Spotlight On!! Romance and Suspense Thriller writer - Catherine Coulter

Catherine Coulter’s first novel came out at the end of 1978 ýwhen she had just reached puberty. It was a Regency romance because, as any published author will tell you, it’s best to limit the number of unknowns in a first book, and not only had she grown up reading Georgette Heyer, but she earned her M.A. degree in early 19^th century European history.

Following The Autumn Countess (a Gothic masquerading as a Regency, she says), she wrote six more Regency romances. Her first long historical appeared in 1982, her "baby", Devil’s Embrace. She has continued to write long historicals, interspersing them with contemporary novels, beginning with False Pretenses in 1988. These days she writes one contemporary suspense novel a year and one historical romance a year.

She pioneered the trilogy/character-linked series in historical romance. They include: Song, Star, ýMagic, Night, Bride, Viking, and Legacy. She enjoys series because she doesn’t have to say good-bye to the characters and neither do the readers. 

In 1988, she first appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List with Moonspun Magic, the third novel of the Magic trilogy. She has continued to hit the New York Times Bestseller List thirty-five times in a row, as well as USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Washington Post, LA Times, etc. She has 36 million copies in print worldwide.

Hemlock Bay

Book Description
After five consecutive New York Times-bestselling FBI novels, Catherine Coulter is a major player in contemporary suspense. "Her suspense thrillers seem to get better and better," exclaims the Midwest Review of Books. Hemlock Bay continues the streak. FBI Agent Dillon Savich is on a challenging case involving the kidnapping of two teenage boys, when trouble boils up in his personal life. His younger sister, Lily, has crashed her Explorer into a redwood in California's Hemlock Bay. Is it another suicide attempt, the second since the loss of her young daughter some seven months before? Savich and his wife and fellow agent, Lacey Sherlock, discover that four of Lily's paintings-left to her by their very famous grandmother, artist Sarah Elliott, and now worth millions-are at the heart of an intricate conspiracy. Lily and art broker Simon Russo are thrust into ever-widening circles of danger that radiate from a notorious collector's locked room.

The FBI suspense thriller series began with The Cove in the spring of 1996. The Cove was an instant bestseller and appeared on the New York Times for nine weeks. In order, the FBI books continue with The Maze (in which Sherlock and Savich are introduced), The Target, The Edge, and the newest of this series out right now, Riptide. Catherine is currently working on the next FBI book, which will appear in the summer of 2001. 

ýThe Cove Catherine Coulter has written a truly suspenseful romance in this story of Sally Brainerd, hiding in a small town from the enemies who killed her father, and FBI agent James Quinlan, who believes she's the key to the murder..

ýThe Target Catherine Coulter's sensational contemporary suspense novels The Cove and The Maze were gripping enough to establish Coulter firmly in the genre, hailed Publishers Weekly. Now, with The Target, Coulter again lays claim to the territory where romance and terror intersect. Hoping to escape unwanted celebrity in the aftermath of a notorious incident, Ramsey Hunt settles in the Rockies, determined to bury himself in the safety of a solitary existence. But his isolation is shattered when he stumbles...

ýRiptide Rebecca Matlock is in the thick of politics, enjoying her work as a speechwriter for the governor of New York, who's facing a reelection campaign. What she's not enjoying are the menacing phone calls from a stranger who refers to himself as "your boyfriend" and warns her that he will kill the governor if she doesn't stop sleeping with him. Although Becca has never had a sexual relationship with her boss, she is increasingly frightened by the phone calls. The police, who were initially sympathetic to her plight, make it clear that they regard her as a hysteric, even after the stalker murders an innocent bystander to convince her that he means business. Becca seeks refuge in Riptide, an isolated community on the Maine coast, but terror continues to dog her. The skeleton of a woman who may be the missing wife of a college friend is unearthed in the basement of her new house; the stalker tracks her to her chosen refuge; and she is sought by the police and the FBI following an assassination attempt on the governor.

With the appearance of Adam Carruthers, a stranger who says he's her guardian angel but doesn't tell her who sent him, the plot makes a dramatic right turn that requires a willing suspension of disbelief. It seems that Becca's father, a high-ranking intelligence officer, went underground when she was a baby in order to protect his family from reprisals by a Soviet agent whose wife he had accidentally killed. Now it's payback time, as Thomas Matlock calls in his own intelligence community to neutralize the threat on his daughter's life. All the attendant testosterone speeds up the action and propels it toward a shoot-'em-up conclusion, but it also sacrifices a clearer portrayal of Becca's feelings about her father's deception and abandonment. At the same time, the switch from a damsel-in-distress story to a high-velocity espionage thriller relegates the skeleton in Becca's basement to a secondary plot point that is resolved a bit too tidily. Catherine Coulter is short on character development and explication, but she weaves a suspenseful web of danger and intrigue, and for her many admirers, the fact that there seem to be two novels trying to coexist in one book may not be too much of a good thing.

ýThe Maze From Kirkus Reviews
Popular historical romancer Coulter (Rosehaven, 1996, etc.) takes on serial killers, the FBI, and a wholly implausible cast in her latest venture. When Lacey Sherlock (supposedly a world-class musician, although this is mentioned only in passing) becomes a special agent at the FBI, it is the culmination of an obsession that has lasted for seven years--the amount of time that's passed since her older, half-sister Belinda was one of seven San Francisco women murdered by a serial killer. At the time, Lacey pledged to find him, and now she's prepared to use her insider status to do just that. She's far less prepared, however, for the feelings stirred up by her new boss, computer-genius/stud Dillon Savich, who's more than willing to help her on her quest. When the pair track down the String Killer, Marlin Jones, they think their troubles are over. Unfortunately, the case then takes a major turn for the overcomplicated. Marlin may not have killed Belinda; at the same time, Lacey's family--her father, a judge, her mother, who's housebound and ``crazy,'' and her former brother-in-law, Douglas- -also come into the picture. The fast pace will hold some appeal, but the cartoonish villains and the comic-book storyline may not.

CONTEMPORARY ROMANTIC THRILLERS

Originally published in October 1988, False Pretenses was ýnot only Catherine's first contemporary suspense novel, but also her first hardcover. Withstanding the test of time, False Pretenses has a new cover and a bit of updating, but no rewriting was necessary for the re-release in March 2000.  If you didn't catch it the first time, or if you're a diehard fan and collector, be sure to pick up a copy.

First published in 1988, False Pretenses was not only Catherine Coulter's first foray into contemporary suspense, but it was also her first hardcover.

Now, beautifully repackaged for her ever-growing legion of fans, False Pretenses will once again electrify readers. It is the explosive story of how one woman must survive the destruction of her perfect life--and the intentions of three mysterious men....

Praise for Catherine Coulter's contemporary thrillers:
"Gripping...absorbing....[Coulter] keeps the action moving fast!"--Publishers Weekly
"Full of twists and turns that guarantee enjoyment."--Rocky Mountain News
"Engrossing...tantalizing mystery."--Knoxville News-Sentinel
"Vivid...titillating...a cliffhanger to the end...sure to keep readers turning the pages."--Naples Daily News
"Tense, tightly written...a new genre of suspense thrillers."--Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph
"Coulter maintains tension throughout...[a] shocking climax."--Tulsa World

First appearing in 1992, Beyond Eden is Catherine's own personal favorite novel. Updated, and with an exciting new cover.

From Kirkus Reviews By the author of False Pretenses (1988), Impulse (1990), and a series of paperback others: a crammed packaged romance featuring sex (bad, bad sex), family screaming, a tidbit of mystery, hasty glamorata, and real love--all set mainly in Manhattan. Lindsay Foxe is the ugly duckling daughter of Judge Royce Foxe, a mean-as-sleet womanizer who adores his other daughter, Sydney, a gorgeous Harvard Law School grad now married to an Italian prince. The 18-year-old Lindsay loves the prince, and he, unfortunately, loves little girls: Lindsay suffers a ghastly rape in Paris as a result, a mega misery topped off when sister Sydney arrives, pumps the prince full of lead, and then, later with dear old dad, blames Lindsay for leading the prince on. In the meantime, Taylor, the N.Y.C. cop who heard her crying out in a Paris hospital, surfaces years later, and it's he who, loving Lindsay, now a famous man-hating model, will help her to gradually overcome her fear. But there's still a family mystery in the works, as well as an attempted murder for Lindsay. After this attempt, when she is injured, assaulters begin arriving as if from a chute: the still- functioning prince; a bogus doctor; and a hired gun. Taped and bandaged Lindsay, in her hospital gown, holds her own.... Elementary but heavy on action Copyright ý1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.