Planning a heist
Our latest release, The Heist, got its start on a rainy Monday a while back, when hubs and I attended a behind-the-scenes tour at our small Iowa town’s exquisite art museum. A new exhibit was about to open, and we were treated to detailed descriptions of the process of locating and ordering traveling exhibits, shipping them, storing them, uncrating them, hanging them, insuring their safety, and repacking them.
You must know by now that hubs is a criminologist by profession. It didn’t take us long to be looking for vulnerable spots in the museum’s process, and by the end of the day, with a little internet research on the high stakes world of stolen paintings, we had our basic plot sketched out.
Our next problem was—what painting should be stolen? Clearly, we couldn’t go with an existing well-known piece of art. We opted to create The Three Maids, an entirely fictional trio of medium sized Impressionist portraits, based on what we knew about Monet, Manet, Renoir, Caillebotte, and the women they painted. We’ve put so much detail into the paintings’ descriptions that I keep expecting to see them when I enter an Impressionist display. If no one has painted them yet, I definitely think someone should!
I’ll leave the details of how the actual heist was planned, carried out, and (we hope) foiled for readers to discover—we hope you enjoy reading The Heist as much as we enjoyed creating it!
The Heist
Released July, 2014
B&B Publishing
ASIN: B00LNE7366
Romantic Suspense,
81,000 words
Heat rating: Three
Flames (Warnings: explicit sex, m/f; light bdsm; sex toys)
BLURB
A heist? A murder? It’s villain’s choice.
A special-order art
theft? Tedious, but seamless – until small town museum director Kara Daniels
calls in the experts. Furious her favorite trio of priceless impressionist
paintings has been stolen from its traveling exhibit on her watch, Kara is
determined to save not only the paintings, but her future in the art world.
She’ll stop at nothing to entrap the thief.
Ted Springs knows the
underbelly of the criminal world a little closer than he might like—but he’s
turned it to good advantage, first as a police officer, and now as detective
for the Upper Midwest Arts Council. His job? To guarantee the security of the valuable
paintings in the Council’s traveling exhibits.
Heat sizzles when Ted
and Kara collide—can they work together, before it’s too late?
BUY LINKS
EXCERPT
“I and my staff have
already done fairly thorough background checks on all the museum employees,”
Ted said.
“Oh.” Kara scowled.
“I’m not sure I like that.”
“But you expected it?”
“Of course. At some
point.”
“I believe in being
efficient. Even before certain added incentives.”
“I can always change
my mind. I don’t know a thing about you.”
“You know enough. I
have large hands.” Ted chuckled when she winced. “I’ve worked for the Upper
Midwest Arts Council for five years.”
“And before that?”
“I was a Chicago cop.”
“Oh.”
“I went into the army
right out of high school and completed my BA degree at U.I.C. while on the
force. Funny, isn’t it? While you were working on your MA at the University of
Chicago, I was patrolling the streets of Hyde Park and South Chicago.”
“Really?”
“That’s right.”
“Maybe we bumped into
each other.”
“I highly doubt that.
I wouldn’t forget bumping into you. Remember?”
“Oh, right.” Kara’s
flush returned.
ABOUT ADRIANA KRAFT
Adriana Kraft is the
pen name for a husband/wife team writing sizzling romantic suspense and erotic
romance. The award-winning pair has published over thirty romance novels and
novellas to outstanding reviews. Romantic pairings include straight m/f,
lesbian, bisexual, ménage and polyamory, in both contemporary and paranormal
settings.
ADRIANA KRAFT ON THE WEB
Website: http://adrianakraft.com
Twitter http://twitter.com/AdrianaKraft
Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/adrianakraft
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