for Sara Mills




Today is Tuesday, which means I'm posting at Exemplify Online's Blog.
Sometimes failure and fishing go together...



But today, here at Patterings, is for Sara Mills.
Sara Mills lost her husband a week ago today. He was only 40 and he had a massive heart attack. I cannot imagine it. To be honest, losing my husband is one of my worst nightmares. I've been praying often for Sara and her three young children--and running this interview that Cara Putman did with Sara is something small that I can do. Sara is an author with two books that sound absolutely fabulous and I'm looking forward to reading them. There are links below to buy one or both books to help support her.

Here's Cara's interview with Sara...
Miss Fortune and Miss Match are delightful books set in New York City in 1947. Tell us how you got the idea for Allie and these books...

I got the idea for Miss Fortune in the middle of the night, when all good ideas come to me.

One sleepless night I was watching The Maltese Falcon and I started to wonder how different the story would be if Sam Spade had been a woman. She'd never have fallen for Miss Wunderly's charms and lies. She'd have been smart and tough and she would have solved the case in half the time it took Sam because she wouldn't spend all of her time smoking cigarettes and calling her secretary Precious.

The thought of a hard-boiled female detective got my mind whirling.

I paused the movie and sat in my darkened living room thinking about how much fun a female Sam Spade could be. Intrigued but not yet ready to dash to my computer, I changed disks and put on Casablanca (my all time favorite movie ever). The sweeping love story, a tale full of hard choices and sacrifice was what finally made the whole idea click in my mind. If I could just combine the P.I. detective story of the Maltese Falcon with the love story from Casablanca, and make Sam Spade more of a Samantha, I could have the best of all worlds.

These books are so good, I wish I'd written them. How did you set the stage to capture that gritty PI feel without being dark?

I find that a lot of PI stories are gritty and dark, focusing on the worst of the humanity, and while I wanted the Allie Fortune mysteries to be exciting and tension-filled I didn’t want them to be stark and hopeless.

One of the things I tried to do to counteract the darkness was to give Allie a multi-layered life. She has cases, relationships, friends and family, all of which I hope combine to make the stories textured, rich and full of life.

Allie is a character I'd love to have coffee with. What did she teach you while you wrote these books?

Allie was a great character to write. One of the things I learned from her was that human relationships (man/woman, mother/daughter, friends) are complicated and full of unspoken rules and expectations. Allie is a rule-breaker at heart and it complicates her life on a regular basis. One of the storylines I loved most is Allie’s relationship with her mother and how it grows and changes and how it’s shaped her.

Another dimension of Allie’s character that really taught me a lot was her willingness to do whatever was needed to help those she loves. There is no price on that kind of friendship and it’s a characteristic I’d like to see more of in myself. Okay I admit it, I’ve got a bit of a friend-crush on Allie. LOL.

One last question: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would that be and who would you take with you?

If I could go anywhere right now I’d head to Monterey, California (I’m writing a book set there right now) and I’d plant myself on the beach with a notebook, writing my story as the waves crashed. Sounds like my idea of heaven on earth. There’s something about the wind-shaped Cypress trees and the crash of the surf in Monterey that calls to me. I don’t know why, it just is.


Miss Fortune
Allie Fortune Mystery Series #1


By Sara Mills / Moody Publishers


In 1947 Allie Fortune is the only female private investigator in New York City, but she's kept awake at night by a mystery of her own: her fianci disappeared in the war and no one knows if he's still alive. Until Allie finds out, she will have no peace. When there's a knock on her office door at four in the morning, Allie suspects trouble as usual, and Mary Gordon is no exception. Mary claims someone is following her, that her apartment has been ransacked, and that she's been shot at, but she has no idea why any of this is happening. Allie takes the case, and in the process discovers an international mystery that puts her own life in danger.

Meanwhile, the FBI is working the case as well, and she is partnered up with an attractive, single agent who would be perfect for her under other circumstances-if only she knew whether her fianci was still alive.





Miss Match, Allie Fortune Mystery Series #2

By Sara Mills / Moody Publishers


FBI agent Jack O'Connor receives a letter from Maggie, a woman he used to love, saying she's in trouble in Berlin. The FBI refuses to get involved, so Jack asks Allie Fortune to help him investigate. Allie and Jack pose as a missionary couple who want to bring orphans back to the United States.

A child finds important documents that everyone in the city - Soviets and allies alike - want for themselves. Maggie refuses to tell Jack what the documents are, saying if things go wrong, they are better off not knowing. Through the course of the search, Allie's past is brought back to her, half a world away from home.



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Thanks for joining me for Cara's interview with Sara Mills!
Next Tuesday I'm interviewing author Cheryl Wyatt and she'll be stopping by to visit with us. You don't want to miss getting to know Cheryl! There will also be a book drawing of her latest release which is a wonderful book.

6 comments:

  1. My heart is broken for Sara. I am praying and am going to go look at these books! What an awesome spotlight.

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  2. Wow, Patty. Thanks for sharing this about Sara. My heart and prayers go out to her and her family.

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  3. You have been given the Sisterhood Award; swing by and pick it up =) Thanks for being a great place to find refreshment and a smile! Have a good day.
    Lisa @ Graceful Abandon

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  4. These sound like great books, Peej. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. These books DO sound wonderful, and what an awful loss for her. Thank you for honoring her this way. Looking forward to next week!

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  6. Ah. My heart breaks for Sara. I have been in her shoes and it is a terrible place to be. But God IS faithful...I pray she can hold on to that...over and over and over again. My prayers are with her.

    And her books--oh my! Just up my alley. I have placed them in my cart at CBD! Thanks for showcasing these. I can't wait to read them.

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