Readers often ask how the names and locations for my stories came about. Just for fun, I'll tell you.

Airwaves

Nicholas (Colin) Michael Kavanaugh
--Nicholas was the hero in one of the first romance novels I ever read, though the character hated the shortened version, "Colin." I liked it well enough that I never forgot it.
--Michael is my oldest son. I figured I was free to do anything I wanted to do, since the book was a college assignment and was never going to get published.
--Kavanaugh is the last name of a radio announcer I admired as a teenager in Salt Lake City. It's also a good Irish name. (Colin's last name was Grant until I read a novel by another Idaho writer and discovered she'd actually used the same name. I couldn't believe it, but I changed it. And by the way, that writer and I are now friends.)

Emily (Emmy) Elizabeth Erickson
--Emily was an adorable toddler who mostly slept in a little trailer behind her daddy's bicycle when our local bicycling club went on weekly rides and Saturday excursions. Her parents called her Emmy, and I thought it enchanting.
--Elizabeth is just one of those begins-with-a-vowel female names I seem to gravitate to.
--Erickson grew from Erik, my youngest son's name. I'd written his brother's name into the book. Had to write his too.

Betty
--Betty was my mother's first name, though she refused to answer to anything other than her middle name, Elaine. She acknowledged the 'B'word with only its initial.

Will Walker (BMW)
--Yep, my dad's in there too. His full name is Willard; friends call him Will.
--Walker was the last name of his paternal grandmother.

Missoula, Montana
--Harry used to be a long-haul truck driver and he's driven most of the roads in all but two of the contiguous United States, so he selects all the locations for my books. This Montana mountain valley town was ideal for a young man who appreciated beauty, enjoyed the outdoors, and wanted to hide.

Emily's Volkswagen Rabbit
--That blue 1984 Rabbit was actually my son Erik's car. It seemed likely transportation for a college student, and this one was handy for research--especially the day Harry put on the snow tires. I pinned his frustration on Colin in the scene where Colin changes Emily's tire.

KDMD, Diamond Country
--KDMD is my own invention, but the station floor plan shares some similarities with KUPI, the country station where I used to work.

Colin's house
--Colin's house is actually the gray and white house at 174 E. 15th Street in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Harry and I nearly bought it but purchased a similar house two blocks away instead. For Colin's use, I mentally transported it to Hastings Avenue, between Hilda and Helen streets, in Missoula, Montana.

Emily's house
--Emily's house is another marvelous old place we nearly bought. I divided it into two apartments, gave Emily the top floor, and mentally transported it from Idaho Falls to University Avenue, between Gerald and Ronald streets, in Missoula. In Idaho Falls, Emily's house stands at 498 Maple. It's the blue and white house at the southwest corner of Corner and Maple Streets.


Only His Kiss

N. Thaddeus Staley
--Noble was a name/attribute my best bud Deborah and I dreamed up during a brainstorming session on my front porch one glorious spring afternoon in 1992. I was mapping the plot and began writing the first draft that July.
--Thaddeus has no special significance other than it's a name typical of the 1900s.
--Staley is the last name of an announcer I heard on the Christian radio station one day when I was mentally sorting through names; it's also the last name of a radio announcer at the first radio station I worked in.

Sonja Thorseth
--Sonja is a good Norwegian name; it was also the prettiest choice of the selection my Norwegian friend Otto offered me.
--Thorseth was the last name of a cross-country skier competing for his homeland, Norway, in the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

Lars
--Lars is a friend's son and a safe choice for a Norwegian name.

Magnus & Oleena Thorseth
--Magnus was Harry's maternal grandfather, who was born in Norway.
--Oleena was Harry's maternal grandfather's stepmother, who was so very Norwegian that she didn't speak English.

Santa Fe Trail
--Harry and I chose the Santa Fe Trail over the Oregon Trail because comparatively little has been written about it; the Oregon Trail seemed obvious and cliche.