A Letter from Yesay is storyteller Stephanie Freeman’s third romantic suspense yarn from publisher Crimson Romance. Available now for pre-order, this story–due February 4–looks sure to thrill. I mean, check out this hook!:

She folded the pages. Some were old . . . stained with tears and time. Others were a pale pink . . . the color of hope, scented with lavender and regrets. It was hello. It was goodbye and the fathoms of memory that dwell in between.

Murder mystery writer Garin Carter surrounds herself with shadows and secrets for a living. But when the mystery leaves the page and puts her life and others at risk, can she trust a stranger with an unspeakable or will the contents of the letter seal her fate?

Multimillionaire Alex Mathews has the world at his fingertips when a letter arrives. Will its contents rip at the very fabric of his existence or will it bring him a happiness he’s never known?

Let’s find out what motivated this story. Here’s the Five W’s.

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WHO are your main characters?

My main characters are Garin Carter and Alex Mathews. Garin is a mystery writer trying to solve the mystery that surrounds her best friend, Yesay’s death. Alex is a multi-millionaire that is drawn into the mystery by a cryptic letter from his sister Yesay.

WHAT tropes do you utilize in the story?

I utilize the damsel in distress trope in this story.

WHEN is the story set and how long does it take to resolve?

The story is set in the present. It takes the better part of six months to resolve.

WHERE is the story set and why’d you choose the setting?

The story is set in a fictitious place called Shadow Bay, Maryland. I chose this setting because the town is in many ways like my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland and yet it is far removed. There is something about the place that while peaceful looking on the outside, you know that there are many things at work on the inside and not all of them are good…

I clearly see the sky line glowing in the distance much like Baltimore’s cityscape. You have the usual tourist traps and regal sky scrapers and then there are the mean streets, the dark wet pavement and the screams that litter the alleys much like graffiti. I even have a financial district, a red light district, a cultural center and a sports stadium that would make the NFL proud. Shadow Bay is a living breathing character in all of my books. My characters know each other whether it is from being in the same book or as part of other books.

WHY did you write this story?

I am from the Toni Morrison school of thought on story writing. Sometimes, your characters sit down next to you and they start telling their story. That was the case with A Letter from Yesay only some of it is steeped in reality. I remember sitting on a bus stop years ago watching a woman worry the edges of an envelope before she put it in the mailbox. She was young; probably in her late twenties or early thirties. She had on the power suit and the white socks. When she put the envelope in the mailbox, she hovered for a second as if the fate of the world resided in that envelope. She glanced at me and for the briefest instant she seemed almost ancient…as if she’d seen too little of heaven and far too much of hell. The incident followed me for weeks and out of that incident a question rose. In this digitized world we live in, can the contents of a letter cross oceans of time to bring hope and healing in a world where letter writing is a lost art form?

HOW is this story different from the last one you wrote?

The last story I wrote, Nature of the Beast, was all about the removal of masks. A Letter from Yesay is more a story of female friendships. We discover how an unlikely relationship between Garin Carter and Yesay Mathews has this marvelous ripple affect that brings a man to Garin’s doorstep and possibly into her heart forever.

Find Stephanie Freeman online:

Email: stephaniemfreemanauthor [at] gmail [dot] com
Website
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Other romantic suspense books by Stephanie Freeman:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
All Romance eBooks

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

All Romance eBooks

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