This week I’m hosting Jennifer Delamere with An Heiress at Heart, Susan Sleeman with Dead Wrong, Gail Sattler with Take the Trophy and Run, and M.K. Gilroy with Every Breath You Take. If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (November 11th) evening.
Interview with the heroine from Every Breath You Take by M.K. Gilroy:
Detective Kristen Conner
Featured in Cuts Like a Knife and Every Breath You Take
1. Detective Conner, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
You can just call me Kristen. It’s hard to say what’s most interesting about me because sometimes I think I’m pretty boring for a 30-year-old. I’m either working a case, with my family—we fight some, but I really do love my mom and sisters—or working out. One of the fight trainers for the Chicago Police Department says I’m pound-for-pound the toughest fighter on the force. My specialty is krav maga, which was developed by the Israeli Defense Ministry. Some people think I’m interesting because I’ve been on some pretty high profile homicide cases, including a serial killer the press called the Cutter Shark. But overall, I’m not sure I’m interesting. I’m a little different.
2. What do you do for fun?
Growing up my sisters complained that I got more of dad’s attention. That’s because they were doing things like playing with dolls and taking piano lessons and I was always in sports. I did volleyball and soccer and track—I wasn’t any good at basketball. I was on a travel soccer team and was good enough to get a scholarship to play at Northern Illinois University. Go Huskies! So I still love sports. I haven’t got to play in an adult soccer league for past year because I had another knee surgery, but I stay in shape. One of the things I wasn’t sure I’d like was coaching my niece’s soccer team. We’re playing in the eight-year league now and Kendra definitely has something I never had – a strong left foot. So that’s a blast from the past. My only complaint is that the girls picked the team name, the Snowflakes, and then wanted our uniforms to be yellow. Go figure. I occasionally complain that I don’t get to sleep in on Saturday mornings, but I do love my Snowflakes.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
I had a guy I met at church that really liked me and my family really liked him. Problem is no one consulted with me! I just wasn’t crazy about him. I never thought of us as dating, but he always ended up next to me when we were in the same zip code. I never led him on and I was always honest where I stood with him, but I think I took way too long to cut things off completely. When I did that brought out a little stalker in him and things got ugly. So I should have cut things off from the start.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
I’ve been in some pretty tight spots that I wasn’t sure I was going to get out of alive. I wouldn’t call myself fearless, but for some reason I don’t have a problem walking into harm’s way—my partner would probably say something about my intelligence level and how he has to keep saving me. I think I do have some fears about my family. I followed my dad as a cop for the CPD and he was shot in the line of duty. Since he died I think all of us struggle in our own way. My younger sister—who is the most beautiful woman in Chicago I would add—seems especially vulnerable. I worked a case that ended up with her at the sharp end of a knife. She seems okay now but I know it was traumatic for her. So I think I my fears are about my family being safe.
5. What do you want out of life?
I’m one of those people that knew what they wanted to do and be early in life. My dad would take me to the precinct with him on Saturday mornings so he could get a little work done before my soccer games. I feel like CPD helped raise me. All I ever wanted to be was a cop. I got my detective shield when I was twenty-eight and I’m not sure what else I want out of life. I have had a situation come up with the FBI where I could probably make a move, but I’m not sure that’s what I want. Oh—I assume I might want to get married and have kids some day. The problem is I’m not really very good in the romance department, so that could take awhile!
6. What is the most important thing to you?
My family might try to tell you otherwise, but I do think about life and what matters a lot. I’m just not real good about expressing it to others. I have questions in my head but still keep things simple. So I’d say God is most important to me, even if I do fall asleep in church sometimes and get dirty looks from mom. To be honest, the other thing I think about all the time is finding who shot my dad. The big boss in CPD Homicide has put the folder in the inactive files. I wasn’t sure I was going to have my job after I let him have it over that decision. But I really want to get the guy who shot my dad.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
I grew up in a very straightforward home where we were raised to do the right thing. So I do read my Bible. Not every day like I should, but I read it. I do a crossword puzzle most days of the week, but that might not count as reading. I usually have a paperback on my nightstand. I like Grishom. I like Kellerman—the wife not the husband. I pretty much read stuff from the bestseller lists. I read a Daniel Silva novel about an Israeli assassin and I liked that lot.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I already mentioned I keep things simple. I love God, my family and my job. And I really like a good cup of coffee. It’s not that I’m not ambitious and don’t want to grow—I have finished a few classes toward a master’s degree in criminal justice. But I grew up in a working class home in a working class neighborhood in a working class city. My younger sister will probably be a network news start some day. She’s got the dreams. I just kind of like what I’ve got in life. I am who I am, so I’m not going to lose any sleep thinking of ways to be someone different.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
I’m single, have crazy work hours, live in an apartment and can barely keep a plant alive. No pets!
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
My younger sister takes longer to eat less food than anyone else I have ever seen. I, on the other hand, have a very healthy appetite and don’t mind going back for seconds and thirds. So she calls me a Barbarian. So maybe I’d like to take a look at the Roman Empire when they were fighting the Goths and Vandals and other barbarians. I’m not sure whose side of the fight I’d be on. As you can tell by my answer, I’m not known as the most imaginative person in the world. I’m direct and pretty literal. That’s probably because I was raised in a cop’s home and I’m a cop myself. I’ll leave the daydreaming to others because I’ve got some bad people to catch.
