An Interview with Patricia McAlexander, Author of The Last Golden Isle

Author Patricia McAlexander is joining us today for an interview. Her latest novel, The Last Golden Isle, offers romance, suspense, and mystery.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Title: The Last Golden Isle

Author: Patricia McAlexander

Genre: Romantic Suspense, Psychic Romance, Mystery Romance

BLURB:

Ever since a traumatic experience as a college freshman four years earlier, Clare Matthews has had an aversion to men. But when she goes to spend the summer on one of Georgia’s Golden Isles as a companion for her cousin Sally, she finds herself drawn to Jon, a handsome young security guard who works on the family estate. When the feeling seems mutual, she hopes she has at last been healed. Then signs of his possible involvement in a dangerous criminal activity crop up, and Clare must make a decision that will affect the rest of her life.

EXCERPT:

Reaching the island, she turned on her GPS and keyed in her uncle’s address. The system’s confident female voice guided her over circuitous roads until she reached a wide concrete drive blocked with closed wrought iron gates. The GPS told her, “You have reached your destination.” She didn’t remember those gates. They were like those at the entrances to exclusive communities. Then, seeing the sign Sanderson Estates, she realized that this was such a community—the one her uncle had established since her last visit.

She pulled up to the gates and stopped. A tall, well-built, very tan young man in a white Oxford shirt and jeans—a security guard—came out of a small brick building beside the drive. Clean shaven, with dark curls cropped short and strong, even features, he reminded her of the statue pictured on the cover of her high school Latin textbook. She lowered her window, and he looked in at her, examining her with direct gray eyes. He held a clipboard and had a gun tucked into his belt.

Her hands grew cold. “I’m Clare Matthews, Sally Sanderson’s cousin. They know I’m coming.”

He looked at the clipboard, unsmiling. “You have some identification, Miss?”

INTERVIEW:

Welcome! What was the inspiration behind The Last Golden Isle, your latest release?

The title was inspired by the fourteen barrier islands off the coast of Georgia, which are sometimes referred to as “the golden isles.” The name originated in the 1700’s with early explorers of the coast who hoped to find glittering treasure in them. They were disappointed in that respect, but the name stuck, perhaps because of the color of the island beaches in sun or the vast marsh grasses in winter. While my novel is set on an imaginary golden isle, I was specifically inspired by a visit to Tybee Island with its sandy beaches, sea shells, gorgeous sunrises—and from a boat, dolphins and a sunset, with the sky stained pink and the moon rising.

Where do you get your ideas?

Many are from my life and people I’ve known—transformed of course. I once compared the use of experience to a kaleidoscope, the experiences being the little chips of glass being turned and forming new patterns and shapes. Newspaper articles and experiences told by friends also give me ideas. For example, a friend told me about her daughter’s experience with a “spiritual guide” in South America, and that inspired the spiritual guide sequences in The Last Golden Isle.

Do ideas for plot or characters appear first?

In the case of The Last Golden Isle, the idea for the plot came first, inspired by a little novel I’d written as a high school student about a Northern girl who goes to spend the summer with her pen pal in Virginia and discovers this family has dangerous secrets. I changed the setting to Georgia, where I, a Northern girl, ended up living— but much of the basic plot remained the same. However, I added to the protagonist’s character and included as part of the mystery the young man she becomes involved with there.

Have you ever traveled when researching information for a book?

Most of my settings are from places I’ve lived—the Great Sacandaga Lake in the Adirondacks of upstate New York, Athens, Georgia, location of the University of Georgia—or places I’ve visited, like Tybee Island. Thus, I didn’t need to do a lot of additional travelling to “research” these settings. But currently I am working on a novel based on my German immigrant ancestors, who in 1850 came up the Rhine by barge to Rotterdam, and from there crossed the Atlantic to New York City. In May 2022 I took a wonderful cruise up the Rhine to Amsterdam (close to Rotterdam), taking in the landscape, ancient bridges, and castles they would surely have seen. I think I can count this as research.

When did you begin writing?

In grade school I wrote little stories, illustrated them with crayon, and fastened them with safety pins. Later on, in high school, I typed up novellas for my friends to read. I continued writing fiction in college, but put it aside when I went to graduate school, then on to a college teaching career. Only since retirement have I had time to return to that first love, writing fiction.

How many hours do you dedicate each day towards writing?

It varies of course, but when I’m going full steam ahead on a novel, at least four hours.

AUTHOR BIO:

I grew up in Johnstown, New York, an historic town near the Mohawk Valley, where my parents were both public school teachers. I earned a BA from the University of New York at Albany, an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin, Madison—all in English. While on the faculty at The University of Georgia, I authored or co-authored a number of academic articles and books. Now retired, I’ve published three contemporary romantic suspense novels—Stranger in the Storm, Shadows of Doubt, and The Student in Classroom 6, with this fourth, The Last Golden Isle, to be released December 11.My short story “Falling,” which came in second in the Atlanta, Georgia, Writers Club’s 2021 Terry Kay Prize for Fiction, was published in the Fall 2022 issue of the online journal Knot. I live in Athens, Georgia with my husband Hubert, also a retired UGA professor. Our son Ed lives in nearby Atlanta.