MB:What or who inspired your novel?

SB: “In Deep Voodoo” is the story of a woman who stabs a voodoo doll of her ex-husband as a joke, but when he winds up stabbed to death, the police aren’t laughing! I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of voodoo dolls, that someone could secretly trigger something good or bad to happen to someone else without their knowledge. In 1999 I scribbled the crux of an idea on a piece of paper: “a woman stabs a voodoo doll as a joke and something bad happens to someone close to her,” then filed it away. In 2001 I visited New Orleans which further fueled my fascination with voodoo dolls. At the time, however, I was covered up in deadlines, so my idea sat idle in my files. Last year I was looking for something interesting to build a series around for Avon Books, and I pulled out my idea file. As soon as I saw my scribbled note to myself, I realized that a series could give me a platform for exploring the lure and mystique of voodoo dolls—the possibilities are endless! The small town of Mojo, Louisiana began to form in my mind, then the cast of characters. So the idea for “In Deep Voodoo” was over five years in the making!

MB:What do you like most about your novel?

SB: The fact that it launches a fun series and introduces characters that I get to revisit. I become attached to my characters; over the life of a manuscript, they begin to move and breathe and walk and talk. It’s difficult for me to say goodbye to those characters, then walk into a room of new characters for a new book. Some characters deserve more than one book, or more page than can be given to them as a secondary character. “In Deep Voodoo” sets up a small town and people that I can’t wait to get back to.

MB:Who is the most heroic person you know?

SB: Hands down, my father. Besides being a Vietnam veteran (he was in the combat infantry), he’s simply the most noble person I know, whether it’s stopping to help someone on the side of the road, or instructing people in public that they will not use foul language around his wife and daughters! He’s the kind of man who instills confidence and security in the people around him…he just always does the right thing. (I have tears in my eyes just describing him.) On top of having the integrity of a hundred men, my father is also a renaissance man: he’s a wood sculptor and recently took home the first-prize ribbon for a chili cook off! I give the heroes in my books a lot of my father’s mannerisms. And the thing I love most about my father: his eyes follow my mother when she walks across a room.

MB:Who’s your romance hero: Dark brooding bad boy or white knight in shining armor?

SB: I love dark, brooding bad boys, the men who resist being heroes, but whose internal makeup compels them to do what they were born to do, without drawing attention to themselves. The hero in “In Deep Voodoo” has lots of secrets and ulterior motives for helping the heroine that don’t come to light until the end of the book. I loved writing his character!

MB:Answer the question you wish an interviewer would ask.

SB:Answer: More romance novels, fewer anti-depressants. Question: What’s the secret to leading a happier, more satisfied life?