Alana Lorens’ latest Mystery-Thriller released last week: Cruel Charade.

First allow me to introduce Alana, a seasoned author by many names:

Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter/editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida, after working as a server, a pizza maker, and a floral designer. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need. Alana resides in North Carolina, and she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.

Now, on to Cruel Charade. Alana, introduce us to the story, world and characters.

Miami in the 1990s was shiny and glitzy, loud and tropical, and often dark and deadly. Star Island has as many criminal masterminds as old moneyed-families, and the average person on the street could get killed for the price of a hit of crack cocaine.

In this world, we find Bet Lenard, who until recently was a family law attorney, married to Richard Lenard, a powerful local attorney practicing criminal defense law. This couple had a home in the Redlands, enjoying the best of Dade County living with their two teenagers, Jane and Jeremy. 

But Bet has a mysterious illness that leaves her constantly in pain, which her doctors can’t identify and even attribute to her mind. Since she cannot work and cope with the pain, she turns to alcohol, which drives a wedge between her and the family. Richard files for divorce, blaming her for the break-up.

When she finds herself in the Everglades one night, she realizes her life is out of control. Reluctant to accept help, because she doesn’t know who to trust, she must peel back the layers of the onion of her life to discover who wants her dead. A sympathetic police detective may be a friend. Her long-time therapist?  Is it a knowledgeable doctor who has a lead on her sickness? Could her estranged husband and children be of support? Perhaps there is no one, and she is doomed to fail.

What inspired your story?

In this book, my daughter Bethany suggested it would be interesting to begin a scene with the Five Things—many people have become familiar with the technique as they have gotten into counseling, etc. So I wrote the first chapter, and her comment was, “Well, that got dark fast.” Haha. But she was right—it was a great place to begin.

And of course I practiced law and lived in deep south Florida for a decade (Homestead, pre-Hurricane Andrew) so I have a background in the area.

Give us a brief look at your writing process. Are you a plotter or pantser? How much time did you spend on this project? What is your writing schedule like?

I’m about half and half. Usually I begin with an idea, or a character and get about halfway through, then begin to draw out final arcs. Most of my books take about six months. This one I worked over two years before getting a contract. I polished and polished so it would be right. I’m a night writer as well, so I confess there are some nights I wrote until the wee hours and some nights I just crashed. 😊

Who are you outside of writing?

A crafter, a mom to a grown daughter on the spectrum, a warrior against autoimmune disease, and a gardener—this year we are growing 14 kinds of vegetables, from potatoes to shishitos to tomatoes, along with thyme, lemongrass and catnip to support our clowder of nine.

Follow Alana and check out Cruel Charade at https://alana-lorens.com/

Miami attorney Bet Lenard has had a rough year. She’s battling an unknown illness that drives her to drink to cope with her pain. Her lawyer husband has divorced her and taken the best part of their business, their home and their children. 

On the night of May 16, 1996, Bet finds herself in the Everglades in the middle of the night, drugged, lost and next to a burned car with a dead body in it. Hoping she’s hit bottom, Bet must drag herself out of her living hell and discover who tried to kill her. Was it her ex-husband, not satisfied with stealing everything that mattered? An angry client, unhappy with the outcome of their case? Her best friend’s husband, livid that Bet’s restraining order kicked him out of her life forever? Police officers fuming that Bet helped a client convict a dirty cop who was their friend? She has no idea. 

As she tries to sort out the motives behind her would-be killer, even more suspects come to light. The only thing keeping Bet sane is her relationship with her therapist, who encourages her to struggle and survive, despite everything that’s gone wrong. How will Bet discover the truth and bring her enemy to justice before they strike again and, this time, succeed?