By Karna Bodman
Three years ago, the Rogues were delighted to welcome New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Alex Kava to our group. She is the author of the award-winning critically acclaimed FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell series and a new series featuring former marine, Ryder Creed and his K-9 search and rescue dogs—who doesn’t love to read about super smart dogs?
Alex owns a number of adorable Westies so certainly knows all about the behavior of great dogs.
In her terrific novel Lost Creed, Alex writes about the challenge of human trafficking. This book won the 2019 Nebraska Book Award.
In another Ryder Creed novel, Midnight Creed, the hero’s priority is to keep his scent dogs safe. And ever since his Marine K9 unit searched for IEDs in Afghanistan, he’s avoided nighttime searches. But when a boy goes missing in a remote area of the Florida Panhandle, Creed has to put aside his fears and navigate the risks his dogs will face after dark.
Alex can certainly write authentic settings since she has a second home in the Florida Panhandle as well as a place in Omaha Nebraska. In her most recent blog she writes about how she sprinkles in real-life landmarks, even nice locations. For example, her FBI profiler, Maggie O’Dell has stayed at the Margaritavilla Hotel on Pensacola Beach many times, which certainly looks like a great place for a vacation.
Published in over thirty-six countries and selling 7+ million copies, Alex’s novels have made bestseller lists in the UK, Australian, Germany, Japan, Italy and Poland. She now says that with deadlines looming, she must take a step back from the Rogue line-up.
Alex told us: Publishing, distributing, and marketing while writing my books is always a challenge. I’ve also taken on negotiating my foreign rights contracts and producing my audios. Next year I celebrate 25 years in this wild business, and there are some exciting projects I’ll be announcing soon. Every week is a new adventure, and when I’m not overwhelmed, I do enjoy it. At the same time, I need to recognize I can’t do everything I want to do without something not getting the attention it deserves.
We will miss her blogs and her insights into the world of writing! She was a great credit to the Rogues and a huge help in revamping our newsletter. We certainly want to thank her for her many contributions over the last three years and wish her the very best of luck—while we continue to read her terrific stories.
Goodbye as a Rogue, but never a goodbye, writer to writer, Alex! It’s been great sharing this time with you and I’ll be looking forward to your newsletter and more great books!
Thank you Alex for your insights and help!! Greatly appreciated, and I hope to run into you at many future conferences.
It’s been great having you as a sister Rogue, Alex. You’re a trailblazer in many ways, and it’s fascinating to see how you’re charting your own course with terrific success! Best of luck and hoping to see you at a conference soon.