Disaster Crimes Series:
The Crimes Before the Storm (PREQUEL)
Hurricane Crimes (#1)
Seismic Crimes (#2)
Lightning Crimes (#2.5 free story)
Tsunami Crimes (#3)
Flaming Crimes (#4)
Frozen Crimes (#5)
A Fighting Chance(#6, SPIN-OFF)
The Disaster Curse(#7, SHORT)
SERIALIZED:
Start reading Disaster Crimes on KISS.
Read the Disaster Crimes series as serialized installments on KISS, a new and exciting way to experience Romance stories of all genres!
(Minus Lightning Crimes free ebook #2.5, The Disaster Curse the $0.99 short conclusion, and The Crime Before the Storm, the prequel exclusive to newsletter subscribers.)
#0.5
THE CRIME BEFORE THE STORM (PREQUEL TO HURRICANE CRIMES) IS A FREE EXCLUSIVE EBOOK AVAILABLE TO MY NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS.
One night, Donovan’s brother, an Internal Affairs Investigator, reveals to Donovan that his life in danger. He gives Donovan the only evidence that proves the cops who are threatening him are corrupt.
The day Hurricane Sabrina makes landfall on Florida, Donovan’s world comes crashing down. He has no other choice but to flee for his life during a category 5 super storm.
Content Warning: police brutality, animal death
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#1
After her car breaks down, Beth Kennedy is forced to stay in Florida, the target of Hurricane Sabrina. She stocks up supplies, boards up windows, and hunkers down to wait out the storm, but her plan unravels when she witnesses a car accident. Risking her life, she braves the winds to save the driver. Just when she believes they are safe, she finds out the man she saved could possibly be more dangerous than the severe weather.
Donovan Goldwyn only wanted to hide from the police, but the hurricane shoved his car into a tree. Now he’s trapped with a beautiful woman while the evidence that can prove his innocence to a brutal crime is out there for anyone to find.
As Hurricane Sabrina wreaks havoc, Beth has no other choice but to trust Donovan to stay alive. But will she survive, or will she become another hurricane crime?
Content Warning: police brutality, violence, gun violence, animal death, snake
Heat Rating: Medium (sexual tension/behind-closed-doors)
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Click HERE for fun extras on Hurricane Crimes.
#2
An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.
Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.
When a tip reveals the killer’s location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?
Content Warning: on page sex, strong language, trauma/PTSD, death of a loved one, corpse, drug dealer, violence, guns
Heat Rating: Hot (Steamy scenes but NOT erotica)
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Click HERE for fun extras on Seismic Crimes.
#2.5
A freak lightning storm unleashes its energy on Central Florida. Bolts of lightning crash to the ground. Torrential rain soaks everything within seconds. And the power goes out, casting Beth and Donovan’s apartment into darkness. Beth is already on edge after receiving a menacing phone call several months ago, and this storm doesn’t help with her nerves.
Donovan tries to distract her from Mother Nature’s tantrum, but someone else has other plans. When they find the front door to their apartment wide open, they soon realize it isn’t an accident. Someone is in their apartment with them.
What crime can happen as fast as lightning?
Content Warning: disasters, home break-in
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Click HERE for fun extras on Lightning Crimes.
#3
Beth and Donovan have come a long way from Hurricane Sabrina and the San Francisco earthquake. Now they are approaching their wedding day and anxiously waiting to promise each other a lifetime of love. The journey down the aisle isn’t smooth, though, as they receive threats from the followers of the notorious criminal, Jackson Storm. They think they’ll be safe in Hawaii, but distance can’t stop these killers. Not even a tsunami can.
This monstrous wave is the most devastating disaster Beth has ever faced. It leaves her beaten, frightened. Is she a widow on her honeymoon? As she struggles to hold herself together and find Donovan, she’s kidnapped by Jackson’s men.
Fearing her dead, Donovan searches the rubble and shelters with no luck. The thought of her being swept out to sea is almost too much for him to bear, but the reality is much worse. She’s being used as bait to get him to fall into a deadly trap.
If they live through this disaster, they may never be the same again.
Content Warning: on page sex, strong language, sexual assault discussed/aftermath visual, road rage, violence, death, kidnapping/hostage, guns/gunshots, hospitalization, trauma/PTSD
Heat Rating: Hot (Steamy scenes but NOT erotica)
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Click HERE for fun extras on Tsunami Crimes.
#4
Beth and Donovan are now happily married, and what Beth wants more than anything is a baby. Her dream of starting a family is put on hold as fires burn dangerously close and Donovan becomes a victim of sabotage.
Donovan escapes what could’ve been a deadly wreck. Their past enemies have been eliminated, so who is cutting brake lines and leaving bloody messages? He vows to find out, for the sake of the woman he loves and the life they’re trying to build.
Amidst a criminal mind game, a fire ignites next to their home. They battle the flames and fight to keep their house safe from the blaze pressing in on all sides, but neither of them expects to confront a psychotic adversary in the middle of the inferno.
Their lives may just go up in flames…
Content Warning: on page sex, strong language, trauma/PTSD, fertility issues, sexual assault, death threats, guns/gun violence, snake, arsony
Heat Rating: Hot (Steamy scenes but NOT erotica)
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Click HERE for fun extras on Flaming Crimes.
#5
Beth and Donovan are expecting their first child. Life couldn’t get any better…until a stalker makes his presence known. This person sends disturbing messages and unsettling items, but it isn’t long before his menacing goes too far.
Hoping for a peaceful Christmas, Donovan takes Beth to Michigan. Days into their trip, a winter storm named Nemesis moves in with the goal of burying the state. Snowdrifts surround their house, and the temperature drops below freezing.
Except, the storm isn’t the only nemesis they must face. Everyone’s lives are at stake—especially that of their unborn child. Will they survive, or will they become a frozen crime?
Content Warning: on page sex, strong language, stalker, hostage, violence, guns/gunshots, pregnancy/child birth
Heat Rating: Hot (Steamy scenes but NOT erotica)
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Click HERE for fun extras on Frozen Crimes.
#6
Thorn has loved Amanda from afar, giving her whatever she needs as a survivor of abuse—space, protection, and stability. He yearns to give her more, though, to share his feelings, kiss her, love her, but he’s worried the truth will frighten her away.
And Amanda is afraid. She’s scared of her attraction for Thorn. Most of all, she’s terrified of her ex-boyfriend, who is lurking nearby where no one can find him. When she grows closer to Thorn, Damon retaliates, jeopardizing their happy ending.
Up against an abusive ex and Mother Nature, do Thorn and Amanda have a fighting chance?
Content Warning: on page sex, strong language, stalker, past abusive relationship discussed, violence, PTSD/anxiety, blood (minor), tornado
Heat Rating: Hot (Steamy scenes but NOT erotica)
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Click HERE for fun extras on A Fighting Chance.
#7
Following a 7.1 earthquake in Guatemala, Thorn and Amanda, volunteering for the American Red Cross, help survivors in any way that they can. They hand out food and water and offer comfort to the people shaken by this event.
A sudden tremor knocks everyone off their feet, only it’s not an aftershock of the quake. One of Guatemala’s many volcanoes is erupting—a disaster on top of a disaster.
Thorn and Amanda now must do whatever they can to help each other and the survivors of the quake endure this natural phenomenon.
Content Warning: disasters
Heat Rating: None
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Click HERE for fun extras on The Disaster Curse.
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Social Media Short Videos:
How the Series came to be…
The Disaster Crimes Series started with the desire to write just one story. Years ago, I read a book set during a blizzard. When I finished reading it, I realized how many winter stories I’ve read, but I had never read one about weather I knew…hurricane weather. Right away, I set off to write that story. I knew I wanted it to be a romantic-suspense. Except, I didn’t want it to be typical. What better way to do that than by making my heroine’s counterpart a suspected murderer? That’s how the crime aspect came about.
It wasn’t until after I published Hurricane Crimes and heard from two readers when a series became my next goal. One reader wished Hurricane Crimes had been longer. The other reader wanted to know what happened with Donovan before Hurricane Crimes started. Then I realized a pretty big flaw…there was still a killer at loose!
Immediately, I knew I wanted to carry the disaster and crime features over into the sequel. But which disaster should I write about? There’s so many! That’s how I got the idea to write a series. I created a list of the disasters I wanted to write about and soon had the titles picked out. I actually had the titles for books 2-5 before I even had a clue about their plots! When you get an idea, you don’t hop, you jump. And that’s exactly what I did. I jumped all in.
With the unfolding story from Hurricane Crimes, and the story I set up in Seismic Crimes, I was about to connect each book with criminals and crimes.
Title Mania:
I struggled with the title for Hurricane Crimes. I knew I wanted “hurricane” in it, but I couldn’t figure out a way to tie in everything else that happens in the story. The first title I thought of was Hurricane Criminal or The Hurricane Criminal, because Donovan is a suspected murderer. But that wasn’t right, so I kept searching. Finally, the solution bonked me on the head. I thought, if I don’t like “criminal” then I can shorten it to “crime.” But not just one crime happens, though. Several do. Big and small. Tack on an “s,” and VOILA! Hurricane Crimes.
When I got the idea to write a series, I wanted each story to be linked, not only with their continuing story lines, but with their titles. I felt that Hurricane Crimes was a title with impact, and I wanted each story after it to have that same force. Therefore, I decided to use the name of a disaster (or a word to describe the disaster) and pair it with “crimes” for each title. The fact that each story is full of all sorts of criminal activity helps, too.
Chrys Fey’s Disasters:
Hurricanes:
Hurricane Crimes was strongly based on my experience with Hurricane Francis and Tropical Storm Fay. Hurricane Francis was one of three hurricanes that struck Florida, one right after the other, in 2004. As a matter of fact, while writing Hurricane Crimes, I imagined Beth’s house was the house I was living in when those hurricanes hit. Unlike Beth’s house, mine survived. The only damage was to parts of the porch and the garage door, which was knocked down.
The flooding in Hurricane Crimes was based on the floods from Tropical Storm Fay. She made landfall on Florida four times. Many places flooded. Where I was living, the streets flooded so much that it looked like my house was floating in the middle of a lake.
Beach Danger:
Thankfully, I have not experienced an earthquake or tsunami, but I did write a scene into Tsunami Crimes that I did experience first-hand, when a huge wave knocked me down into rocks and tried to suck me back. I had to claw my fingers into the rock to keep from getting dragged under.
Wildfires:
Flaming Crimes is about wildfires, and I have experienced those. The fire in that story, which threatens Beth and Donovan’s home, is taken directly from my childhood memories. Every part of it: my best friend’s dad saying the fire looked like it was right next to my house, the moment when I see a crowd of gawkers at the end of the street and I yell at them, my dad on the roof with a hose, the firefighter who got burned, the brush truck that got stuck in the fiery woods…everything.
Even real-life random moments were used fictitiously, such as my mom coming out of the house with a bag of potatoes, and one of my cats running toward the fire. She survived, but another one of my cats, Angel, had also run toward the flames. She came home that night. Burned. She died a few days later on my twelfth birthday.
I fully believe in using our experiences in our stories, and that’s what I do.
The Fire that Inspired Flaming Crimes (Parts 1 – 10):
Part 1 – Circle of Friends Books
Part 2 – Sandra Cox
Part 3 – Elements of Emaginette
Part 4 – Julie Flanders
Part 5 – I Think; Therefore, I Yam
Part 6 – Alex J. Cavanaugh
Part 7 – Just Jemi
Part 8 – Sandra Dailey
Part 9 – Fundinmental
Part 10 – Elizabeth Seckman
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
1. How did you come up with the idea to write a series involving natural disasters, crime, and romance? At first, I didn’t have the idea. I published Hurricane Crimes and thought that was it. Then a couple readers expressed wanting to know what happened before and after Hurricane Crimes. I pondered a sequel and realized that the story wasn’t over…a killer was still at large. As soon as I thought of the second book, the idea of a series bloomed, and I knew they would all feature a different disaster and contain what I love about romantic-suspense stories: crime and romance.
4. How does your work differ from others of its genre?
There are countless romantic-suspense stories, and several take place during a storm, but not many authors have used natural disasters as a continuing theme. Not only that, but on top of the disasters there are also crimes of nearly every kind, which is why my collection is known as the Disaster Crimes Series.
3. Why did you decide to make Beth Kennedy a self-defense instructor?
I am an advocate of domestic violence awareness, and I love heroines of steel. Also, Beth needed to be tough to stand up against the obstacles I threw at her. Aside from a karate expert, I figured a self-defense instructor could stand up to a suspected murderer.
4. Why are a lot of your characters survivors of domestic violence/abuse or advocates for victims of abuse?
It’s not something I consciously do. It’s automatic. So many of my characters (published and unpublished) have a history dealing with some kind of abuse, and I think it’s because I can relate to that.
Growing up, I experienced sibling/domestic abuse, as a child and through to my teen years. I never knew it had a name. I didn’t even know to call it sibling abuse until a couple of years ago when I learned this term and realized, holy shit, that’s what I experienced. I had also witnessed child-to-parent abuse, meaning the child (in this case a grown adult) abuses a parent. All of those things impacted me heavily. Still do.
I never discussed it, never understood that for all those years after, even while removed from the person in question, that I was going through PTSD. Knowing that it’s possible, that you can have PSTD from any level of abuse, I can look back and pinpoint moments when my PTSD was aggravated—the fear I had whenever I heard a loud truck outside my apartment or saw a note stuck to my front door.
I am drawn to characters who are survivors, as I am a survivor, although they may have gone through different things. I want to write about these heroines of steel. I want to live through them and feel their strength.
In my life, I also want to be an advocate for those who have or are experiencing abuse, so that’s why my characters stand up for victims of all kinds, as that’s my goal, too.
I will always write about these characters. Maybe not for every single story, but for a lot of them. It’s my calling.
Extra:
Pinterest Board for Disaster Crimes Series
Not Inadequate/ A Post about Self-Defense and Abuse
Who is My Favorite Character in the Disaster Crimes Series?
How Does it Feel to End the Disaster Crimes Series?
Interview with Bill Nevitt, Audiobook Narrator
Interview with Lori Graham, Editor
Writing About: Self-Defense Instructors
Writing About: Monster Truck Driving
All Blog Posts for the Disaster Crimes Series
Theme song for Beth and Donovan:
*This song/video is not connected to Chrys Fey or her books.*
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Chrys Fey 