You don’t often meet adults who have imaginary friends, but I have dozens—the characters who populate my novels! They love to misbehave, thank God, or I’d have nothing to write about . . . Lately, they’ve been getting into some dark and dangerous doings. After years of writing romantic comedies, I’m making a genre shift: my new TAKE ME series revolves around an agency that recovers stolen art.

Why the shift? It goes back to my roots. I grew up in a household full of antiques and paintings and interesting rugs, each of which told a story about the past. That probably led to my impractical decision to study art in college, even though my secret desire was to write. So after years of museum and gallery work and some grad school, I wrote my first novel—and years later, with this new series, I’m coming full circle. Avy Hunt, the heroine of TAKE ME IF YOU CAN, gets to have far more exciting adventures in the art world than I ever did—but then that’s the difference between fiction and real life, isn’t it? I’m not a detail person, but people like my agent encourage me to supply them! So here are the details. Born in New Jersey, grew up in Texas, only child, bookworm. BA from Smith College in art history, graduate work in art history and art education at the University of Texas at Austin. Worked with kids in museums and love kids’ art. Have also lived in Atlanta, GA, upstate New York, Hartford, Connecticut and now south Florida. Married with two greyhounds and one cat. Husband tolerates my imaginary buddies very well. Best friend wants me to quit trying to heist all of her children’s artwork . . . What’s that? You want to know about my character, and not just my characters’ characters? Well, okay. I collect shoes, which generally sit around with no feet in them because I work barefoot. I collect handbags, which generally sit around with no money in them because writing is not as lucrative as some might suspect. I collect books, but must often purge the collection because they are so heavy that en mass, they threaten to sink the house into the Everglades. I’m an introvert with brief flashes of extrovert, during which I give workshops and go to conferences. I love spending time with my husband, who is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. I loathe hot, steamy weather, which is ironic since I live near Miami, the kingdom of heat and steam. I can’t play any sport that involves a ball and hand-eye coordination but I do belong to a gym, where I feel like a fat Clydesdale next to all the tiny, bosomy, gorgeous Latina women. What else? Despite looking like a girly-girl, I like to build things and am not afraid to use power tools. I get inspired by HGTV. I also get inspired by the Food Network. And I’m addicted to those creepy shows like Forensic Files and Cold Case Files. My husband jokes that he’s getting worried about that . . . So. Enough about me. Really, my characters are more interesting!