Bonfires, Burglars, & Book Recommendations

Sadie bent over the fireplace, stoking the flames out of their dormancy to greater, crackling heights. Hugging the blanket tighter around her arms, she straightened before going to the sunlit casement.

The hand of dawn had finally succeeded in reaching through the darkening mists of the surrounding woods to greet Sadie’s sleep-laden eyes. She blinked at the early Autumn rays but did not wish to turn away. The light had the means to dispel the shadows and guide Sadie on the path before her.

What would this day bring? What would this seemingly peaceful Autumn bring this year?

Another Autumn’s rolling around, my favorite season, boasting of golden sunlight illuminating xanthous leaves and warming bonfires to ward off the early morning chill – a chill very much welcomed after months of grueling Southern summer.

Daylight may be failing in this latter part of the year, however, I’m still burning the proverbial midnight oil in scratching my head, learning, and forever recalibrating my path-to-publishing with new information. I can’t help feeling like I’m constantly getting it wrong, but that's the learning process with anything. Just so long as you’re moving forward, you are making progress.

Now, you might be able to help, and if so, that would be awesome!

I need book suggestions: Christian suspense or mystery, but not Romantic Suspense – at least, in the usual formula.

So that a potential agent can get an idea where my novel would belong in the wide shelf of genres and sub-genres, I have to supply comparable titles in the proposal I send – books incorporating similar themes to mine.

To help you in your brainstorming, here is the back cover copy for my Safecracker:

Five car bombs, eight unsolved case files–and her parents are two of them. Sidney Webb's one stipulation as a freelance forensic artist is no blood or gore, but with the suspicious lack of evidence, Sidney hurtles herself into the brutal underworld to bring down the criminal organization behind their murders.

Homicide Detective Christian Webb will do anything to protect his adopted sister. But when the burglary reports filter in all bearing the mark of Sidney's recent obsession for vengeance, he struggles between his deep loyalty to her and the duty to turn her in.

Sidney's rage is powerful enough to pull the trigger, but the secrets the crime lord knows will destroy her more than a bullet to his head. And when a reckless move places both her and Christian in the reticle of destruction, Sidney must choose between trusting in God to carry her through the tragedy or in her newfound skills as a safecracker.

Thus far, I’ve had little to no luck in my literary search. The If I Run series by Terri Blackstock has some similarities with the heroine and my Sidney both being on the wrong side of the law, getting in deeper by the minute, and the mutual determination to succeed.

But aside from Blackstock, most of the novels I enjoy and aspire to follow are from authors that have now retired such as Frank Peretti, - not that his books are close to Safecracker, since it has neither the prevalent supernatural aspect nor the outdoorsy hunter protagonists, however, I hope to bring similar depth of character and plot to the table in my stories – or they are permanently retired, if you know what I mean, like Gilbert Morris who wrote the Dani Ross Mystery series. Most of these books are also “outdated,” being older than five to ten years from the publishing date, further crippling my search since they do not represent the current literary market.

Does no one write deep books anymore? And I don’t mean Charles Dickens deep, but literature with a little more involved than the fluff I keep tripping over.

With high hopes, I read Dani Pettrey’s One Wrong Move recently (you can read my review here). While the protagonist’s burglary past might have aligned with Sidney, overall, the story was shallow, with more character interaction than serious crime detection. And I’m afraid that's because the book adheres to the romantic suspense formula, where the suspense is just a springboard for the relationship.

Don’t get me wrong with my frequent censure. I am not against romance. It's not always a necessity, though it helps make a good story, and Safecracker has its realistic share of it.

But I want to delineate between what I consider realistic romance as opposed to the insipid formula abundant everywhere: Romantic Suspense usually involves love at first sight and an over-focus on emotions as opposed to sensibly building relationships that naturally sway to the amorous side. It'll mean that much more to the reader to follow along as the hero and heroine gradually grow in feelings for each other.

I mean, come on, guys. Love and relationships in real life take time to develop, so let’s face it: love at first sight doesn’t exist. 

That’s called lust.

And the gawking and ogling going on with these characters is not what any professing Christian should be taking part in.

A good example of a realistic romance is the one in the If I Run series. The relationship takes longer to mature, but the reward at the end is even more satisfying for the reader now that they are at last together. And I hope the one that takes place in my own suspense novel will be as well.

With this mild burnout, I took a hiatus from suspense and dove into The Lord of the Rings. Talk about a classic there! So captivating! But I plan on starting a Colleen Coble soon, with fingers crossed, unfortunately. Sorry, I’m just getting weary of disappointment.

So, that's why I'm reaching out to you! Do you have a Christian suspense, mystery, or thriller that sounds similar to my aspiring novel? Or a favorite author with the literary meat of Blackstock or Peretti?

Please, please, share it with me!

~Alissa