2018
Battle Tested—Laura Scott, October 2018
Valiant Defender—Shirlee McCoy, November 2018
Military K-9 Unit Christmas—Valerie Hansen and Laura Scott, December 2018
Have you ever felt like an outsider or been outside a group looking in? Eight years ago, I stood in a hotel lobby at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference, trying to get up the nerve to go talk to a group of Love Inspired authors. There they were, sitting in a line under the escalator, typing away and talking about poison. I summoned my courage and admitted I wanted to write books like theirs. Lynette Eason invited me to sit with them and ask questions.
That day my life changed. I met my wonderful editor, Emily Rodmell, who edited this Military K-9 Unit series, that afternoon. A year later, I submitted a book, and while it wasn’t accepted, Emily provided me with helpful notes and Lynette encouraged me to try again. I did and one year later, Emily called to tell me Love Inspired would be publishing Killer Assignment.
Being part of this K-9 series, which includes books by some of my own writing heroines, is a dream come true. I really identified with Chase and Maisy, who both felt like outsiders, and I loved watching their romance unfold. I hope you enjoyed it too.
If you want to find out more about writing for Love Inspired, visit www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com, follow Emily on Twitter at @emilyrodmell or find her on Facebook at Emily Rodmell, Editor for tips and advice. You can find me on Twitter at @maggiekblack or at www.maggiekblack.com.
Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
Maggie
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
—Ephesians 6:13
Thank you to my wonderful editor, Emily Rodmell, for including me in this, my first continuity series. Thanks as always to my agent, Melissa Jeglinski, who discussed series writing with me over chicken Parmesan.
Also, huge amounts of gratitude to Lynette Eason, Valerie Hansen, Shirlee McCoy, Dana Mentink, Terri Reed, Laura Scott and Lenora Worth for your support, guidance and friendship as I was crafting this book. I’m honored to write alongside you.
Contents
The scream was high-pitched and terrified, shattering the muggy darkness of predawn July and sending Senior Airman Chase McLear shooting straight out of bed like a bullet from a gun before he’d even fully woken up. Furious howls from his K-9 beagle, Queenie, sounded the alarm that danger was near. Chase’s long legs propelled him across the floor, clad in gray track pant civvies. He felt the muscles in his arms tense for an unknown battle, as the faces of the brave men and women who’d been viciously killed by Boyd Sullivan, the notorious Red Rose Killer, flickered like a slideshow through his mind.
Help me catch him, Lord, and end the fear that’s gripped the
