Kathryn Bain - Suspense that Inspires

 It was a challenge from her daughter that set Kathryn J. Bain on the road to writing. This Jacksonville author admits to being an avid TV watcher who enjoyed critiquing shows. “One day, I was watching television with my daughter, and I said, ‘This could make it much better,’” she recalls. “My daughter told me, ‘You always say that – now do it!’” So Bain did. The result is a body of work she describes as “clean fiction with an edge.”

This Idaho native came to Florida in 1983. “I got sand in my toes and didn’t want to leave,” she says. “I love the Florida winters, the heat and the wonderful people. And it’s great to be able to go from one coast to the other in a day. There’s so much to do.”  One of the things Kathryn decided to do was write what she enjoyed reading the most – a mystery/suspense novel. She took some courses and joined a critique group, and in 2012, she published Breathless, the first in what was to become the Lincolnville Mysteries. Set in the fictional town of Lincolnville, Georgia, Breathless is the story of a woman being stalked and the man who protects and eventually falls in love with her. The novel won a prestigious Royal Palm Literary Award for Inspirational Fiction

For Bain’s next offering, she tried her hand at a novella –  Game of Hearts,  a humorous romance. It was followed by two more novels: Catch Your Breath, (Lincolnville Mysteries #2) and Knight and Day, a stand-alone mystery. Beautiful Imperfection, published in 2013, was a novel with a special meaning. The story of a breast cancer survivor who witnesses a mass murder, Bain wrote it as a tribute to breast cancer survivors. “I wanted women who go through breast cancer to realize just how brave and beautiful they really are,” she says. 

Readers return to Lincolnville for Bain’s next novel, One Last Breath, a story that tackles the subject of child trafficking.  The following three works  – The Visitor, Small Town Terror, and Reunion – are a trio of mystery novellas linked together by a common protagonist - KT Morgan, a mysterious woman who travels alone. Each story exposes a little more about this enigmatic character.

Bain’s next release, Take Her Breath Away, (Book #4 in the Lincolnville series) centers around Rayleene and Ty Davenport, a couple whose relationship has been rocked by infidelity.  When Ty’s life is endangered by a mysterious killer, Rayleene must learn if she can trust him again. “Rayleene and Ty had separated in an earlier book, and I wanted to bring them back together,” Bain explains. The inspiration for Ty Davenport is country singer Lee Brice. “Every hero in the Lincolnville series is based on a country singer,” Bain says. “For Breathless,’ it was Toby Keith; for Catch Your Breath, Chris Young; and George Strait for One Last Breath. The female characters are made up.”

Bain’s next work was a real departure. The Chain We Forge was a contemporary version of Bain’s favorite Christmas story, “A Christmas Carol.”  In 2018, she published 30 in 30, a short book filled with ideas on blessing others. She has recently finished another suspense book scheduled for release in 2019. Titled Fade to the Edge, it tells of a mother's search for her missing seven-year-old son. When her soon-to-be ex-husband ends up dead, she has no choice but to take the law into her own hands and find her child herself. Bain is currently working on a middle-grade ghost story, Seven Sisters Road,  about some teens who get stuck on Seven Sisters Road in Nebraska City – a road said to be haunted.

While Bain’s works are characterized as Christian fiction, she believes that there are elements that set her stories apart. “I think my books are more realistic than most Christian fiction,” she says. “And even though I write clean psychological suspense, I try to make it edge-of-your-seat suspense too.” She wants readers to come away from her books feeling entertained and inspired. “My books deal with forgiveness. I want people to realize we all make mistakes, and that’s fine. I want them to be able to forgive themselves."

She also hopes her books will keep readers up all night.

For more information, visit the author’s website at www.kathrynjbain.com