Spy Games is set in Seattle. 

Now, the great thing about Seattle, Washington is it's just a great city.  It's the cleaner, more inspired, socially conscious version of New York. Seattle is a city with just as much going on, but when you're done, you feel clean and uncompromised.  From the waterfront market to scenic Puget Sound--that is, if you can see past the cruise ships--to its crumby hold-on-to-your-purse district just outside Chinatown, it's a city of adventure.  And let's face it--you just haven't seen Seattle until you've ridden the duck. 

But Reilly also wants the scenic tour of a different kind.  She's warm for the form of fellow spy camper, Van Keller.  He's handsome.  He's smart.  He's a mathematician with the algebraic formula for looooooove.... Or maybe he has a hair-trigonometry for luuuuuust.  He makes Reilly's palms sweat and her heart race.  She doesn't want to go undercover with Van, she wants him deep under her covers.  He can help her forget her rotten ex-boyfriend, Ket. Only who can forget Ket?  He's everywhere.--even when he's not really there.   Ket is a bad guy with a capital BAD.  In fact, it's his desire to see her dead that sends Reilly to Spy Camp and into the arms of Van and the dongle.  What's a dongle, you ask?  You'll have to read Spy Games to determine if size really matters when it comes to the dongle.

Ooops, I digress.

Reilly believes if she attends spy camp and learns basic spy tactics, she'll be able to protect herself and stop being afraid, apparently believing that the Louisville Slugger she travels with is not going to be persuasive enough if she ever runs into Ket--or more importantly, if he ever runs into her, on purpose.

The back story on Spy Games is the concept came from a travel brochure.  Gina happened to be perusing a pamphlet that had, of all things, an offering of a get-away at a spy camp.  She thought to herself that it would be interesting to put a woman into that setting and instead of just playing a game of espionage--encountering real danger.  Great idea.  Hmm, now that there was a germ of an idea, the trick was getting it on paper, in a manner and style others would read and enjoy.  A dilemma until the author had another chance encounter with a brochure...this one a pamphlet offering a course on creative writing.  Obviously there's raw talent there, not everyone can turn a want-to-write into a publishable manuscript.  But Gina's done just that in between her busy day job as a wife and mother--a job that has carried its own brand of intrigue over the years.  And though hubby can be found reading Dale Brown, Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn, he moonlights as chief proof reader and head cheerleader when it comes to his wife's avocation.  Her love affair with writing is not infatuation--it's the real thing.  And the affair is a family affair.

Gina Robinson moves the story along in first person with fast moving dialogue that takes you along for a really fun ride by channeling super spooks and sleuths the likes of Maxwell Smart.  "I love writing dialogue. I try to keep it snappy and fun and I use a lot of pop culture and popular spy references from serious spies like Reilly Ace of
Spies and James Bond, and spoofs like Get Smart. I also use innuendo and double entendres to up the sexual tension in the story."

Gina is a long time devotee of the romance genre.  She has a firm belief that a little lovin' spices up any story...even a mystery.  With her leap to suspense writing, she weaves romance into the tapestry of good old fashioned suspenseful story telling.  But sometimes the biggest surprise will be the chuckle you'll get behind door number 1.  Gina doesn't allow her characters to take themselves too seriously and often times she'll goof on the spooks.

That's the thing about romantic suspense novels, you don't just get to see whodunit, you get to understand the soul of the story through the hearts and minds of the characters. "Romantic suspense has a more personal focus on the characters, is more character driven, I would say, than cloak and dagger books, which tend to be more plot driven," says Gina.

But Gina isn't satisfied with just spinning a spine tingling novel that will make you jump every time someone opens a shower curtain.  The book will also read like a protect-yourself-in-a-pinch tutorial.  "I hope readers get a sense of empowerment, that they can take control of their lives and make them better. They can act to overcome fears and protect themselves. My books are full of actual self defense and personal protection tips such as the safest hotel room to pick. You don't get that in just any book," touts the author with a Cheshire cat sort of grin, and tongue planted firmly in cheek.

It's just a little something extra, courtesy of the intrepid Reilly Peterson and her alter ego, Gina Robinson.

Spy Games is due out in December, by publishing house, Zebra--just in time for the holiday rush.  It's the perfect item off an interesting mystery menu.  Good enough by itself, or with a side order of ice cream...suspense, ala mode.

Paula L. Tutman is an Emmy Award winning journalist and award winning author of DEADLINE!, currently working as a TV journalist in Detroit.  She has some 30 years in the news business, obviously beginning her career when she was six...no, make that three.  Using her background as a former police reporter, she weaves real life stories and experiences into compelling mystery thrillers.  Her second novel, part two of a series is due November 2009.