Interview with LJ Garland and Debbie Gould, Sins of the Mind

Sins of the Mind

Red River Series

LJ Garland & Debbie Gould

Seven years ago, Abby Montgomery survived a brutal attack. Now she is ready to put her pain in the past and move on with her life. The problem is, one by one the men in her life are being viciously murdered.


The detective assigned to the case, Ethan Parker, has demons of his own to hide. As the danger gets closer to Abby, so does Ethan. But can they get past his secrets before the killer gets to them? Sometimes the sins of the mind are more depraved than the sins of the heart.

Check out my review of Sins of the Mind HERE

Hello ladies!  Thank you for taking time out to interview with me!

DEBBIE GOULD: Thanks for inviting us, I’m excited.
LJ GARLAND: Yes, thanks so much for having us today!

First off, lets get the easiest part out of the way.  What can you tell us about “Sins of The Mind”?

Our latest release is the first book from the Red River series. It’s a romantic suspense from Decadent Publishing called Sins of the Mind. 

I really thought this story was twisted and fantastic.  How (and who!) came up with this idea?

LJ GARLAND: As I recall, we were both on the same Internet forum. We’d known each other for…what? Two years, Deb?
DEBBIE GOULD: Yup, about that. We had been brainstorming a plot in one of the books I was writing (still unfinished, lol) and I showed her the first chapter of another story that had been screaming in my brain at me. She liked it, and I asked her if she wanted to co-write it.
LJ GARLAND: That’s right! And I was excited because the story was really interesting. Romance and murder, what’s not to like? So, we spent several days brainstorming ideas and things got pretty intense and, as you said, Liz, twisted. LOL
DEBBIE GOULD: From there, came the town of Red River.
LJ GARLAND: Yes. We both loved the town and the characters that survived the first book. And voilà, Sins of the Mind and the Red River series!

DEBBIE GOULD: It was a big joint effort.

LJ GARLAND: Yep. Debbie and I work great together. We get to talking and the ideas just flow. It amazes me how “on-track” we are with each other. We’re both very open…listen to each other’s thoughts and ideas…whining, complaining… *cough*, um, laughing and giggling.
DEBBIE: Definitely. We have great brainstorming sessions on all our stories, and it’s amazing the things we come up with. I also think we share a brain, lol.
LAURA: Yeah! A lot of times, I’m IMing something to Deb, and by the time I hit SEND, BAM – she’s IMd me the same thing! LOL

I’ve had the pleasure of working with a few different writing teams.  They all seem to divide tasks differently.  How do you two handle it?

LJ GARLAND: Divide tasks? We were supposed to divide up tasks?

DEBBIE GOULD: LOL! No division here, we probably work differently than other writing teams and it’s hard to explain how we do it, but it works for us.

LJ GARLAND: Yeah, I would have to say that we’re talking about everything as we go along. We don’t divide anything up really. We do it all together. And for stuff like research, we take turns…well, more like whoever gets to it first.

DEBBIE GOULD: LOL, whatever it is, it works well for us. The chapters end up being a blend of our voices. When my mother read Sins of the Mind, she said there were definite spots she could pick out my voice, and spots she could tell Laura’s and the majority was a blend of both.

LJ GARLAND: Love it! :o)

And I see you have written quite a few books together.  I’m so excited to see that!  Do you have a favorite among them, something you could recommend?

DEBBIE GOULD: I think the paranormal we just completed is my favorite, but then again I’m pretty partial to Sins of the Mind.

LJ GARLAND: I would have to agree. The paranormal we just finished is very intense, romantically and action-wise. But Sins of the Mind is one I’d recommend.

Now Sins of the Mind is part of a series (yay!).  Will we get to see any more of Ethan and Abby?

LJ GARLAND: Absolutely!
DEBBIE GOULD: Oh yes, we are working on the next one as we speak.

LJ GARLAND: And Ethan and Abby have already made an appearance.

DEBBIE GOULD: Yes they have, but its Will and Ever’s turn to shine. LOL

LJ GARLAND: Yep, so Ethan and Abby will be there at the beginning but then leave town, so Will and Ever can be tortured—um, I mean fall in love. Course, the other residents of Red River will still be around. Who knows? Some might even end up in the morgue.

DEBBIE GOULD: Oh, come on…you know some of them will end up in the morgue!

LJ GARLAND: Oh, okay. Probably lots of them will end up in the morgue. But I’m not telling who or how.

Do you have any projects in the works, either solo or together, that you’d like to share with us?

DEBBIE GOULD: We’re actually working on three stories right now.

LJ GARLAND: Oh gosh, yes…we are! We keep tossing these chapters back and forth and sometimes I forget which character goes with which story. LOL

DEBBIE GOULD: I try to keep her straight, but it’s difficult at times. Especially if Laura hasn’t had her coffee.

LJ GARLAND: (glances down at coffee cup) Oh wait. I need a refill. Back in a sec.

DEBBIE GOULD: (sigh) We are working on the next book in the Red River Series, yup more murder, mayhem, and romance, lol.
LJ GARLAND: Back. Now, Red River series? Yep, we’ll be torturing the next characters even more than the first. Though, I think Sins of the Mind had several unexpected twists…and the characters got banged up pretty good.

DEBBIE GOULD: Think we should tease?
LJ GARLAND: Why not? LOL
DEBBIE GOULD: Okay. So, the next story in the Red River series is Will Donovan’s story. Here’s a little bit of our latest WIP….

FBI Agent Will Donovan jogged down the platform toward the train. Each step jolted the flashlight in his hand, sending the beam of light dashing over the concrete in front of him. Would he be too late?

Rows of light illuminated the abandoned trains, left in an old offshoot line of Boston’s Boylston Street Station. He rushed past a wall decorated with graffiti and cobwebs, his footsteps ringing hollow in the old concrete-lined tunnel. Behind him his partner, Kate Yarbrough followed.

“Will,” she called, her voice a harsh whisper filled with warning.

He slowed up. Kate was right. Rushing in could get them both killed. Just because the psycho bastard hadn’t set traps before didn’t mean there weren’t any this time. With both hands, he swept his flashlight beam and Glock 23 across the area, searching out the monster who’d murdered so many women. But only dirt, gravel, and rusted tracks were revealed.

He twisted back to his partner, who tilted her head toward the train car. Get on the train, Will. Find the girl. He nodded.

DEBBIE GOULD: We’re also working on a suspense short story for Decadent’s 1Night Stand series.
LJ GARLAND: Oh, yeah…those hottie pararescue guys.
DEBBIE GOULD: Oh, my they are sooo hot and a great bunch of guys.

LJ GARLAND: That story is a romantic suspense. And we’re hoping to build a string of stories about these amazing guys.

DEBBIE GOULD: Did I mention they are hot!

LJ GARLAND: LOL Yes, Debbie. The guys are hot. But they’re more than that, too. Right? They have their own set of issues/baggage. The third story we’re working on is a short paranormal romantic suspense.

DEBBIE GOULD: Oh, yeah. The tat story.

LJ GARLAND: Another twisty tale…or it should be by the time we’re finished.

DEBBIE GOULD: No doubt, lol. If one of our minds doesn’t think of it, the other does.

LJ GARLAND: So, hopefully, we’ll have more releases soon. Some shorts and a longer story or two.

One of my favorite questions, who would you cast in a movie for Sins of The Mind?

DEBBIE GOULD: Hmmmmm, Abby would be Amanda Seyfried and Ethan would be hmmmm either Channing Tatum…he’s pretty hot right now, or Colin Ferrel, lol, with short hair.

LJ GARLAND: Oh, yeah. Channing. Mmm. He’s sooooo sexy. Amanda would be good. But I like Scarlett Johansson, too.

And if you could bring any character from any book to life for one day, who would it be? (and why, of course!)

LJ GARLAND: Gosh, just one?

DEBBIE GOULD: I can tell you who it wouldn’t be!!! Elliott Swanson!

LJ GARLAND: LOLOL No, I don’t think I’d request Elliott either. He might get the wrong idea and start hitting on me or something. No…I think I would ask for Will. (sigh)

DEBBIE GOULD: Yeah, Will is going to be an awesome hero.

What are your favorite genres to read and to write?

DEBBIE GOULD: Romantic Suspense hands downs!

LJ GARLAND: I love to read and write romantic suspense, sci-fi romance, paranormal romance, and time travel romance. I like to read horror (King, Koontz, Harris), too, so horror aspects tend to creep into the stories. lol

Lastly, social media.  Where can we find you?

- We can be tracked down at http://www.garland-and-gould.blogspot.com/ where we blog, chat about stuff, and interview other authors.
- L.J. can be caught at www.lj-garland.com and emailed at mail@lj-garland.com You can also tweet her at @LJ_Garland1
- Debbie can be found at http://www.authordebbiegould.com/ and emailed at mountecho2006@yahoo.com.
- We love hearing from people who have enjoyed our stories!

And you can find Sins of the Mind here!

Thank you, again! Best of luck with the rest of your tour!

LJ GARLAND: Thank you so much for having us here today, Liz!
DEBBIE GOULD: Yes, thanks, Liz! We had a wonderful time!