Many people ask where my ideas for all these stories come from. The answer is easy: From my family and friends. My latest release, for example, starts with a mix of two different stories.

The first was from a colleague. While we were munching lettice for lunch one day, she told us that her aunt woke up one night to fiind a thief in her bedroom.

The lettice almost fell from our mouths.

My colleague was satisfied with the result and went on to tell us that the thief eyed the aunt and said “If I were you, I would go right back to sleep.”

We stared at our colleague, our eyes wide. “What did your aunt do?”

The colleague (a northern type, very spot on and dry in her manner) grinned. “She slept.”

The second story was from a family member. Someone had broken into her apartment and had taken all the valuable stuff. She was visibly shaken when she told me, but what stayed with me for years were her words: “You know, I don’t mind the TV and and the cash. But they also took a little box where I had collected all the pictures and mementoes of my life. I wanted to keep that box with me, wanted to look at it when I’m old, remembering the most beautiful times of my life. But they stole it, simply because it was locked.”

What can a writer do if life hands her situations like that on a silver plate?

Of course I cooked up a story – and the result is Rent A Thief!

My cousin designed the cover (thank you, Bianca!), and my husband painted the mask (thank you, my love!). He also worked on the “kiss” to make it perfect – it started out to be a bit smeared because the whole family spent one morning kissing a white board, trying to get a perfect kissing impression. You should try it. It’s more difficult than you would expect. Most of the times, it looked as if a frog had hit the board after having put on lipstick, so I’m really happy about the result now!

Enough said. Here’s the link to Rent a Thief – hope you’ll have fun!

www.amazon.com/Rent-a-Thief-ebook/dp/B009DAHRKY/

Beate

www.happybooks.de