An Interview with Chris Taylor, author of the Munro Family Series

Chris was born in a small country town in north-west NSW, Australia. She is one of six girls and grew up on a mixed cropping farm surrounded by animals. An early reader, she devoured books whenever she could and even hid in farm machinery with a book she just had to finish.

After discovering Harlequin Silhouette romance books in her early teens, Chris has found the perfect combination for her love of romance and her thrill of crime in the romantic suspense stories she writes.

Chris now lives with her husband and children on a small farm not far from the area where she grew up.

Places to find Chris Taylor:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Hi Chris.  Thanks for taking the time to sit down and answer some questions for me.  Trust me, these are some burning questions.

My pleasure.  I love writing about the Munro Family, even if it’s only an interview!

Do you plan on writing about the Munro sisters? And if so when.

Of course the Munro sisters will feature in their own stories!  Book Eight (The Defendant) is Josie Munro’s story.  Josie is a child psychologist.  She’s appointed by the court to examine a twelve-year-old boy who has been accused of murder.  It’s Josie’s job to determine if the boy is fit to stand trial. Josie meets up with her high school sweetheart, Chase Barrington (who first made an appearance in Book Two, The Investigator) and the sparks fly… The Defendant is due for release in March, 2015.

Chanel Munro, the baby of the family, stars in Book Ten (The Maker).  Chanel is a doctor who first appears in The Munro Family Christmas (a novella which will be released on 1 December).  The Maker has been scheduled for release in September, 2015.

While Gemini is the one who has read the books, I get to hear about them.  I'm always in shock by what he tells me.  He simply says, "imagine how I feel".  The books seem to increase in how graphic they are, is that intentional?

I like to push the envelope and somehow, I discover the very worst in people! (I don’t know what that says about me, I’m really very sweet and innocent! Ask anyone! LOL!)  I’ve actually pulled back a little in the next two books (Book Five – The Deception which was released 25th August, 2014 and Book Six – The Negotiator which is due for release on 3 November, 2014).  I was getting to the point where I thought readers might be cringing before they even open the cover, so while The Deception and The Negotiator are both suspenseful, I don’t think they’re quite as graphic as some of the previous ones.  (Gemini is probably breathing a sigh of relief!).  Suffice it to say though, Book Seven (The Ransom) and Book Eight (The Defendant) ramp it up again.  I can’t help myself!

You currently have ten books listed out for the series.  Did you go into the series with that game plan? Or how did that come about? (I guess I'm trying to say is wow.  Ten books is a lot and you not only write about the Munro siblings, but also some people they come across.  How do you know ahead of time what you want to write?)

As a reader, I LOVE reading series.  I love to discover a cast of characters and really get to know them and I love catching glimpses of them in later books (who doesn’t like to discover their favorite couple from the last book have just had a baby??)  So, I guess writing a series was a natural thing for me to do.

I did go into the Munro Family series with a ten book plan, and in fact, now that I’ve thrown (an unplanned) Christmas novella into the mix, it will be more like a twelve book plan (I’ll probably end the series with another Christmas novella in December 2015).  I already have a spin-off series rattling around in my head, where one of the brothers is going to leave the police force and open up a private investigator service.  He may or may not be joined by some or all of his brothers.  We’ll have to wait and see, but it will provide plenty of opportunity to create more hunky men and women I would truly love to meet!

I also have a loose plan to write a series around Dr. Samantha Wolfe.  She appears in the very first book, The Profiler, as the forensic pathologist in the morgue. (You guys call them medical examiners).  I have a fascination with death (in case you couldn’t tell LOL!) and a particular fascination with morgues.  I briefly contemplated a career as a forensic pathologist and even spent a day in a morgue in Sydney not long after I finished high school. Eventually, I chose a career in law instead!

Considering you grew up on a farm, what lead you to writing such vivid romantic suspense novels?

I grew up devouring romance novels.  My mother was always into the very tame Georgette Heyer romances (which I dutifully read), but I craved books with a little more excitement!  To this day, my favorite genres are thrillers and romances.  I stumbled across Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts and Tami Hoag in my late teens and was hooked on romantic suspense.  To combine the two in one story is perfect.

After working as a lawyer for fifteen years, I’ve seen firsthand a lot of criminals and I watch a lot of CI channel on Foxtel!  Along with death, I’m fascinated by the criminals who are so evil, you can’t believe they’re walking around and looking just like you and me.  It’s scary.  (Believe me, some of my evil characters even scare me.  There have been numerous times when I’ve been writing a scene involving the villain and I’ve had to wait until it was daylight to finish it!)

Gemini wants to know if Tom will get his own book, since he's actually married when we meet him.

Yes, Tom being married when we first meet him (in Book Three – The Predator) was important to that story because I really needed him to have a teenaged daughter and I’m kind of traditional that way!  I always intended Tom to have his own story, however and he will star in Book Nine – The Shooting which is due for release in June, 2015.  Gemini will find out how he and Lily got together, I promise!

What's writing like for you?  Do you start at the beginning, middle or end of the book?  

I am mostly a planner.  Having said that, my Christmas novella was really just an idea and I wrote it in just a few sessions without any further planning.  My usual style, however, is to pretty much have the story planned out in summary form chapter by chapter.  I ALWAYS know what the “Black Moment” will be and how the story will end.  I always write from beginning to end and then go back and revise.  Sometimes scenes get swapped around (I love cut and paste!), but mostly, the book is pretty much like it is when I first plan it.

Are you ever surprised with the direction the books have taken?

Absolutely!  I think this happens to every author.  Sometimes a character says or does something totally unexpected!  It’s usually something to do with my villain and a few times, I’ve had to cut it because NO ONE can be THAT evil! Truly!

Thanks again for answering some questions.  I'm really looking forward to hearing more about your books.  I'm serious, hearing about them is incredible, so I know reading them would completely blow my mind.  Plus, make me run from the book, since there are some pretty bad things happening.

Bad things do happen, unfortunately, even in real life.  I think that’s what drives me to write about them because, while bad things happen in the books, good ALWAYS triumphs over evil and I think we all need to be reassured of this from time to time.

Okay...I have to stop.  There so many more questions I think.

Thank you so much for having me!  It’s been so much fun!

The Munro Family Series:

The Profiler (Book One) Review

The Investigator (Book Two) Review

The Predator (Book Three) Review

The Betrayal (Book Four) Review

Purchase books from the Munro Family Series from:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo