Weslynn McAllister loves to write clean, upbeat romance
novels with happy endings. But another part of her prefers tales on the darker
side, heavy on suspense and peopled with evil villains. The solution to this
dilemma? Using a pseudonym. While
McAllister pens her “happily ever after” stories, her alter-ego, Jamie
Cortland, turns out suspenseful romances that keep readers on the edge of their
seats.
McAllister was born and raised in Roswell, New Mexico and
loved writing for as long as she can remember. “I’ve written since I was a
little girl, she says. “Back then, I wrote poetry and little plays.” She moved
to Florida when she was 19 and spent two years at St. Petersburg Community
College before moving to California and earning a fine arts degree from Laguna
Beach Arts School. She worked as a secretary, a graphic designer and a real
estate agent and even spent some time as a high fashion model. But it wasn’t
until her three children were grown that she started writing in earnest.
Her first written works couldn’t have been more different.
“I was working on two books at the same time,” she recalls. “One was Apache Spring, a sweet, touching romance
novel. The other was Prophecies of the
Ancients, a 450-page sci-fi opera, something like Star Wars. McAllister continued in the science fiction genre for
her next novel, Wyatt’s Deck, a
time-travel story set in Tombstone, Arizona during the OK Corral shootout. “I
love Wyatt Earp, and I love the name Wyatt,” McAllister says. “I even have a
grandson named Wyatt.”
Jamie Cortland took over writing McAllister’s next three
novels. In What Lies Within, a
divorced mother discovers that the man of her dreams is really her worst
nightmare. Dying to Dance is the
story of two young sisters who relocate to southwest Florida to live with their
aunt, a wealthy ballroom dancer. There they meet a handsome, charismatic
sociopath who targets one of the sisters in his deadly insurance scheme. McAllister’s
latest novel, The Gardener’s Secret, is
the sequel to What Lies Within. It
tells of a man with a personality disorder who becomes obsessed with a wealthy
widow whose husband has gone missing. Hired as her gardener, he mistakes her
friendliness for attraction, and trouble ensues. “I always put a good life
lesson in my books,” McAllister says. “When I first started, I wrote a lot
about love, betrayal and forgiveness. Now I’ve been including characters with
mental illness. Many crimes are committed by people with mental issues, and
it’s so important that they seek treatment and medication.”
Whether writing as Weslynn McAllister or Jamie Cortland,
this talented writer loves what she calls “the journey of writing,” and she is certain to entertain readers who love a good romance.
