Bonnie Vanak interviews Pamela Clare about jail, alpha males and her latest I-Team book, UNLAWFUL CONTACT

Bonnie: So, this is weird. I’m a journalist. You’re a journalist. Pamela: And we’re both romance novelists. Weird, yes. Do you get more nervous interviewing journalists? Bonnie: It is a little strange, because you and I both know the craft. Pamela: I’m always wondering what obvious question is that they think I forgot. Bonnie: So I’ll start with the obvious question, then, just to be safe. What’s in store for fans of your I-Team series in Unlawful Contact ? And be generous with the spoilers. I’ve been waiting for a long time. Pamela: No spoilers! I don’t do spoilers unless plied with rum runners. Bonnie: My specialty! Pamela: Yes, but unless I’m missing something, you’re in Florida and I’m in Colorado, and no one has yet figured out how to pass alcohol through the phone. OK. No spoilers… Bonnie: You can’t blame me for trying. Pamela: I guess not. Anyway, Unlawful Contact picks up about seven months after Hard Evidence ends with Sophie Alton’s investigation into the life of a young woman inmate and her baby. Sophie has been reporting on the young woman’s struggle to overcome her heroin addiction and get out of prison so that she can raise her baby, who was born while she was incarcerated. She goes to report on the first reunion of mother and baby, only to find that the mother, Megan, has disappeared with her baby daughter.

The next day Sophie gets a tip that the woman’s half brother, who’s in prison
serving a life sentence for murder, might have information that will help her
find Megan. So she heads to the state penitentiary to interview this man, Marc
Hunter, not knowing that he’s the same man she spent a passionate night with at
the end of high school. Marc uses Sophie as a hostage to break out of prison so
that he can protect his sister from the evil monster who’s after her.

Bonnie: OK, stop for a sec. I know from knowing you that you’ve done a lot of reporting on women in prison. Did you draw on those years of reporting for this novel? Pamela: Oh, yes, absolutely. In fact, I think it’s better to say that those years of reporting had filled me up with so many thoughts and feelings and impressions that they needed to come out somewhere, and this book was it. I’ve spent more than a decade focusing on women in prison, particularly women with children. In that way, there’s more than 10 years of research in this single novel. Bonnie: I’ve been reading your blog, so I know that you did more than research. You actually went to jail as an inmate just to find out what it was like. You stayed how long? Pamela: Only 24 hours. Bonnie: Only 24 hours? You chose to go in as a felony arrest, which meant you were strip searched. Did it ever occur to you that you’re nuts? Pamela: That’s the pot calling the kettle black, Bonnie. Who goes to Haiti and Central America where people are getting shot and starving? Oh, wait! That would be you! At least I was here with clean drinking water and shelter and antibiotics. Bonnie: And meth heads who wanted to beat you up and brooms that had to be left under lock and key and food that I wouldn’t feed to my dogs. Or to my husband. Pamela: I didn’t say it was fun. Beaches and rum runners are fun. Jail is not fun. But I felt I had an obligation as someone who was reporting on jail and prison issues to know something about it beyond the usual. It was incredibly educational and eye-opening. Bonnie: I bet. And so the things you learned on the inside made it into this book? Pamela: Absolutely. Stuff like prison slang, institutional procedures, how it sounds and feels when that door slams shut, the noise at night, the smells. Bonnie: When people heard what you were writing about, did anyone suggest that prison might not be the best setting in which to start a romance novel or that a convicted murderer might not make the best hero? Pamela: Yes, but that’s because they hadn’t read the first few chapters yet. My editor and agent fell in love with the story immediately. It sounds really dark and scary, and it is. But it’s very much a love story still. Sophie doesn’t recognize Marc and first but he’s the man who 12 years ago took her virginity. So there’s a bond between them. Bonnie: And when he takes her hostage she’s all for it? Pamela: No! Oh, no! She’s terrified and angry. She doesn’t let him off the hook for what he does. That would be stupid, and Sophie’s not stupid. But she cares about Megan and no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from Marc, she cares about him, too. She gets drawn into his search for his sister, neither of them realizing how much sacrifice they’ll have to make to save Megan and her baby girl. Nor can they possibly imagine how much being near each other is going to ignite those old memories. Bonnie: But I thought Julian Darcangelo from Hard Evidence was your ultimate bad boy. How in the world can you top him? He was a total hottie. Pamela: I don’t know that Marc Hunter tops him, but he certainly holds his own, both in terms of his standing as an alpha male and against Julian in the story. Remember, Julian is a cop. If someone takes his wife’s best friend hostage, he’s going to have something to say about it. Bonnie: Very cool! So do you pit those two men against each other? (I’d like to be pitted against both of them, locked up in a jail cell with both Julian and Marc and lots of whipped cream… hmmmm…) Pamela: Yes, and I really had a lot of fun doing it, too! Bonnie: Oh, you’re a sadist! I want this book now! You always write very sensual books. So, is the sex hot in this one? Pamela: Poor Marc has been in prison for almost seven years when the story opens. What do you think? Bonnie: I think Marc needs to be “bailed out.” Fast. BTW, about those handcuffs in the book video you did… where DID you get them? I can’t wait for this book! Why do you enjoy writing alpha males? Pamela: The handcuffs? That’s a secret. The alpha males? For me, seeing a man whose not only capable of taking care of the people in his life but also strong and caring enough to do it well is a total turn-on. I like seeing men take responsibility for this, rather than sitting in front of the TV drinking beer. So many women I know work so hard— Bonnie: Including you. Pamela: And you! I like seeing men use their strength for good. And I like seeing them act like men, not in a sexist way but in the sense of the traditional archetype of warrior, where their strength is at the service of those they love. Bonnie: So what are you working on now? Pamela: I’m almost done with Untamed, the historical sequel to Surrender. Bonnie: That one was a RITA finalist. Do you think Untamed keeps pace? Pamela: It’s hard for me to say being so close to it, but I think so. I’ve loved being in historical mode again and being with the MacKinnon brothers and their crazy Rangers. This one will be done in a few weeks and out in November. Then it’s on to the next I-Team book, Naked Edge, which tells Kat’s story. Bonnie: It’s been fun interviewing you. Pamela: It’s been fun being on the other side of the questions. You’ve been so nice maybe I’ll e-mail you some spoilers—if you share the scoop on The Scorpion and the Seducer. Bonnie: Deal. Now, about those handcuffs… Pamela Clare’s Unlawful Contact is both an RT Bookclub and Borders Top Pick and will be available April 1. For excerpts or to read her series of recollections about her time behind bars, "Goldilocks Goes to Jail," go to pamelaclare.blogspot.com. Or visit her Web site at www.pamelaclare.com. Bonnie Vanak’s The The Scorpion and the Seducer will be out on April 29. Visit her website at www.bonnievanak.com.