Detective Kendall Halsrud is a woman easily identified with. As the reader first meets Kendall, she’s investigating the scene of a home invasion that has left an entire family dead and a baby missing.

Kendall’s car is stuffed with all her worldly goods after being tossed out by a disgruntled roommate. She takes an apartment across the hall from a young girl with albinism who does card readings to earn extra money. Brynn, also a hacker, helps Kendall in her search for the missing child everyone else believes is dead.

A PI hired by the family to find the baby wants her to join forces with him. A former cop, he is the one Kendall believes responsible in a drug bust that led to her getting shot a year ago. In her desperation, Kendall must overcome her dislike of him in order to find the child. Together, they put their lives at risk to find the baby.

What genre is it?
Suspense.

Karen Halsrud sounds like an interesting character.
Detective Kendall Halsrud is an experienced detective. She’s struggling with her past, her place of residence, and acceptance by a mostly-male group of detectives. Relationships elude her, and when she finds herself attracted to Adam Nashlund, she’s both intrigued and put off, since she still holds him responsible for her bullet wound.

What? Tell us about that.
Adam “Nash” Nashund  left the police force after the incident that left another cop dead and Kendall wounded. He took a job as head of security at a manufacturing plant to pacify his wife, who’d become fearful that her husband’s job would end up killing him. When Nash’s boss decides to take the investigation of his missing niece into his own hands, he hires Nash to find the child that everyone except Kendall believes to be dead.

Who else do we need to meet?
Brynn, the young girl with albinism who lives across the hall in Kendall’s building, does card readings because the apartment she lives in was previously rented by a fortuneteller whose clients still came knocking. When Kendall discovers Brynn also has exceptional computer skills, she uses the girl’s talent to help her find the missing baby. Brynn, who has always been reclusive, becomes close to Kendall and Adam as they continue their search for the missing child.

What kind of readers will this story appeal to?
Readers who enjoy a compelling suspense story with a strong, but very human, female protagonist, will enjoy Relative Malice.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love my book.
books by Karen Slaughter, Tami Hoag, and Tess Gerritsen.

Great title by the way. Is there a story behind it?
There is one, but it’s really a spoiler!

– Aargh! Don’t tell us.
I think anyone who reads the book will understand it and enjoy the connection to the story.

We loved your first book, She’s Not There (interview here). Is this a sequel?
Relative Malice is not a sequel, although a couple characters from She’s Not There make cameo appearances in Relative Malice.

For anyone who hasn’t read the book or our interview, remind us what She’s Not There is about.
She’s Not There begins when Lisa Rayburn, a psychologist, discovers that abused women are going missing in numbers too high to be a coincidence. With no bodies and no solid evidence of foul play, the police refuse to investigate. Together with  ex-cop, and husbands of two of the missing women, she tries to solve the mystery. But someone is willing to kill to protect his secret.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a retired mediator, and in addition to writing I do arbitrations for the state of Iowa and the Federal Mediation Service. My home is on a lovely lake in northwestern Wisconsin where I live with a significant other, and two spoiled pets from the local shelter.

When I’m not working I love to read, play bridge, golf, and go for long walks with my dog.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
My blog/website, Reading and Writing are Fattening is at http://marlamadison.blogspot.com.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
On Twitter, @MarlaAMadison
On Facebook, www.facebook.com/marlamadison.

What’s next?
The third suspense novel is in the works and I hope to have it launched early in 2014. The main character is from She’s Not There, TJ Peacock, who gets involved in more murder and mayhem, while trying to get her new PI business going and struggling to maintain custody of her baby when the father’s parents try to take him from her.