Are you in or near South Carolina this weekend? I will be at the SC Book Festival on Saturday, May 19 (Booth #553). I would love to meet readers in person and sign your copy of When Rain Falls. If you don’t have a copy of When Rain Falls yet, I will have copies available. For more information and to view the full schedule of events, visit http://www.scbookfestival.org.

Other Authors You Don’t Want To Miss

I can’t wait to meet the following authors this weekend (see below).

Kimberla Lawson Roby – Saturday, May 19 at the SC Book Festival

Keynote Presenter
Saturday, May 19
Richland Meeting Room
“The Reverend’s Wife”
10:00 -10:50 am
Author Kimberla Lawson Roby has published 16 novels that have frequented numerous bestseller lists, including The New York Times and those in USA Today, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Essence Magazine, Upscale Magazine, Emerge Magazine, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, The Dallas Morning News, and The Austin Chronicle to name a few. Her 17th novel, The Reverend‘s Wife, was released on May 1, 2012.

Zane – Saturday, May 19 at the SC Book Festival
Keynote Presenter
Saturday, May 19
Richland Meeting Room
“The Hot Box”
4:10 – 5:00 pm
Zane is the New York Times Bestselling author of 26 titles. Zane is considered one of, if not the most, powerful African-American females in the publishing industry. As the Publisher of Strebor Books International, an imprint of ATRIA Books/Simon and Schuster, the third largest publishing corporation in America, Zane is responsible for acquiring and publishing 3-6 titles per month.

Eric Jerome Dickey – Sunday, May 20 at the SC Book Festival

Keynote Presenter
Sunday, May 20
Richland Meeting Room
“An Accidental Affair”
12:00 – 12:50 pm
Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Eric is the author of nineteen novels. He is also the author of a six-issue miniseries of comic books for Marvel, featuring Storm (X-Men) and the Black Panther. He lives on the road and rests in whatever hotel will have him. Photo credit to Joseph Jones Photography

Purchase When Rain Falls at Amazon.com (also available on the Kindle) OR Barnes and Nobles (also available on the Nook).

Angel loves music and comes from a family of entertainers. While putting together a playlist of songs for her, I went back and put together a playlist for Candace. Candace likes powerful emotional singers like Yolanda Adams, Karen Clark Sheard, Martha Munizzi and CeCe Winans. She is a huge Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross fan. Enjoy some of Candace’s favorites below.

Purchase When Rain Falls at Amazon.com (also available on the Kindle) OR Barnes and Nobles (also available on the Nook).

Both characters had experienced loss. Candace’s loss was a bit more intense with losing loved ones to violent crimes. Darnell had been struggling with his own loss. Divorce is often equated to death since individuals lose a significant other and portion of their life. His loss affected him enough that he moved from the West coast back to his roots in the Carolinas.

Darnell was an almost bad-boy. While growing up he tended to be on the other side of the law, but a strong, praying mother and aunts influenced him to attend the police academy later.  Now a detective in the Charlotte Homicide Department, he is truly about seeking justice for the victim. There is a hint of Darnell’s bad boy tendencies when he confronts persons of interest or suspects. Not that he is a bad or corrupt cop, but he does push the envelope. His edginess has left him on the outside in the department. The tension between Darnell and his partner, Brunson, was so intense they often went their separate ways to keep from exploding on each other. When we meet Detective Jackson, he has been struggling with the toil his job has taken on him.

Read an excerpt below from Chapter 2 of When Rain Falls for an introduction to Detective Darnell Jackson.

He couldn’t take it anymore; he was ready to run. The sun remained hidden, but his body told him to get up and move. Without looking at the clock, Detective Darnell Jackson leapt from the bed. He slipped on a light blue Tar Heels sweatshirt and then a dark blue pair of sweatpants. Inside the bathroom of his master bedroom, he rubbed his hand across three days’ worth of stubble on his face. He certainly was no Denzel Washington, but most of the time he felt pretty good about his looks.

What he saw in the mirror this morning—just plain scary. His dark brown eyes were haunted from years of studying the evil ways of people. The case from this past week still weighed heavily on his mind, locking stress deep down into his neck and across his shoulders. Was there any rest for the weary? He needed to burn off some of this tension so he could enjoy the rest of his day off.

Darnell headed to the living room. This was his place, but he spent so much time on the job, some of the walls still remained bare, and in other areas, stacked boxes served as the decor. He bent down over the coffee table and pushed around two weeks’ worth of newspapers, several ESPN magazines, and a stack of junk mail.

As items fell off of the table, his golden Lab/beagle mix, Zack, came alive from his corner and began putting his nose to work. It didn’t take long for the dog to discover remnants from his owner’s late-night snack—a few cold, greasy fries. Finally locating his shades, Darnell placed them on top of his head. The sun would certainly meet him on his way back.

He glanced over at his four-legged housemate and laughed. That dog brought him a lot of joy. The irony continued to boggle his mind, since it was only three years before that he’d brought home the shy, mistreated dog for his now ex-wife. But it had been too late. Apparently, a raggedy mutt didn’t make up for his frequent absences. Two years had passed since the divorce, and Darnell considered Zack his best asset. “All right, boy. Let me grab your leash, and we’re out of here.”

The dog nearly ran into his owner as Darnell walked over to grab the leash from the hook behind the door. Zack jumped in the air and then stood on his hind legs. Darnell laughed again, trying to snap the leash on Zack’s collar. His hand was on the door when his cell phone chimed from the coffee table. Man and dog traded glances.

If he answered the phone, his gut told him he could forget about running. And so much for the afternoon off. Despite the effort he and his partner had put into gathering evidence, it simply wasn’t enough for the district attorney to send before a grand jury. He needed a break. Sometimes Darnell hated the job he loved.

Today, I stopped by DeeSWhite.com to talk to author and inspirational speaker D.S. White.  There were some great questions asked on the When Rain Falls Virtual Book Tour. Dee was one of the ones who asked some of the best questions. Enjoy!