Donna Kauffman | Trilogy with a Twist

Rules? What rules? When I was first plotting UNLEASHED, I
was living in the suburbs of our nation’s capital and dreaming of a life out in the Blue Ridge
Mountains. I had just returned from a hiking jaunt in those ancient, rolling hills and thought,
well, if I can’t live there, my characters certainly can! That’s one of the best things about this
job; living vicariously through my characters. Occupations that interest me, locations I’ve
dreamed of seeing, conflicts to get sorted out...I get to dabble in any and all of them. Pretty
nifty!

And so, the town of Hamilton, nestled in the Blue Ridge
Mountains of Virginia, was born. This story would be included in the TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT
anthology of Christmas themed stories and I was excited for the opportunity. As I began to
fully plot the story, however, it became clear I wanted a whole lot more than a short novella’s
worth of time in this town. A mystery idea kept prodding me, prodding me, but there was no
way to give it the full treatment it would need in a short length story such as this. I thought
about pulling the story idea back and thinking on it as a full length book idea, but I was writing
full length books for Bantam at the time and this Christmas story was for Kensington. I didn’t
see any place to squeeze in a single title for them at that time, and I really wanted to write the
story.

I happened to mention my conflicted thoughts on this to my
editor, laughingly saying that they needed to let me write three novellas so I could capture the
whole story. Credit to my editor at that time, the late, great Kate Duffy, who just shrugged and
said, well, maybe you’ll need to write another Christmas novella for next year’s anthology.

Oh, really? Picture me rubbing my hands together in glee. Only...wait. Then my readers would have to wait a year to get the next installment. Kate assured me that as long as the stories each stood alone, having a tiny plot thread that carried forward would be okay. Plus, the first anthology was coming out in trade size paperback. So, when the second story arrived the following fall, it would coincide with the first anthology re-appearing in mass market size. Readers could snag both stories at the same time.

Still...writing a serialized story—stand-alone stories though
they were—with a new hero and heroine in each story...dare I?

I dared.

And the Hamilton Christmas series was born. There went on
to be three stories total in the series, spread out over three consecutive holiday anthologies,
each set in the same town, with the ongoing story thread being viewed through the eyes of
each new hero-heroine in each outing. It was exciting to try something so out of the box, and
the readers loved it!

Fast forward to last year, when my publisher, Kensington
(whom I have since written many, many single titles and novellas for) announced that they
were going to extract those three Hamilton Christmas novellas, give them their own pretty new
covers, and release them to a brand new batch of readers, who would be able to get their
hands on the full trilogy this fall.

Even more thrilling and fun, as these stories find new life,
this is now my daily view as I write. Yes! I do now live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
In fact, I’m currently writing a best-selling series set in the fictional mountain town of Blue
Hollow Falls and I’ve never been happier in my life.

So it all comes full circle in a way, and I’m thrilled that my
tiny mountain town of Hamilton will get new life—and it’s first ever appearance in digital form,
to boot!

Read on to see the pretty new covers and a little bit about
each story. UNLEASHED and LOCK, STOCK & JINGLE BELLS are on sale as of today! The
final story, NAUGHTY BUT NICE, will arrive on October 30th. (Of this year. Seriously, I would
never
make you wait that long again.)

I hope you enjoy my trilogy with a twist!