Interview With ‘The Poet’ Author Lisa Renee Jones

I’m always on the lookout for new authors to try. I’m pretty picky about the books I choose, so I’m always on the search for something that will strike my fancy. Suddenly, an excerpt of Lisa Renee Jones’ The Poet landed in my Inbox (read the excerpt here), and to my surprise, it looks like a winner! So, I caught up with the author to ask her a few questions about her book, her style, and her upcoming projects.

PopHorror: Have you always wanted to be an author?

Lisa Renee Jones: I actually did some film and acting. I got pregnant and that kind of got set aside. I ended up in the corporate world, owning my multi-state staffing agency, but I was feeling the pull of creativity. So one day I was in the airport, and said, “I’m not working on the plane today.” I love books and have not read in forever. So I grabbed a book, and by the end of the book, I’d decided to write a book. And so I did. A few months later, book one was done.

PopHorror: Tell me about your first story.

Lisa Renee Jones: Honestly, I don’t remember it, and I’m certain no one wants to read it. My second book was a romantic thriller with a serial killer obsessed with the lead character called Secrets Exposed. It won first place in a Romantic Times Contest and was picked up by a library publisher. So my calling to suspense has always been there.

PopHorror: You’ve written quite a few book series so far, from crime series to erotica. You seem to be taking a different turn in The Poet. What inspired this story?

Lisa Renee Jones: I really consider myself a thriller writer. I’ve written straight romance, but in my core, and in the core of my most successful stories, is mystery and danger. The Lilah Love series is on book six and is not a romance but a criminal procedural. A Perfect Lie is a domestic thriller. A Perfect Lie was released early as an e-book and audio but the print will be on retail shelves this November. On the other hand, my Inside Out series, for instance, is classified as an erotic thriller. I used sex in that series because sex equals vulnerability and trusting the wrong person can equal your demise. The man the heroine becomes involved with pushes her in ways no one else has, but the readers fear he’s behind the murder of a local girl.

As for the differences in writing, I find the pacing and structure of a criminal procedural and a domestic thriller quite different. A domestic thriller is very character driven, should keep you guessing, and you generally should be guessing the whole time. A criminal procedural leans heavily toward solving that one crime and usually a match-up of killer to hero/heroine.

PopHorror: What is The Poet about?

Lisa Renee Jones: The Poet is a dark, dangerous killer who sees himself as judge and jury for the world, a God so to speak. Sam is the only person who stands between him and his victims, but the killer sees her as his prodigy. Here’s the synopsis:

Some call him friend or boss.
Some call him husband or dad.
Some call him son, even a favorite son.

But the only title that matters to him is the one the media has given him: The Poet.

A name he earned from the written words he leaves behind after he kills that are as dark and mysterious as the reason he chooses his victims.

One word, two, three, a story in a poem, a secret that only Detective Samantha Jazz can solve. Because he’s writing this story for her.

She just doesn’t know it yet.

PopHorror: Will this be part of a trilogy like you’ve done in the past?

Lisa Renee Jones: The Poet is a standalone title, but Samantha Jazz will be back next March in The Girl Who Forgot.

PopHorror: What’s next for you?

Lisa Renee Jones: A Perfect Lie will be out in November and in bookstores in print.

PopHorror: If you weren’t an author, what would you be doing instead?

Lisa Renee Jones: I think I’ve already done the “other” career with my staffing agency. This is me now. I don’t know another version of me that I want to be possible.

We want to send a great big THANK YOU to Lisa Renee Jones for taking time out to talk with us!

Pre-order your copy of The Poet on Amazon now!