D.W. Brooks – Here’s To More Chaos

Our featured writer today is D.W. Brooks.  Let’s give her a warm welcome!

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Here’s To More Chaos

by D.W. Brooks

Hello, hello!

I want to thank WaterGirl for hosting this opportunity for me on Balloon Juice. I would also express my thank yous to all the Balloon Juice commentariat. I have been a lurker on this site since President Obama was only a twinkle in the nation’s eye. (nym: MomDoc) Here’s to 2024!

Becoming a writer was my original career choice. I was a big reader; fortunately, the library had limits on both the number of books and the number of books by one author in place or I might have checked out all the Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie books at once. While I enjoyed reading these books, there weren’t many characters that looked like me and my cousins in them and besides, at the grand old ages of eight and nine, we could likely write just as well, if not better, right? The arrogance of youth…

My cousins and I set out to write our own series of mystery novels. One cousin was in charge of the covers and illustrations, one was creating maps of neighborhoods and towns for our characters, and I was mainly in charge of writing the stories. We folded and stapled sheets of that dot matrix computer paper together to create “books” and we worked from there. Of course, with little plotting, the actual writing stalled out around halfway through. And given the attention spans of the participants, the entire project was pushed to the side for other interests. Within two years, I was chasing my MD dream and spent the next 16 years focused on becoming a physician.

But by the end, people started doubting how long I would continue practicing medicine. Earning my MBA, while interesting, did not lead me into health administration as I planned, and I shifted into medical writing. I worked as a freelance medical writer/consultant until my genetic kidney condition got worse in the early 2010s. I spent a lot of time sitting or lying in bed, but I hated wasting the time, so I found something I could do: Voila, I started writing again!

This was a true labor of love as I had several stops and starts—during my transplant recovery period and my caring for my father in our home (2017-2020), I didn’t write or edit at all. The pandemic pushed me into finally making a stand; I finally got this book published in November 2023.

Official Synopsis

A dead body in the parking lot of her family’s business, a killer on the loose, and a handsome detective asking a lot of questions…

Jamie Scott’s life fell apart four years ago when she broke off her engagement, turned down a dream job, and went overseas to run away from her life. Now she’s back, but the reunion is not without problems. She arrives home just in time to attend the soiree her mother planned, but she’s not prepared for what she finds—a dead employee in the parking lot.

Detective Nick Marshall is assigned to the murder case at the forensics lab owned by Jamie’s family. He meets the headstrong Jamie, but he has a job to do. And his attraction to her… well, he’s a professional.

Jamie knows the stakes are high. She has to face the past and save her parents’ business while dealing with her family drama and an uncertain future. She also has to deal with Nick, who wants her out of the way of his investigation. But fate keeps throwing them in one another’s paths… and into chaos that they both want to avoid, but neither can seem to escape.

Prequel

I wrote a prequel novella that takes place four years before the events in Homecoming Chaos. It’s called I Do CHAOS and is currently available for free on my website: Author D. W. Brooks. I do plan to move it to Kindle in a month or two, but you can grab it now if you wish.

So, now that I am an adult, what do I write about? I still love mysteries, but I have added some romantic suspense—basically a murder mystery with some romance in it. There is often snark (Thanks, Balloon Juice!) and family drama intertwined as well. I don’t plan to write books that will change the world. I want my readers to disappear for a few hours into someone else’s adventure.

Next up: Two novellas and one novel in 2024!

Editorial Review

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

The blend of romance, intrigue, and family ties is well done. Brooks creates a compelling series of chaotic encounters in which disparate characters harboring their own special interests and prejudices grow from their mistakes as well as their successes.

At stake in Jamie’s decision-making process are the family business, the outcome of a murder investigation, a hot detective’s ability to love her, and a future that is determined not by past chaos, but present-day growth.

Brooks focuses on characters that evolve through desperation and surprising circumstances which test their moral and ethical mettle as well as their abilities to evolve and change. This creates an attraction that nicely supplements the investigative tone of the story, providing draw for readers who look for more than a murder mystery or romance alone.

Reader Reviews

There are several reader reviews on GoodReads and Amazon but my reviewer friends insist that we authors link to their reviews and not paste them willy-nilly on the Internet. I just do as I am told…

Where to Purchase

My website for an autographed copy

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Biography

The author is a doctor and editor who lives in Texas with her husband and children. She enjoys trying to stay in shape, sporadically cooking, reading (still), writing, and working on her blog. She is eternally grateful to the woman who donated a kidney to her over 5 years ago and continues to advocate for organ donation as much as she can.

To learn more about D. W. Brooks and future publications and events, visit this site.