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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Margaret Brownley and Lee Duran
In the Soup Together::

We met eleven years ago when we both ran for the same office of a
national writers organization. Though we totally disagree on who won
and who lost, our friendship has since survived an earthquake, rising
floodwaters, family tragedies, beauty makeovers, and a panicky trip
through a snowstorm to reach a daughter about to go into labor. It
seemed only natural that we write a book together, a mystery that turned
out to be almost as funny and sexy as we are.

Not even living in two different states can cramp our style. We simply
send chapters back and forth via e-mail (and have learned to make "Your
last chapter stinks" sound like "You've just won the Pulitzer"). Though
we seldom come to blows over story lines, we have been known to disagree
(loudly) over a dead body or two.

WHY WE BECAME CAREER PARTNERS (aka Writing Partners)
Between us we've written more than 55 books-singlehandedly. So why
would two independent women who are never at a loss for words decide to
take on a writing partner? It all started when we worked together on a
newsletter for published writers, and actually had fun doing so. Soon
we found ourselves writing novellas and other projects together,
including a storyline for a CBS TV daytime soap--which actually sold!.
Then in a moment of sheer brilliance, Lee came up with the idea for our
Doubletake series-and the rest, as they say, is history.

Two women who look enough alike to be twins-and so different in
personality that they might be from different planets--meet by chance in
Chicago's O'Hare Airport during the snowstorm of the century. Each is
faced with a task she dreads. While on terminal layover, they agree to
trade places for a week. Con artist Samantha Smith will fly to San
Francisco to deal with a "dying" grandmother while Jayne Roberts goes to
Los Angeles to sign Sam's divorce papers.

"Would you stop worrying?" brash Sam scoffs at timid Jayne. "What could
possibly go wrong?"

Practically everything, and in bunches. In San Francisco, bad girl Sam
falls-literally--for Jayne's half-brother, Ben, who's quite a hunk-a
forbidden hunk, unfortunately. In the meantime, good girl Jayne finds
herself in bed with Sam's estranged husband. As if that wasn't enough,
things "really" heat up when they realize that someone's hot on their
trail with evil intent. But who's the target, Sam or Jayne? And will
they live long enough to find out why?

Lee: I've been writing ever since I can remember. I used to tell
myself a continuing story every night after I'd gone to bed, but I'd get so
hung up on certain scenes that my story would stall and I'd just embellish
that scene in my head night after night. This began when I was about 10.
My first "book" was a sequel to The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. I had
no idea I couldn't just pick up somebody else's story and charge onward.

Margaret: I've always been a storyteller, but received negative feedback about
my writing from grade school teachers (I wrote my first novel in 5th grade).
They couldn't seem to get past the creative spelling, dangling particles and
run-on sentences long enough to appreciate my story telling abilities. I
always wanted to be a writer, but it took me a long time to reach the point
that I could say "the heck with them all" and take the plunge. No one was more
surprised than me when my book was finally published. Well, maybe my sixth
grade teacher.

Lee: Because I can't help it.

Margaret: Writing helps me to put my world in order, to make sense out of
chaos. Fortunately for me, I live in utter chaos, which probably means I have
years of writing ahead of me.

Margaret: I read just about everything except for instruction manuals and
Science Fiction.

Lee: All sorts-mysteries, historical romance, westerns, humor, biographies,
non-fiction. I'm currently in love with my RCA Reb1100 electronic reader, so I
only want to read e-books. Fortunately, there're quite a lot out there.

Lee: I've thought and thought about this and can't come up with a coherent
answer. I guess the biggest influence on my writing has been Marian Jones, an
author and teacher in San Diego. I took classes from her more than 10 years
ago and to this day, her words echo in my head when I'm working. She said
stuff like, "There is no good writing, there is only good rewriting"; and "The
worst thing you ever wrote is better than the best thing you never wrote." I
also owe thanks to every newspaper editor I ever worked for. From them I
learned that there is no such thing as writer's block when you've got a
deadline.

Margaret: Lee has influenced my writing tremendously because she made me aware
that writers are first and utmost entertainers. Boring your readers is not an
option. Also, she never wastes a word. She can say in ten words what it takes
the rest of us to say in two pages. I think every beginner writer should have
a healthy dose of her special brand of writing. As for other writers, I think
every author has something of value to teach. From Ann Tyler I learned to
create more endearing characters by paying attention to detail. I will forever
be in debt to Sidney Sheldon for teaching me the importance of cliffhangers at
the end of each and every chapter, and to Stephen King who's not afraid to try
something new and take chances.

If you could meet any character from a book, who would it be and why?
Margaret: Rhett Butler (need you ask why?). If not him, then Sherlock
Holmes. Oddly enough, he and I think alike in many ways. Like Sherlock, I
don't like to clutter my mind with trivia. It stunts creativity.

Lee: I'd like to meet Tarzan, not the movie Tarzan but the one created by
Edgar Rice Burroughs. I love authors who can make the impossible seem real,
which is what he did. The movies have never done justice to the books.

Lee: Margaret and I are already launched on the next Doubletake book. It's
going to be a blast to write, because we know the characters so well now.
Plus we're adding a new one: my (make that our) little seven pound
Maltese dog, Spike. Spike's going to play a pivotal role!

Margaret: We fell in love with Jayne and Sam and hated to see them go. At
first it never occurred to us that we had an honest-to-goodness mystery series
going. But then we began to see the possibilities.

What have you found to be the best way to promote your book(s)?

Lee: Let Margaret do it.

Margaret: Very funny. Actually, this is the first book that we've promoted
almost exclusively on the Internet. Since practically everyone in the book
world is connected, it makes total sense. It's been interesting, though and
ultimately time-consuming and challenging.

Lee: My best tip came from that wonderful writer of romances, Barbara Faith,
who unfortunately is no longer with us. It was 1987 and I'd just entered
another partial manuscript in another writing contest. Upon hearing this news,
Barbara pulled her granny glasses lower on her nose and said in her best school
ma'rm fashion, "Dear, don't you think you should stop entering contests and
finish something?"

I took her advice and sold my first book in 1988. So my advice
for beginning writers is: Finish the darned thing!

Margaret: My advice is do quit your day job. (I bet you never thought you'd
hear anyone say that!) No one works harder than a starving writer. I quit
mine and it was either sink or swim as a writer. Fortunately, I sold enough
non-fiction articles and work-for-hire novelizations to keep me going through
the tough times, and it was only a few months after becoming a full-time writer
that I sold my first book. Had I kept teaching, it would have taken me years
longer to publish my first novel.

For more information on Magaret or Lee and their books, please visit their website:

www.magaretandlee.com