Bloomfield Hills novelist joins authors in series for Harlequin
“Secret Investigation” is Elizabeth Heiter’s 12th book, but the first that the best-selling author has written as part of a multiauthor book series. It’s a project created on the model of a TV series.
“Every book is written by a different author,” says Heiter, a Bloomfield Hills resident and alumna of Groves High School in Beverly Hills and the University of Michigan. “Right now, there’s only two books in the series out. There will be a third one out this month and a fourth one out next month. (Harlequin) will actually do more in the series next year.”
Heiter’s new book, “Secret Investigation,” is the second entry in the “Tactical Crimes Division” series. The first, “48 Hour Lockdown,” was written by Carla Cassidy. The third and fourth — “Midnight Abduction” and “Running Out of Time” — are written by Nichole Severn and Cindi Myers, respectively.
“It’s fun. Harlequin came to me and asked if I wanted to be part of this,” Heiter says, noting it is the first multiauthor project for Harlequin’s Intrigue imprint. “Essentially, they gave us a high-level overview of what the (Tactical Crimes Division) looked like, who some of the main players are. Each of us got a character to write a story about. In some cases, they gave us plot lines. Mine was pretty short and I actually changed a lot of the details.”
Heiter fleshed out the character of Davis Rogers, the weapons expert and exArmy Ranger who was introduced in a supporting role in “48 Hour Lockdown.” In her book, he takes center stage.
“The cool thing about a multiauthor book series is it’s set up to be like an ensemble TV series — that’s the inspiration behind it,” she says. “It’s supposed to function like a ‘CSI’ or a ‘Criminal Minds,’ where there’s a group that works together. And each episode — or each book — one character would take the lead and be the focus of the story, while the other characters are background players.”
In “Secret Investigation,” Davis goes undercover at Petrov Armor, which manufactures state-of-the-art, impervious body armor. Overseas, several soldiers — one of whom is an old
friend of Davis’ — die while wearing defective body armor. As he investigates, Davis joins forces with Leila Petrov, the company’s CEO, who discovers she’s being framed.
“(Harlequin) gave me some background on the storyline, which — without giving away too much — had to do with betrayal. They said my character would be undercover in some kind of company. I got to decide what kind of company. Since my hero has a background as a former Army Ranger, I decided I wanted to do something connected to this background to make it more personal to him and why he was going undercover.”
Heiter spoke about Leila, a character she created for this novel.
“From my heroine’s side, I wanted to do the same thing and explore the theme of betrayal for her,” she says. “Inside her company, she works with family, friends and an ex-boyfriend. It becomes very clear that someone she’s close to is the traitor. While she’s trying to protect her late father’s legacy — he founded the company and was killed before the book began — she’s also trying to root out the traitor.”
The biggest challenge was writing the other characters, hoping they would feel consistent with the way her fellow authors were portraying them, especially since the four authors were writing almost simultaneously with an aggressive timeline to get the books turned in. Heiter turned her book in one month after Cassidy turned in hers.
“Hopefully we did a good job making them feel like they’re the same people.
I feel like definitely that’s the case,” Heiter says. “I’m happy I got in at the beginning because there’s a lot less established backstory for the character and the team to have to worry about.”