Kava Book Signing
 
Sharon Kava grew up just outside Silver Creek, Nebraska. She graduated magna cum laude from the College of Saint Mary with a bachelor’s degree in art and English. She’s held a variety of jobs ---from hospital tech where she cleaned and sterilized utensils from surgery, pathology, and the morgue--- to running her own graphic design firm.

In 1996 she quit her job as director of public relations, wanting to dedicate more time to writing fiction and getting published. To pay the bills, she refinanced her home, maxed out her credit cards and even took on a newspaper route delivering the Omaha World Herald.

Some of you may be more familiar with Sharon’s professional name --- Alex Kava. The inventive, entertaining, and suspenseful author will be coming to Columbus Public Library. Please mark your calendars for Sunday, Sept. 10th, 2006, starting at 3:30pm until 4:45 pm. I can hardly believe our good fortune: a New York Times best selling author will actually be answering questions and signing copies of all her titles---which happen to include her latest, “Necessary Evil” (a sequel to “Perfect Evil”) and the One Book One Nebraska selection for 2006---“One False Move”.

The One Book One Nebraska promotion includes Alex visiting over 35 locations--- giving speeches, answering questions, and talking about “One False Move”, and selling her other five books.

In anticipation of the big event, I’ve been reading all sorts of promotional material. One of the items I found fascinating was A Conversation with Alex Kava, Author of “One False Move”.

Q: After four series psychological thrillers featuring Special Agent Maggie O’Dell, “One False Move” is a stand-alone thriller. Why did you decide to go that route?

“AK: People seem surprised when I tell them I never intended to write a series, but if you look at my first novel, “A Perfect Evil,” you’ll find that Maggie O’Dell isn’t even introduced until Chapter Seven. Since then I’ve been pleasantly amazed that Maggie has made an impact on readers all over the world, and they need not worry, Maggie will be back.
However, I have so many more ideas to explore and stories to tell that don’t necessarily fit into a series. “One False Move” is one of those. It’s also a psychological thriller employing some of the same techniques I use in my Maggie O’Dell series: short chapters that leave the reader hanging, an inside look at what makes a criminal mind tick, and some of the behind-the-scenes of the crime scene investigation. But with this novel I really wanted to push readers to the edge and hopefully get them to feel a part of the manhunt, to experience and perhaps question just what human nature is capable of when forced to survive, when there’s nothing to lose.”

Indeed, “One False Move” is a thriller about a robbery gone sour at a Nebraska bank. In the after word, Kava says that the plot line was inspired in part by a 2001 Lincoln bank robbery and then influenced by the 2002 botched bank robbery in Norfolk, the deadliest in Nebraska history.

Additionally, in 2001while working on a manuscript in a cabin at Platte River State Park near Omaha, Kava experienced an incident that helped put that ring of authenticity in the plotline. A manhunt in the area took place while she was alone in her cabin. The other nearby places were empty. Two bank robbers had gotten away after a high-speed chase and subsequently shot a farm couple and stole a pickup. Kava said she and the park ended up being in the middle of the manhunt.

“It’s one thing to write about such things. It’s entirely another to find yourself right in the middle,” Kava said.
In “One False Move”, to lend creditability, she interviewed a crime lab technician and a newspaper reporter who had worked on the Norfolk slayings case and they were able to take her through the investigative process step-by-step. Sprinkled with other behind-the-scenes information from law enforcement officials, forensics experts, criminal behaviorists and attorneys, “One False Move” seemed the perfect choice for the selection for One Book One Nebraska.

The Library has plenty of copies of all her titles, both new and backlist, available for checkout. Additionally, there will be books for sale at the autograph session, and the proceeds will go to the Friends of the Library Group. Alex Kava will be answering questions in her own inimitable style about her books at Columbus Public Library on Sunday, September 10th, 2006 at 3:30 pm. Please plan on attending, The Friends of the Library are sponsoring the event.