It’s been five years since Bernie married Gary, a dear friend from the past and the true man of her dreams. Bernie now practices law in New York City, while Gary enjoys tenure as a German professor at the university, and they have a beautiful life together. But when Gary learns his job will be eliminated, then Swiss banker Karl Berset reaches out to Bernie with devastating news that could have far-reaching effects, it seems it may be time to return to Switzerland–at least for a while. Several years earlier, Bernie reconnected with Jean-Michel, the son she conceived nearly thirty years ago during her Fribourg dalliance with Karl, and he now has a family of his own. But a gene he may carry for a deadly genetic disease from a father he never knew could very well ruin his life and the lives of his children. Though he’s not the only one about to face a huge and terrifying change in the bittersweet conclusion of the beloved Chocolate saga…

It’s a saga?
My latest release is actually the third, and final book in the trilogy. This novel, “Bittersweet Chocolate,” brings the characters full-circle from the time readers first met them in the first book.

In the third and final installment of the award-winning Chocolate series, Bernadette Maguire’s story is about to come full-circle… But is she ready for what her future holds?

Should we read the books in order?
I’d suggest reading “Chocolate for Breakfast” and “Chocolate Fondue” before picking up “Bittersweet Chocolate.” It’s a trilogy, so it’s better to read the books in order.

We’re sensing a chocolate theme here.
If you like Switzerland and chocolate, you’ll love my book.

What genre is this series?
Women’s fiction (it’s not chick lit!)

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Primarily women 40+, although many men have read the first two books in the trilogy and loved them.

Bring us up to date with the main characters.
Bernadette Maguire first appeared as a 20-year-old college student, abroad for a year of study in Switzerland. Now, in “Bittersweet Chocolate,” she’s 50, married, and about to return to Switzerland, after learning that the man with whom she had a brief fling 30 years earlier may have passed along a deadly genetic disease to the child she bore (and gave up for adoption) after their affair.

Karl Berset, the man who fathered Bernie’s child, has lived a life of deception, but as he faces his imminent mortality, tries to make things right.

Jean-Michel Eicher, the offspring of Bernie and Karl but raised by his adoptive parents, learns devastating news about his birth father, and the strength of his character will be tested.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
I’ve also written a novel, unrelated to these three, titled “Bits of Broken Glass.” It centers around four high school classmates who attend their first-ever reunion, 25 years after graduation.

Tell us about yourself.
I ended an accomplished career as a fraud investigator in 2011 and began writing full time. I’m finally doing what I love and am living proof that it’s never too late to pursue a dream.

My husband and I live in Rhode Island, never far from the ocean.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
I blog at http://MarthaReynoldsWrites.com.

What about social media?
Twitter @TheOtherMartha1
Facebook page is Martha Reynolds Writer.

How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words – Man, Woman, Airport, Darkness – can you give us a brief storyline?
I’m not sure I can!

Go on, give it a go.
Okay, let me try…

The flight from New York to Paris leaves at nine o’clock in the evening. As darkness falls outside the terminal, a man paces, his fingers twitching for a forbidden cigarette. A child whimpers in her mother’s arms. An elderly couple read magazines.

When the flight is called, the man picks up his carry-on bag and steps into line. He stares straight ahead and doesn’t even notice the woman who enters the queue, her eyes fixed on the back of his head. She taps keys on her phone, sending a brief message of assurance to a stranger waiting in Paris that the man is, indeed, on his way…

Ooh sinister.
What’s next for you?
Next up is a retelling of sorts. My grandfather kept a journal of a camping and canoeing trip he took in 1924. I’m hoping to turn it into a book, and hope to have that done in time for the 90th anniversary of the trip.