WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE
by Ingrid Weaver 
NASCAR Hidden Legacies
Harlequin, August 2009 
ISBN 978-0373-18526-9

Thirty-one years ago, the infant daughter of NASCAR legend, Dean Grosso, was kidnapped from a hospital nursery. Could she be living in Charlotte N.C. only a few miles from her parents? 

Becky Peters has loved Nascar from the first time her adoptive parents took her to a track. Now she wonders whether her fondness for the sport could be in her blood. With the help of private investigator, Jake McMasters, Becky sets out to learn her real identity. As the search heats up, Jake and Becky find more than they bargained for: a decades-old mystery, a desperate villain... and a love they can't outrun. 
 

I.W.:
Anyone who has seen me drive wouldn't expect me to write a Nascar story. Most of the time, I putter along the back roads near the homestead just fast enough to keep up with the snails in the ditch. On the rare occasions when I venture onto a highway, I might nerve myself up to reach the speed limit, but that's only to avoid getting pulled over for going too slow. To me, my vehicle's sound system is far more important than its engine size. 

But in fiction, anything's possible, so being invited to contribute to Harlequin's Nascar 2009 series was an opportunity I couldn't, ah, pass up. It was great fun to immerse myself in the excitement of Nascar. As my heroine, Becky Peters, discovers, there's far more to the sport than simply driving. 

Launching the series, Mediterranean Nights:Book 1, FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE.

Russian fashion designer Marina Artamova has ten days to persuade David Anderson, her orphaned nephew's new adoptive father, that the child belongs in Russia with her rather than in America with David. But Marina and David have no idea that the quiet boy hides a dark secret about his parents' deaths. Now the man responsible has found him...and will stop at nothing to keep the child quiet. 
 

I.W.:
I've written several books where the welfare of a child is at stake, and they never fail to grab me in that special gut-level fear place. It was tough enough to pit two good people against each other, because when it comes to parenting there's never a definitive "right way" to do it. So while I was writing FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, I kept in mind the story of how Solomon determined a baby's true mother by threatening to have him cut in two. Drastic, yes, but nothing brings out true feelings as quickly as the prospect of losing someone you love.

Then again, perhaps that's just the twisted way my mind works. When I was first invited to participate in the Mediterranean Nights series, I didn't think, "Oh, wow, a chance to set a story on a romantic cruise ship." No, my reaction was more along the lines of, "Oh, wow, I can do a story like the Steven Seagal movie about the maniacs who take over a battleship."

I enjoyed myself on this book so much it didn't feel like work!