Balancing motherhood and crime writing: Canton Daily News interviews Kiwi crime writer

On Friday, Kiwi crime writer Cat Connor was interviewed by US publication the Canton Daily News. It's great to see local authors getting some deserved publicity in overseas markets.

In the interview, the Wellington-based author shares what attracted her to the thriller genre, how she balances motherhood (of a "bunch of children" ranging from just starting school to married) with writing, and more about her heroine, FBI Special Agent Ellie Conway. You can read the interview at the Canton Daily News website, here.

Connor's first two Conway novels, KILLERBYTE and TERRORBYTE were originally published as e-books, and both have received some very good reviews and featured in the Top Ten bestsellers on the Mobipocket website, with KILLERBYTE making it to the #2 position (ahead of Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher thriller at the time). Her books are now available in digital form from a variety of websites, and also in paperback form from Amazon.com.

KILLERBYTE was a finalist in the 2010 EPIC Awards (electronic publishing awards), and also was voted No. 3 in eBookNewser's Top Ten eBooks. TERRORBYTE was rated one of the Top 10 thriller 'Best Reads for 2010' by the Preditors & Editors™ Readers' Poll.

You can read more about Connor's third and latest Ellie Conway thriller, EXACERBYTE, here.

Kiwi author Cat Connor's EXACERBYTE available today

Continuing the good start to the year in terms of Kiwi crime fiction, Upper Hutt author Cat Connor's third FBI Agent Ellie Conway tale, EXACERBYTE, has been released today (it has a 'pre-release' on Kindle, but becomes more widely available from a variety of sites and formats today).

Connor's first two Conway novels, KILLERBYTE and TERRORBYTE were originally published as e-books, and both have received some very good reviews and featured in the Top Ten bestsellers on the Mobipocket website, with KILLERBYTE making it to the #2 position (ahead of Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher thriller at the time). Her books are now available in digital form from a variety of websites, and also in paperback form from Amazon.com.

KILLERBYTE was a finalist in the 2010 EPIC Awards (electronic publishing awards), and also was voted No. 3 in eBookNewser's Top Ten eBooks. TERRORBYTE was rated one of the Top 10 thriller 'Best Reads for 2010' by the Preditors & Editors™ Readers' Poll. TERRORBYTE continues the adventured of FBI Agent Ellie Conway, and even sees her heading downunder to New Zealand as part of a case. Here's a blurb:

"After the violent death of a close friend, Supervisory Special Agent Ellie Conway realizes a child trafficker known as Hawk is back. She believes Hawk killed her husband and was responsible for her friend’s death.

A request for help sends Ellie to New Zealand, on Hawk’s trail. Her job; to locate missing children before they disappear forever. Meanwhile, back in Virginia a child with ties to Ellie is in danger. Can she uncover the hidden agenda of the suspected terrorist and his real identity in time to save the children?"

EXACERBYTE will now be available from Amazon (Kindle), Kalahari, Mobipocket, iTunes, Kobo and on order from book stores (or perhaps in a few hours, given the time difference). Here's an early review of the Kindle edition:

"After the gut-wrenching finish to Terrorbyte left me in tears, I had high expectations of what I can’t help but think of as Connor’s ‘difficult third album.’ (Hey, she’s the one who made it all about the music.) She didn’t let me down. Exacerbyte had me crying quietly into my coffee, giggling out loud and holding my breath, sometimes at the same time. A fantastically fun and entertaining series, which just keeps getting better."
– Un:Bound

You can read an excerpt from EXACERBYTE (the first chapter) here.

Comments welcome.

Book Trailer for Cat Connor's second Ellie Conway thriller

Upper Hutt-based writer Cat Connor is the author of a technology-based thriller series starring FBI Agent Ellie Conway that is now also available in paperback form from Amazon.com.

Connor's first two Ellie Conway novels, KILLERBYTE and TERRORBYTE were originally published as e-books, and both have received some very good reviews and featured in the Top Ten bestsellers on the Mobipocket website. So for you international readers of Crime Watch, Cat Connor is one of the Kiwi authors whose books you can actually get hold of, relatively easily. I'm looking forward to reading them myself.

You can read the first chapter of KILLERBYTE, which was a finalist in the 2010 EPIC Awards (electronic publishing awards), here.

Back in September I published a 9mm interview with Connor (read here), and now a YouTube book trailer for the second Conway novel, TERRORBYTE, is available (see below):