stand alone. Then only connection is Zach, the heroine in Heart of the Amazon’s twin brother.

SUSAN: What unique research did you do for Buried Secrets?

MARGARET: I had to research about the Aztec Indians, caves, the terrain of New Mexico, and Latin.

SUSAN: After authoring so many books, do you find the planning and writing easier than at first? What aspects of the craft are you still learning?

MARGARET: I am always learning. I keep seeking better ways to tell my stories. With that said, I do find the planning and writing easier than when I started out. Knowing what I’m doing most of the time has helped make the process faster.

SUSAN: Tell us how you start out to plot a suspense book. Do you begin with your characters, a situation, or a crime? How do you build the plot from that first germ of an idea?

MARGARET: I don’t have one answer to this question because each story comes to me different. Heart of the Amazon started because I wanted to write a book in the jungle. I’m fascinated with the locale. The opening of So Dark the Night (the crime) was what came to me first. In Vanished I came up with a premise first where a law officer’s past comes back to haunt him and forces him to face his worst fears. In Buried Secrets I wanted to do something with the heroine’s brother I created in Heart of the Amazon. The same can be said with Forsaken Canyon. I had this terrific character in my head and he had to have his own story.

SUSAN: Do you revise as you go or plow through the rough draft, then go back to make changes?

MARGARET: I usually plow through the rough draft but sometimes I will go back and read what I have and when I read, I always edit.

SUSAN: Is it a challenge to make each story different? Are you ever afraid your heroines or heroes are too much alike from one book to the next?

MARGARET: It’s always a challenge to make each story unique and fresh. So far I haven’t run out of ideas.

SUSAN: Tell us about what you are working on now and future project plans. Will you continue this series?

MARGARET: I am currently working on Forsaken Canyon, a sequel to Buried Secrets. These two books are more closely connected than Heart of the Amazon and Buried Secrets. This is Hawke Lonechief’s story. He is Zach’s cousin and a tribal police chief.

SUSAN: Is there another book—maybe in a different genre—that you’ve always had a hankering to write but haven’t so far?

MARGARET: I have a larger romantic suspense that I want to write some day.

SUSAN: You’ve written 23 books for Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense. Any tips for writers who hope to break in with these lines?

MARGARET: Read what you want to write and keep at the writing. If you don’t, you for sure will never sell. You must write and send the book out to sell it. Also rejection is part of the business. I have received many of them through the years, so if you receive one, don’t get discouraged. You aren’t alone.

SUSAN: Margaret, Thank you so much for a fascinating interview! Readers, please leave your comments for Margaret on our contest page for a chance to win a copy of Buried Secrets.

You can visit Margaret's web page here.