Lifelines is the first in an ongoing series featuring the women of Pittsburgh's Angels of Mercy's ER.  All of the four women who were major characters in Lifelines will be back for the sequel, Catalyst (tentatively scheduled for release in January 2009).  Lydia Fiore, the tough as nails ER doc and protagonist in the series, grew up in LA and thought she'd seen everything.  But when she arrives in Pittsburgh, eager for her first shift as a newly fledged attending physician, she realizes how wrong she is.
 
During her first days at work, Lydia finds herself embroiled in the murder of a gay-rights activist, targeted by a right-wing militia, stalked by an unknown assailant, and racing to stop a plot to ignite a race riot.
 
But even though there are hunky paramedics and relationships play a major role in the story, don't confuse Lifelines with "chic lit."  Lyons has a different term.  "I call these 'Thrillers with Heart', a term I coined to describe the kind of thriller ... that combines the adrenaline rush of a traditional thriller with an additional emotional depth that stems from the relationships between the characters."  And as New York Times best-selling author David Morrell raves, Lifelines is "Packed with adrenalin. I can't recall a hospital novel that so thrilled me."
  
Lyons was a practicing physician so she knows of what she writes.  Trained in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, she has assisted police and prosecutors with cases involving child abuse, rape, homicide and Munchausen by Proxy. She has worked in numerous trauma centers, as well as a flight physician for Life Flight and Stat Medevac.  "Until recently, I was doing it all-and had the dark circles under my eyes to prove it.  But after 17 years of practicing medicine, I decided to take a leap of faith and pursue my life-long dream of becoming a published writer.  So, I left my medical practice and for a while was unemployed-talk about jumping off the Grand Canyon without a parachute!
But the gamble paid off and now I'm getting paid to do two things I love: teach and write.  For the first time in decades, I'm actually getting a full night's sleep, too!"

Contributing editor Mark Combes is an avid sailor and Scuba diver and travels extensively in the Caribbean pursuing his passions. He works in book publishing and RUNNING WRECKED is his first novel.