Ah! Bad Cop. The one that almost got away. Thankfully, I managed to get our relationship back on track and we finally have a happy ending *cue applause. I bet you’re just as glad as I am that the book is finished though for different reasons. In your head you’re saying, “Thank God. Now we don’t have to listen to her whining about this damn book all the time.” Lol. ‘Tis okay. As long as you’re happy.

Lucas and Brandy were high school sweethearts who reconnect thirteen years later. Lucas is now a cop and Jasmine is a very, very successful financial manager. Given their explosive break up, it’s no surprise that their reuniting isn’t a happy occasion. Worse, the whole thing is shadowed by the death of Jasmine’s assistant. It took a while to get these two to deal with their past as well as solve the murder, but as always Dr. Phil a.k.a. Linda managed it. This be what I do.

You’ve read the book, right? If you haven’t, I don’t even know what to do with you. Go and READ IT. If you’ve read it, then here are a few more facts that might make you smile – or frown.

1: THIS BOOK HAS BEEN REINCARNATED THREE TIMES – I THINK

I don’t even know where to start. Jasmine was originally called Brandy. When the book first appeared, she was a naïve wannabe actress who’d somehow gotten a job as a stripper. Yes, a stripper. In that first reincarnation, she struck up a friendship with a suspicious guy called Rafi, lost her roommate to a serial killer and had a frenemy called Kia who had slept with Lucas in the past. In the second reincarnation, she had a little more backbone, was still friends with Kia but had less of a relationship with Rafi (who now turned out to be the killer). In this reincarnation, all of that is gone. Shoot! I still miss Kia. Should have brought that lady back –lol. She had no shame and didn’t give a flying pig about what people thought of her THOT ways. But she’s gone now. The only constant was that the book was still called Bad Cop. This time when I started the rewrite, I decided to start with a completely clean slate. There are still a few scenes that were pasted from the originals, but there are so few and so heavily edited that I bet those who read all those other reincarnations won’t even recognize them.

2: LUC’S FATHER WAS SUPPOSED TO PLAY A GREATER PART

Originally, I’d intended to give Jasmine an older brother – a dead older brother. If that older brother had actually existed, then Luc’s father would have played a part in his death. As in while Luc’s father was robbing the store that sent him to jail, Jasmine’s brother gets killed in the course of that robbery. Of course that would’ve complicated Jasmine and Luc’s relationship. How do you start a relationship with the man whose father killed your brother? I ditched the whole storyline because it would have taken more than ten chapters to resolve the mess and I was already closing in on one hundred thousand words. But think about it! How would it have worked? Would her mom have even agreed so easily to let Lucas back into their life?

3: MICHAEL WALCOTT COULD HAVE DONE MUCH WORSE TO JASMINE

As you already know, the Michael Walcott is trash. But I was going to make him even trashier. Jasmine is a personal finance manager with a thriving YouTube channel. Teddy offered to get her a radio gig. I was going to give her that and a column with a Buzzfeed like online paper. Michael, with all his money, would then have ruined the whole thing by threatening to withdraw advertisement from the station and paper unless she was fired. His way of making her back off from the investigation. I was even thinking of getting him to pay people to mess with her channel (maybe leave bad comments or spread rumors). I know, I know. I’m as wicked as the Walcotts :D. But just imagine how awful her life would’ve been.

4: IT TOOK ME ONLY A MONTH TO WRITE IT

That’s right. When I started this newest reincarnation, it only took me one month to write 96,000 words. Meanwhile I’d been trying to write it for four years. Starting, stopping….. I think I figured out what the problem was. Because the book was a so mystery heavy, I was scared that people wouldn’t like it. My most well received books have been those that feel more erotic romance and just focus on the characters. But when I started Bad Cop this time, I just told myself that it didn’t matter whether others liked it or not. What mattered was whether I liked it. I told myself not to care about how it would be received or whether people would even buy it and just right. I think that’s what got me to let go of all my fears and just write. Finishing this book taught me that sometimes it’s hard to write just because you’re so conscious of the readers or what income a book will bring. Once you stop thinking of these things and let things be, it becomes much easier to write the story that you want.

5: IS THIS LOVE BY BRIAN NHIRA WROTE THIS BOOK

I know, right? The lyrics have absolutely zero to do with this book and yet for some reason, every morning when I sat at my desk to write it was the only book song that could get the juices flowing. The beginning especially got me (Let’s not even talk about his voice).

Quit playing with my heart

How dare you try to start what you don’t intend to finish

Is this a gimmick you’ve had planned right from the start

Something about those lyrics just connects with me. Maybe it’s because lately I’ve been talking to some guy who is into mind games. One day he is into you, calling like one hundred times per hour, and the next day he just goes MIA. He reappears a week later claiming to have missed you, declaring his love every second. Then disappears again. Right now, I wouldn’t even be surprised to find out that he has a wife and family somewhere out there which is why he keeps disappearing. Anyway, enough about me….. lol…. How you been? Have you read Lucas and Jasmine’s book ? You interested now?

Have you read Bad Cop? Learn more about it

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Is there something you really want to know about Bad Cop? Ask away. Drop a comment below this point and I’ll answer it ASAP.

Cheers,

Linda