More than two-dozen Christian suspense authors discuss how their faith impacts their fiction.
Over the years, FamilyFiction has talked to a lot of Christian authors who all manner of suspense—ranging from mysteries and thrillers to end-times fiction and more. What are the unique challenges of writing about crime, danger, and violence from a biblical worldview? Here’s what more than 25 authors had to say–including Terri Blackstock, Colleen Coble, Lynette Eason, Joel C. Rosenberg, Michelle Lindo-Rice and Michelle Stimpson, Irene Hannon, Dani Pettrey, DiAnn Mills, and more!
Lynette Eason
The research can be so dark sometimes. I wrote about serial killers for a while and I had to get out of that mindset after the end of the third book because it’s just a lot of darkness. You don’t want to stay there too long. The good thing about writing Christian fiction is that you get to show the light, too. And you don’t have to be subtle about it. LOL.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/lynette-eason-dark/
Active Defense
Danger Never Sleeps #3
Lynette Eason
Revell
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Terri Blackstock
I want to glorify God in everything I write, so I’m always thinking of how God has worked in my own life to turn evil into good. That doesn’t mean that my books have pat, sappy, unrealistic endings. People die, some suffer, and they don’t always get what they want. But the main characters usually come out stronger and with a deeper faith than they had before, and there’s demonstrable evidence that what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-interview-terri-blackstock-hope-end
Aftermath
Terri Blackstock
Thomas Nelson
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Dani Pettrey
I actually find it easier to write about crime and danger because I’m a Christian author. Writing about the two allows about the strong contrast that that exists between good and evil, darkness and light. Faith and the beauty of Christs reveals just sinful man can be and our deep our need for a Savior exists. In addition, it’s through danger and a pressure-cooker that a person’s true faith and character is revealed and can truly shine as a testament to Jesus and the work of His Holy Spirit.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/dani-pettrey-love-bullets/
The Crushing Depths
Coastal Guardians #2
Dani Pettrey
Bethany House
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Joel C. Rosenberg
Fiction has a way of unlocking people’s imagination in a way nonfiction doesn’t. I have found the reaction to my fiction so interesting. The novels have gotten a discussion going, and I’m intrigued with that.
Read the original interview: http://www.familyfiction.com/joel-c-rosenberg-truth-in-fiction
The Beirut Protocol
Marcus Ryker Series
Tyndale House
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Michelle Lindo-Rice and Michelle Stimpson
Michelle Stimpson
Michelle Lindo-Rice
LINDO-RICE: I don’t think there is a challenge. The Bible is filled with so many histories involving crime, passion, danger and violence and shows what happens when the ‘character’ fails to repent and even better, when they do repent. I think that just like the Bible, a story like this one has to have a redemptive quality.
STIMPSON: I’ll add that we use ”fade to black” a few times in this book because, while we both appreciate the fact that the Bible is full of dangerous encounters, we don’t want to trigger readers who may have traumatic histories. Some people read Christian fiction in order to minimize the risk of exposure to triggers and temptations they are trying to overcome. We don’t want to be a stumbling block for believers. Again, it’s a tricky balance.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/romance-author-interview-michelle-stimpson-michelle-lindo-rice-redemptive-quality
Small Town Faith
Lovetown Series #2
Michelle Stimpson and Michelle Lindo-Rice
Independent
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Colleen Coble
My characters are Christians who are learning something just like I am. None of us ever arrive, and there is always something God is teaching us. I never know what that something is when I first start out writing a story. My characters have to tell me what they’re struggling with, and together we go from there.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/colleen-coble-visit-rainshadow-bay
Two Reasons to Run
Pelican Harbor #2
Thomas Nelson
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Terri Reed
My favorite things about writing suspense fiction as a Christian is the chance to show my characters relying on their faith and seeing faith as a strength that helps in the face of danger. I enjoy exploring different aspects of faith that tie into the situations the characters find themselves in. Weaving a story with suspense, romance and faith is a delicate challenge. All the pieces have to work together to create a beautiful story.
Read the original interview:
Christmas Protection Detail
Terri Reed
Love Inspired Suspense
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Irene Hannon
Obviously, if you write suspense, it will have all those elements [crime, danger, and violence] to some degree. But I minimize description as much as possible and always cast crime and aggression in a negative light. We’ve become so desensitized to violence and vulgarity in media that it’s almost expected in mainstream novels now. But I firmly believe you can tell a compelling story without getting gruesome or graphic.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/romantic-suspense-interview-irene-hannon-lens-faith/
Point of Danger
Triple Threat #1
Irene Hannon
Revell
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DiAnn Mills
We live in a dangerous and unpredictable world, one that’s also filled with the love of God. The mix of suspense and the gift of love appeals to my sense of adventure and romance. The world needs the combination to know others are trained to prevent and protect people and those brave persons crave love and relationships too.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-diann-mills-high-treason
Airborne
Tyndale House
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Siri Mitchell
I think a lot of us believe the myth that if you’re a good person then bad things won’t happen to you. That if you do everything you’re supposed to do, then God will like you and everything will work out alright. (The corollary, of course, would be that if bad things happen to you then God doesn’t like you. And I don’t think any of us believe that.) Life isn’t academic; it’s not a decision tree. As it says in Ecclesiastes, time and chance happen to us all. There is evil in this world that causes collateral damage even to nice people. Can God use those situations for some good? Of course. That’s His superpower. But I do believe in justice. In this world or the next, the bad guys will receive consequences for their actions. In the end, God wins. I like to think that my suspense novels end with a glimpse of that hope.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-siri-mitchell-everywhere-hide
Everywhere to Hide
Thomas Nelson
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Christy Barritt
There are a couple challenges. Obviously, I don’t want to go glorify evil. However, the Bible is the ultimate story of good versus evil, and those elements can be incorporated in works of fiction as well. In the presence of evil and danger, the wonders of God’s peace that passes all understanding can be seen and experienced at an even greater level. It’s that victory that I focus on.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-interview-christy-barritt-wonders-gods-peace-times-danger
Distorted
Cape Thomas #3
Christian Series Level III
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Elizabeth Goddard
For me, the challenge has to do with research. Spending hours upon hours researching and reading about crime can take a person into dark places, whether through books—say stories about serial killers—or on the internet. I can only dig so deep and then I have to stop because I find the evil in this world too depressing and disturbing. As a Christian author, I want to offer stories of redemption. Balancing the crime elements for a solid suspense story with faith and hope can be difficult, but when I’m done I can feel good about the story and that my novel will bless readers rather than leave them unsettled. The danger aspects are part of the roller-coaster ride, the emotional experience, but my characters must always hang onto faith and hope, and in this way encourage readers in their own lives—to live and walk in faith and hope.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/romantic-suspense-qa-elizabeth-goddard-always-look-twice
Don’t Keep Silent
Uncommon Justice #3
Revell
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Andrew Huff
My faith plays a critical role in how I tell stories, so much in fact that I don’t think I would be as effective without it. Understanding who God is and what my place in His creation is not only informs my own sense of identity and purpose, but also opens my eyes to the ways in which we deal with the fallout of sin’s curse. Any time I sit down to write, the story is going to be informed by my theological perspective on the world and the people in it. That’s what I love about the craft. I get to create a character, place them in a situation, then imagine how it might turn out based on who they are for better or for worse. I believe we get our love of stories from our Creator because He loves stories, so the more I get to know Him the better stories I’ll be able to tell!
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-andrew-huff-cross-kill
Right Cross
Shepherd Suspense Series #3
Kregel Publications
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Amanda Flower
I don’t find it a challenge at all. In traditional mysteries, such as the ones I write, there is a strong sense of right and wrong, justice, redemption, and forgiveness. Those themes speak to me as a Christian author. As a Christian author, there are certain genres and themes that I personally won’t write. If other Christian authors choose to write them, I do not question what they are called to write. However, I know very clearly that my calling as a writer is to bring humor, comfort, and a happily ever after to my reader. We live in a hurting world, and my goal is to make people escape it for a few hours at a time.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/amish-suspense-author-interview-amanda-flower-humor-comfort-happy-ever
Courting Can Be Killer
Amish Matchmaker Mysteries #2
Kensington
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Ginny Yttrup
My faith in Jesus is the foundation of all my stories. It’s the reason I write—to point others to deeper dependence on God. My faith is also the only reason I ever finish writing a book! God through me—His strength through my weakness. Left to my own devices, I may come up with good ideas, but I’d never do anything with them. But when I depend on God, recognize that He is using me for His purpose, and surrender to His way for me, then He enables and equips me to do the work He’s offered me.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-ginny-yttrup-convergence
Convergence
Shiloh Run Press
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Debby Giusti
My writing is not only my passion but also my ministry. I pray as I write, asking the Lord to provide the words and the inspiration. I also pray that the work of my hands—my writing—will bear good fruit. For each book, I create flawed characters who feel unworthy of God’s love at the onset. As the story progresses and danger closes in, they often have nowhere to turn except to the Lord. Once they call out to Him, they find the wherewithal to risk everything for a greater good as well as for the one they love. In this age, so many people seem to be broken or wounded and unable to live authentic lives. I pray for my readers and ask the Lord to free them from anything that holds them back from accepting God’s love. My goal is to write stories that reflect my faith in God and His abundant mercy and love for all of us.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-debby-giusti-amish-safe-house
Amish Christmas Search
Love Inspired Suspense
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Nancy Mehl
When I started writing fiction, my idea was to write for the secular crowd, hoping to impact them for Christ through my writing. But when I asked God what He wanted, He led me to Christian publishing. I began to understand that He wanted me to touch His people through the gift He’d given me. Jesus admonished Peter several times to “feed My sheep.” God’s heart is to see His people healed and whole. To learn how to trust Him for everything they need. Many times, He uses inspirational fiction to bring words of encouragement and healing to readers. Jesus did this when he told parables—fictional stories created to prove a spiritual point. I always include spiritual themes in my books because I believe it’s what I’m called to do. It’s the reason I’m a writer. I’ve received many emails and letters from people who were touched by something I’ve written. I don’t take credit for that. I always ask God to show me what He wants to say before I write a book, and I believe He answers those prayers. But I certainly do enjoy hearing the results! The reports bless me. I once got a letter from a teenager who had turned away from God, but because of something I’d written, she decided to rededicate her life to Christ. There is nothing more important to me than this. If I couldn’t minister through my writing, I wouldn’t want to write at all. However, I do also believe it’s my job to write an entertaining and suspenseful story. I work hard to do that, as well.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/romantic-suspense-qa-nancy-mehl-blind-betrayal
Dead End
Kaely Quinn Profiler #3
Bethany House
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Robert Whitlow
My Christian faith impacts my writing because it’s at the core of who I am as a person. Fiction is like a personal testimony. The characters don’t argue with the reader, they simply reveal in story form who they are and how what they believe effects the way they live. The characters aren’t real; the truth they portray is.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/robert-whitlow-finding-hope-amid-civil-unrest
Promised Land
Chosen People Series #2
Thomas Nelson
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Samuel Parker
I think as a writer, you need to employ all aspects of your thought process to execute a good story. Nothing should be held back or reserved whether that is memory, ambition, beliefs or doubts. I also think those same thought processes are constantly growing and changing, evolving and eroding, and so to be conscious of that constant flux and to infuse that into a story brings it to greater life. My beliefs as a child are different than where I am now, just as assuredly as my 80-year-old self will be different. Being comfortable with that idea allows me to pose bizarre questions and carry them to what are, hopefully, interesting and suspenseful conclusions.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-samuel-parker-purgatory-road
Border Son
Revell
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Carol J. Post
I know there is evil all around us, and I try to portray these elements realistically, but without unnecessary violence. I’ve read some things that are too graphic and disturbing (in secular books), and that is something I avoid in my own writing. I want to give my readers an engaging, tense read, not nightmares! In writing Christian characters who face these dangerous situations, I know fear is a natural response, in spite of faith. When the killer is creeping ever closer to my heroine’s hiding place, her heart is pounding (and mine is too). A silent “God help me” is realistic. I’ve even had a non-Christian or backslidden character bargain with God.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/romantic-suspense-qa-carol-j-post-buried-memories
Deadly Mountain Pursuit
Love Inspired Suspense
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Rachel McMillan
I think the challenge is in trying to seep into the mindset of people who are depraved enough to commit heinous crimes. There is a death in City of Liberty as well as a violent attack that really hit close to me because I was so fond of the victims as I created them.
What I found in writing is that the good guys—for lack of a better word—are driven by a different motive. My criminals are propelled by a lack of a stabilizing force in their life.
The moment a criminal puts their faith in a human instead of God, they are easily swayed by earthly things by storing their treasures on earth. They have no true guiding light and so easily falter in a desperate attempt to search for something concrete and to give their loyalty to someone who has the strongest voice and the most allure.
I think that the best books leave as much as they can to a rich reader imagination. So rather than spend my time focusing on the corpse or a murder scene, I spend time writing the perspective of my sleuths encountering that scene and usually it is enough to see it through their eyes to strike a reaction rather than a visceral description.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-author-interview-rachel-mcmillan-true-north/
Murder in the City of Liberty
A Van Buren and DeLuca Mystery #2
Rachel McMillan
Thomas Nelson
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Janice Cantore
Never be too graphic. Though I do deal with hard things—murder, drug overdose, etc.—I never want to gross anyone out or make them uncomfortable.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/janice-cantore-getting-facts/
Cold Aim
Line of Duty #3
Janice Cantore
Tyndale House
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Jeffrey Wilson
Writing on those topics can be a challenge no matter what—especially when you’re creating experiences that you’ve dealt with yourself. There are times in many of my books where writing a particular scene or interaction takes me back to places hard to go or stir up memories of those I’ve lost.
But that’s a good thing. While sometimes painful, that’s what brings the realism.
In War Torn, which is by intent deeply personal and therefore painful, that was magnified a thousand times because the emotions and struggles were the heart of the story. And many of those emotions were mine.
It made it harder than ever to write—and harder still to read and edit. It was emotionally exhausting. But if the book can help a single combat veteran or spouse find their way to a closer walk through the fictional experiences of Jake and Rachel, well, that is so worth it.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-jeffrey-wilson-war-torn/
War Torn
Jeffrey Wilson
Independent
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Lisa Harris
For me it’s trying to find a balance. When I read books or watch movies, I don’t like a lot of violence, so in my own books I tend to stay away from graphic crime descriptions.
At the same time, one reason I write in this genre is because there is evil and violence in our world, and I want to show the contrast of finding justice and hope even in the worst of circumstances. To show how God can redeem any situation no matter what the outcome.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/lisa-harris-seeing-world-differently/
Deadly Intentions
Lisa Harris
Revell
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Angela Ruth Strong
Recently I’ve been studying joy in the Bible. There is a clear connection between joy and victory. The Bible also says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” which would then mean that our strength comes from the joy of Christ’s victory. This is where we get the strength to keep on fighting our own battles.
When my characters reach the black moment and all hope is lost, they can only find strength through victory in Jesus to overcome.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/romantic-suspense-qa-angela-strong-presumed-dead/
A Cuppa Trouble
CafFunated Mysteries #2
Angela Ruth Strong
Mountain Brook Ink
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Randy Singer
The Bible is full of stories of crime and contains lots of “legal thriller” themes as well. We live in a fallen world and God’s great grace and redemption are displayed most powerfully in these tragic circumstances. “Where sin abounds, grace abounds more.” Romans 5:20.
Jesus is our advocate and one of our callings is to seek justice and advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. That is part of what my protagonist is doing in this story.
In a broader sense, great sacrifice demonstrates great love. My commitment as a Christian who writes about crime and some of the darker sides of the human nature is not to glamorize this sinfulness but to instead use it to demonstrate God’s power to redeem even hopeless situations.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/randy-singer-law/
Rule of Law
Randy Singer
Tyndale House
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Brandilyn Collins
The four-point brand promise of my Seatbelt Suspense novels is: fast, faced, character-driven, with myriad twists and an interwoven thread of faith. Notice that the faith thread is last. I never sit down to write a Christian suspense around some theme. I want to write a fast-paced, gripping story.
As I write that story, the message of God and His love and mercy begins to emerge, based on whatever the main character is going through. In that way, the theme is not forced upon the story but is “interwoven” into it—a natural progression of what the character learns through her struggles.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-author-qa-brandilyn-collins-plummet/
Plummet
Brandilyn Collins
Challow Press
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Craig Parshall
The wonderful thing about writing suspense fiction from a Christian worldview is that no matter how dire the situation becomes from a worldly perspective, there is an equally real spiritual solution. Jesus used practical, relatable parables to teach eternal lessons. In my novels I give a realistic, three-dimensional view of evil, but I also tried to give a true, encouraging portrait of the resurrection power of Christ that is available to every believer.
Read the original interview: https://www.familyfiction.com/suspense-qa-craig-parshall/
The Empowered
Trevor Black #2
Craig Parshall
Tyndale House
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Find more interviews with Christian suspense authors—including Ted Dekker, Ronie Kendig, Susan May Warren, Travis Thrasher, and Tosca Lee—here: https://www.familyfiction.com/genre/suspense/
Portions of this article previously appeared in the 2019 Christian Suspense Special. Get the issue FREE here!
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