MISCIONE, Lisa 1970-

PERSONAL:

Born April 26, 1970 in Hartford, CT; married 2000; husband's name Jeffrey. Education: Graduate of Eugene Lang College, New School University. Hobbies and other interests: Kung Fu, sea kayaking, boating, swimming, biking, SCUBA diving.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Florida. Agent—Elaine Markson, Elaine Markson Literary Agency, 44 Greenwich Ave., New York, NY 10011. E-mail—lmiscion@tampabay.rr.com.

CAREER:

Novelist.

MEMBER:

Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime.

WRITINGS:

Angel Fire, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.

The Darkness Gathers, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.

Twice, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

A former associate director of publicity for New York-based publisher Penguin Putnam, Lisa Miscione was inspired to write her first book while visiting a small church in the New Mexico desert. As she told an interviewer for Bookreview Cafe online, "I knew I would write about the church. It was a couple of years later …that I was sitting in my then-boyfriend's car …that I pulled a napkin out of the glove compartment and started writing." Miscione continued the habit, writing on napkins and hotel stationery, whenever and wherever she had time. Her first novel, Angel Fire, was the result.

Lydia Strong, the heroine of Angel Fire, is a crime writer with a sixth sense that helps her when she consults on criminal cases. Unfortunately, Strong's experience with crime is too personal. When she was fifteen, she found her mother's murdered body. The novel takes place in New Mexico, where Strong is on the trail of a serial killer. With police chief Simon Morrow and former FBI agent—and love interest—Jeffrey Mark, she delves into a world of gruesome murders surrounding a mysterious church, its priest, and the priest's mystic nephew. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented of Angel Fire that the book "isn't for readers with weak stomachs, but it remains gripping and terrifying right through the carnage of its final scene."

In Miscione's The Darkness Gathers, the 2003 sequel to Angel Fire, Strong and Mark follow their intuition to Miami, Florida, after receiving a disturbing taped message from a missing girl named Tatiana Quinn. They meet with the police detective assigned to the case as well as with the girl's Albanian mother Jenna and wealthy stepfather Nathan. The case becomes more complex than a kidnapping, as Jenna's involvement with her Albanian mafia boyfriend and Nathan's shady dealings surface. The plot further thickens with the addition of numerous murders, a trip to Eastern Europe, sexual slavery, and the activities of the FBI and the Miami police force. Jenny McLarin praised the novel in her Booklist review as being "an exciting story enriched by a glamourous writer-heroine who carries a Glock and knows how to use it."

Miscione told CA: "I guess I've always been fascinated by the dark side, the underbelly. I want to know what's happening behind the locked door, who the dark form is in the window, what that noise is under the stairs. I also like the way the mystery thriller genre allows you to push the edges of reality a bit. Obviously, as a writer, research is important to me and I try to be as accurate as possible with the 'facts' in my fiction. But occassionally I like to allow the lines to go a bit gray, allow my characters to be just a little bit tougher, a little bit cooler, a little bit more mysterious than the rest of us.

"To me, writing is its own reward and I think that success is really measured by knowing that you are doing the best you can. However, I'm always so unspeakably touched and pleased when a reader takes the time out of his or her day to write me. It means more to me than anything because it's so real. My favorite comment from my readers is: 'I'm so tired today because your book kept me up all night.' Every time someone tells me that I'm thrilled.

"As a child I grew up in Connecticut, Holland, England, and New Jersey. Reading became a part of my life early on, largely because my parents were avid readers, but also because moving around a lot led me to be pretty independent and somewhat solitary. Reading was a major source of entertaniment for me, and I literaly don't remember a time in my life when I was not writing. It has always been the place where I most naturally express myself, the place where I am most truly me.

"As far as writing habits go, I work at home on my laptop, but the wheel is always turning, so I also find myself writing in notepads, on napkins, whatever is handy at the moment. In terms of a schedule, I like to approach it like any other business. In other words, I get up in the morning and start to write. I have a goal of ten good pages each day. Of course, some days are more productive or inspired than others. In terms of outlining and plot development, I have a general idea of where I'm going, what themes are brewing, and where the story is set. But then I just sit down and write. I don't plot much before I begin the book. I like the narrative to take me where it wants to go. I write for the same reason that I read: because I want to know what's going to happen."