ALONE

What Lisa had to say about ALONE (aka Book Seven) prior to its publication in January 2005

But I'm getting into the swing of things now. Have a present murder, have a past crime, have a whole cast of interesting/dangerous people. I still don't have a book title, of course—that would be too easy—but in its own way, Book 7 is starting to grow on me. It can be the start of new series, with the next novel cleverly titled Book 8. See, there's hope.

In October, I spent some time in Boston doing research. Given that the hero of Book 7 is a police sniper, I started by interviewing some great guys who serve as law enforcement snipers. Two were with the FBI and three were with state police agencies. One of the most interesting things I learned was the importance of the cold bore shot.

First shot of the day is your cold bore shot; it's the slug that travels from the unheated chamber of the gun down the unheated barrel. That shot warms the gun, so every other bullet fired has slightly different ballistics.

For a sniper, the assumption is that they will only ever fire one shot—the cold bore shot. Thus, instead of going to a firing range and simply unloading a rifle—which was my assumption—snipers train one shot at a time. Setting it up, calculating the ballistics, and then taking that single cold-bore shot. It's about discipline, concentration and intense focus.

It's also about really good aim. Police snipers target a one-inch triangle known as the kill zone. Basically, it's the space right between a person's eyes. The goal is to "immediately incapacitate" the suspect. That's a diplomatic way of saying police snipers shoot to kill. Given that the suspect may be holding a gun to someone's head, law enforcement officers can't afford to wound or maim. No, if a sniper is called upon to take that shot, his goal is to severe a suspect's brain stem. We're talking some very serious shooting.

After meeting with several officers, my husband and I conducted a walking tour of Boston. We picked a house at random to serve as a model for the opening shooting sequence of the novel. I took lots of pictures, while my husband provided an engineer's eye for details. Halfway through our little project, the homeowner returned and spotted us. I'm pretty sure some guy in Boston now thinks I'm casing his home. If only he really knew.

By the end of our time in Boston, the book had really come together in my mind. I can see where it's going to happen. I know what is going to happen. I'm up to speed on S.W.A.T. team protocol, sniper training, and post-critical incident processes for both the Massachusetts State Police and the Suffolk County D.A. I even had an old friend walk me through all the ways you can use the law to destroy a man. It was a fascinating discussion.

Next up—actually writing the novel. Not talking about it, not researching it, not reading about it, but actually writing it. Now this is where life gets tricky