Today I am so pleased to welcome Layla Reyne to Joyfully Jay. Layla has come to talk to us about her Agents Irish and Whiskey series (which I am loving and have reviewed here).  The first book, Single Malt, is on sale for 99 cents for a limited time. She has also brought along a great giveaway! Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Location, Location, Location

My day job involves real estate, so it’s no wonder I obsess over locations when it comes to my writing job as well. In AGENTS IRISH AND WHISKEY, Aidan and Jamie travel the US solving cases in various locations, each of them chosen for very specific reasons.

Single Malt – Galveston, Texas

In SINGLE MALT, Aidan and Jamie investigate a series of hacks on a Biosafety Level-4 Lab in Galveston, Texas. Most of the BSL-4 Labs in the US are part of high-security government compounds. Galveston National Laboratory, by contrast, is located on a university campus. While the building and labs are secure, the environs around it are less so than a locked-down government facility. For Aidan and Jamie that translated to more potential suspects and bystanders; and for me, more red herrings I can throw at readers. Galveston is also a port city, which worked well on several plot levels—Aidan’s family’s shipping connections, multiple targets for the big bad, Renaud, and exciting settings for the car chase and explosive climax.

Cask Strength – Charlotte, North Carolina

CASK STRENGTH takes Aidan and Jamie across the country to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Jamie goes undercover as an assistant basketball coach at a fictional university. I wanted to dig into Jamie’s backstory in CASK, which meant going to his home state of North Carolina, and to my hometown of Charlotte. Growing up there, I was especially familiar with the locations—Jamie’s house, Ethan’s house, “Charlotte University,” and even the airport. That familiarity made blocking character movement and timing events relatively easy. On a personal level, it also gave me the chance to exorcise some homesickness demons.

Barrel Proof – San Francisco Bay Area, California

I had so much fun with BARREL PROOF! Aside from a brief jaunt to Cuba at the beginning of the story, the majority of BP takes place in the Bay Area, which is where I currently live. There are so many amazing locations here, and I delighted in weaving them into the story, from the Federal Building in San Francisco, to the iconic dome hangars at Moffett Field. I also got to pay homage to some favorite dining places and homes. Like with Charlotte, blocking and timing was easy to work with in environs I know and love.

Stay tuned for more stories to come, including more exciting locations—Colorado Springs, San Antonio and Boston, just to name a few!

Blurb

Eight months after the car crash that changed everything, FBI agent Aidan Talley is back at work. New department, new case and a new partner. Smart, athletic and handsome, Jameson Walker is twelve years his junior. Even if Aidan was ready to move on—and he’s not—Jamie is off-limits.

Jamie’s lusted after Aidan for three years, and the chance to work with San Francisco’s top agent directly is too good to pass up. Aidan is prickly—to put it mildly—but a growing cyber threat soon proves Jamie’s skills invaluable.

Jamie’s talents paint a target on his back, and Aidan is determined to protect him. But with hack after hack threatening a high-security biocontainment facility, time is running out to thwart a deadly terrorist attack. They’ll have to filter out distractions, on the case and in their partnership, to identify the real enemy, solve the case and save thousands of lives, including their own.

Bio

2016 RWA® Golden Heart® Finalist, Layla Reyne, was raised in North Carolina but now calls San Francisco home. She enjoys weaving her bi-coastal experiences into her stories, along with adrenaline fueled suspense and heart pounding romance. When she’s not writing stories to excite her readers, she downloads too many books, watches too much television, and cooks too much food with her scientist husband, much to the delight of their smushed-face, leftover-loving dogs.

Giveaway

Layla has brought two Single Malt prize backs to give away across her tour. Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
• By entering you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions set out by Rafflecopter for entries.
• Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
• Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
• By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
• Void where prohibited by law.