Cara has generously offered a copy of Stars in the Night to one lucky reader, so leave your comments and an email address for a chance to win!

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About Cara

Since the time she could read Nancy Drew, Cara has wanted to write mysteries. In 2005 she attended a book signing at her local Christian bookstore. The rest, as they say, is history. There she met a fellow Indiana writer Colleen Coble. With prompting from her husband, Cara shared her dream with Colleen. Since those infamous words, Cara’s been writing books. This year her 8th, 9th and 10th novels release, including Stars in the Night.

Cara Putman is an active member of ACFW and its conference committee. She served as the Publicity Officer for 2007-2008 and Membership Officer in 2009. She has also been the Indiana ACFW chapter president and currently serves as the Area Coordinator for Indiana.

Cara is also an attorney, lecturer at a Big Ten university, active in women’s ministry, and all around crazy woman. Crazy about God, her husband and her kids that is. She graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Go Huskers!) and George Mason Law School. You can learn more about Cara at www.caraputman.com.

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About Stars in the Night

Stars in the Night (July 2010) is a historical romantic suspense set in Hollywood during 1942.
When Audra Schaeffer’s sister disappears in Hollywood, Audra flies there to find her, but has to identify her body instead. Determined to find the killer and bring him to justice, Audra takes a job with the second Hollywood Victory Caravan. Together with Robert Garfield and other stars, she crisscrosses the southern United States as the stars sell war bonds. When Robert’s ex-wife and another woman are found dead on the train, Audra knows the deaths are tied to her sister’s. Is the killer is the man she’s falling in love with? And can she identify the killer before he targets her?

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What’s your latest book?

Stars in the Night released yesterday (July 1)! It’s part of Summerside’s new Swept Away line, and I’m so excited to see it in print.

Yay! So cool to be getting you right at release time. And allow me to say that your cover is STUNNING! But let’s get to the book, which sounds so awesome. (I think this one may be coming on vacation with me next week!) What’s your favorite part of the story?

I love the setting and the strong suspense element. What’s more glamorous than Hollywood in 1942? You’re talking big stars when the studio system was in full swing. Add in the push to all pull together and do something for the war effort, and I couldn’t find a better setting and time period. Then add in a touch of Murder on the Orient Express, and you’ve got a romantic suspense filled with glamour and a ticking bomb. But truly my favorite part was marrying my favorite historical time period with my favorite genre: romantic suspense.

Sounds sooooo good. What was the hardest part to write?

The hardest part of writing Stars in the Night was all the settings. Because the stars board a train that takes them to Washington, D.C. and then on a southerly course back home to Hollywood, there were about a dozen settings. I hadn’t anticipated how much work that would be. For example, I knew they would start in D.C. because that’s where the real caravan went. But instead of performing at the White House, I thought I’d have them do a public performance at Ford’s Theater, the wonderful, intimate theater in downtown. Only problem was that as I researched, I learned Ford’s Theater was basically abandoned and used for storage. So then I considered the National Theatre. Fortunately, it had been in continuous use since the early 1800s and there were no shows running there the summer of 1942. So I didn’t have to play with history, and it worked beautifully. But imagine doing that kind of research in multiple cities. In Atlanta, I had to research a theater, hotel, the train station, and the roads that existed. All to get the setting right for a couple chapters.

The research was a huge challenge, but I love that I’ve got the details right!

Always a combination of pulling your hair out and shouting in victory, isn’t it? The joys of historicals. =) Is there any one thing or reference you keep handy when writing? Anything you kept around for this particular book?

For Stars in the Night I relied a lot on historical resources, particularly When the Stars Went to War by Ray Hoopes. That book is filled with short vignettes about the many different ways the stars helped the war effort. Some enlisted. Some participated in USO tours. And some went on the real Hollywood Victory Caravan.

I love many craft books and turn to Writing the Breakout Novel Don Maass and Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell often, but with my historicals I often rely more on non-fiction related to the events I’m including in my novels.

Do you remember where you were when you got your first or most important call about a book contract?

I received my first contract at the 2006 ACFW conference. I will never forget that moment because it was such a kiss from heaven. I’ll never forget attending my first conference in 2005 and watching Mary Conneally receive her first contract from Heartsong Presents. I sat there, so excited for her, but also with a fresh realization that it really did happen. People really did get publishing contracts. Little could I imagine that one year later I would be the one hearing my name and title announced from the front of the room. It’s probably as close to the Academy Awards as I’ll ever get, but there is nothing like sharing a moment like that with hundreds of people who understand how important a step that is.

With Stars in the Night, it was a process, starting with an email from my editor asking if I was interested in talking to her about a possible project. Yep! I’m so glad we were able to talk and share excitement for the project. As only God can work things, I was already thinking about a romantic suspense set in Hollywood and that was one of the settings the publisher was interested in. Only God can arrange things like that.

That is just so cool! Is there another author who has greatly influenced your writing?

Two authors have been a great influence, because they have mentored me in different ways. Colleen Coble has breathed life into the dream I had and encouraged me every step of the way. She’s always introducing me to people, and brainstorming to help me turn ideas into books. But she’s always said I could do this. I can’t imagine writing without her friendship and mentoring.

Tricia Goyer let me read several of her books as she wrote them. I learned so much about structuring a novel by going through that process. What an opportunity to watch someone else’s creative process and how they pull all the different threads together. We still share chapters, and that’s been a huge gift to me as well.

Now it’s my honor to turn around and do the same thing with others. A Joy considering the great examples I’ve had.

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Thanks so much for visiting, Cara! Readers, be sure and check out her website. You can purchase Stars in the Night at ChristianBook or CrossPurposes.