Cynthia Hamilton
Author
Cynthia Hamilton started writing 2000 as a means of coping with a debilitating illness. Writing gave her a lifeline and a way to channel her overly-active imagination. Late-stage Lyme disease turned out to be a blessing in disguise, giving her a career she never imagined for herself, one that constantly inspires her.
Cynthia is currently working on the 9th book in the Madeline Dawkins Mystery Series, and is still finding tremendous inspiration from her protagonist. She lives in Santa Barbara, California with her husband and their extended family. She loves reading, writing, discussing books with other book lovers, and walking for hours, especially on the beach. She considers herself immensely fortunate.
Madeline Dawkins
Detective
View the SeriesMadeline Ridley’s perfect life comes to an abrupt halt one horrible night she can’t even remember, thanks to the “cocktail” that rendered her unconscious. She comes to grips with the implications of what happened to her as bits and pieces of a vile plot against her fall into place.
Humiliation turns into anger, which gives her the strength to fight back, to get justice for the crimes committed against her, and to reclaim her life and reputation.
In the process, she transforms from the pampered wife of a successful businessman to a woman with many strengths. She uses her determination to forge a new persona with the hard-won skills she picks up during her brutal journey.
By the end of SPOUSE TRAP, Madeline embarks on her two new careers as an event planner and a private investigator.
Strong, smart and determined, Madeline Dawkins is a force to be reckoned with!
How Madeline’s Character Came to Me
After writing six books and publishing four of them, I started questioning my reason for putting so much effort into that pursuit, which started when I was looking for something I could do if my mystery illness confined me to bed.
Out of nowhere one morning came this idea for a female PI, a woman who was a little world-weary and rough around the edges. Definitely not someone to mess with. But as I pondered that potential character, she began to morph from hard boiled and disillusioned gumshoe into a polished, sophisticated woman with innate glamor and smarts, who had absolutely no aspirations of becoming a private detective.
How Madeline’s Character Came to Me
After writing six books and publishing four of them, I started questioning my reason for putting so much effort into that pursuit, which started when I was looking for something I could do if my mystery illness confined me to bed.
Out of nowhere one morning came this idea for a female PI, a woman who was a little world-weary and rough around the edges. Definitely not someone to mess with. But as I pondered that potential character, she began to morph from hard boiled and disillusioned gumshoe into a polished, sophisticated woman with innate glamor and smarts, who had absolutely no aspirations of becoming a private detective.
As soon as I envisioned this character, I immediately saw how strong and disciplined she was. The entire backstory for how someone with so much going for her could end up being a private investigator started to bloom in my head.
There was so much that needed to happen to this protagonist in order to transition from living a life of luxury to being sabotaged at every turn by a cold-blooded, systematic plot to take her out of the picture. I soon realized that there had to be a prequel so the protagonist could make the trip to hell and back and come out stronger because of it.
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but the working title for that first book was The Slutty Detective. I know, terrible. Fortunately, as I got close to finishing the book, the title Spouse Trap popped into my head like a gift from the writing gods. I knew immediately that was a good title and it really summed up the essence of the story.
After all these years, Madeline has been the gift that keeps giving. I hope you will enjoy her adventures as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.
Happy reading!
Cynthia