David moved from Wales to Hollywood to become a motion picture director of photography. Photographed everything from movies to television series, commercials and music videos, specializing in comedies, and picked up a few awards along the way. He lived in Scotland and Portugal for several years. An inveterate solo traveler, he now lives in southern California with Hank, the noisiest cat in the world. He would love to be a cowboy, but the horse thing is a deal breaker.
Q How did you get the idea for the series?
Hallee: The series will be published once a month, one in September, one in October, and one in November. I wanted to write a Special Forces series. The first book does not take place in the desert, but in the jungle. The second book take place in Turkey and Kuwait, and the third book in the US.
Q Did you have any experience with the military?
Hallee: Not me explicitly, but my family does. My father was a US Army Airborne Ranger. He retired when I was an adult. My husband deployed to Afghanistan with the 20th Special Forces Airborne Group. Within our military community we have several friends who are still in Special Forces units. I was able to ask questions, gain knowledge, and confirm facts with several sources who have served or are serving. I wanted to be realistic and write a true book about real people.
Q How is the theme of honor in each book present?
Hallee: All three of these men are a force and step in front of the enemy. One of the definitions of honor is “adherence to what is right.” It is engrained in them. My husband re-enlisted in 2001, after September 11th. He did it because he was a combat veteran with a sense of honor and duty. Each of the women characters wanted to help people. Cynthia is a doctor, Lynda was an FBI agent, and Melissa had a non-profit women’s abuse shelter.
Q Why Africa as the setting in Honor Bound?
Hallee: It has a large jungle. I needed the characters to be there for several days. I created a fictional country there with a big river and a giant city. I had so many options with this Continent.
Q Do you think the main character Cynthia, was a bit naïve?
Hallee: She was trained to be in a specific environment. She is completely naïve about our warriors. A lot of people have a misconception of what peace can entail and what it takes to achieve peace. They have the idea of turning the other cheek, but the reality is sometimes force is necessary. People that do not have this experience cannot really grasp it. Peace does not always come because someone wants it. Sometimes people must be protected. Sometimes it takes someone with strength to allow the Pacifists to be who they are. They say things from their armchair.
Q What about Cynthia’s reaction?
Hallee: Her perspective changed when it was no longer about her, but when it was about her father. She reacted to the fact men were killed to save her life. A lot of her reaction was knee-jerk to that emotional traumatic moment. They were evil bad men who needed to be stopped.
Q You have a quote about weapons being tools said by the hero, Rick. Can you tell us about it?
Hallee: You are referring to this one, “the real weapon isn’t the rifle or the pistol or the knife. It’s me.” My husband as he was deploying to Afghanistan in 2002, at the airline gate, getting on a plane, had his nail clippers taken. He is holding a loaded automatic weapon. His reaction was “seriously.” It is the person wielding whatever it is. It doesn’t matter what you have, but if you know what to do with it.
Q How would you describe Rick?
Hallee: Loyal, responsible, intense, and courageous. Duty needs to come first, and he is oozing with integrity.
Q Moving on to Word of Honor, how did you get the idea for this story?
Hallee: I did not want to write another story where there was a civilian who needed to be saved. I wanted to come up with a joint-task force. In real life within an intense operation there is no romance. Because of that I had the hero and heroine have a back history of an intense relationship. I wanted to have a different enemy; eco-terrorist tied in with the Russian Mafia.
Q How would you describe Lynda?
Hallee: Intense, driven, and analytical.
Q Is Bill a lot different than Rick?
Hallee: Yes, he enlisted not for duty but for security. His motivations were different. He is more sarcastic, with a larger sense of humor. He is a tortured hero with a lot of backstory baggage.
Q How about the relationship now?
Hallee: Lynda Carter, the FBI Agent counters Bill Sanders easy going charm. She is his personality opposite.
Q What about your last book, Honor’s Refuge?
Hallee: I thought it would originally be a novella. But when I wrote the character Ozzy from the first book, I had enough material to write a book.
Q How would you describe Ozzy?
Hallee: He joined the army to escape his addiction.
Q Tell us about your next book.
Hallee: The fourth book will be the wedding between Melissa and Ozzy on a cruise ship. All his teammates will be there with their significant others. Pirates will try to take over the ship. It will be out in February. There will be also a romance between the Communications Sgt, Fisher, and the cruise singer.
A Jewel in the Crown by David Lewis is a thriller and mystery all in one book, a spy novel set in England during WWII.
In 1940 there is a fear of German infiltrators throughout England. To safeguard the Crown Jewels from the Nazis, Winston Churchill devises a daring gamble to have them shipped overseas. The priceless artifacts will be secretly removed from the Tower of London and driven north to Scotland by two operatives posing as a young married couple, to be taken from there to Canada.
He recruits Hector, Lord Neville-Percy of Marlton, and police constable Caitrin Colline, a “Welsh firebrand, antiroyalist, and future destroyer of England’s aristocracy,” to act as a squabbling married couple driving a hay wagon where the jewels are hidden. Interestingly they have clashing backgrounds and personalities, since they are from different classes.
The heroine Catrine Colline is working for “512,” an undercover outfit. 512 is fictional, but it bears a strong resemblance to Churchill’s SOE (Special Operations Executive), also an undercover operation. She is a woman no one can mess with. Caitrin’s bold, streetwise, confident, and sharp wits complement Hector’s social ease and connections, essential to a second part of their mission: uncovering Nazi sympathizers within the highest ranks of Britain’s aristocracy, who also happen to be anti-Semitic.
The plot is a good adventure story with likeable characters that readers will root for.
