Co-authors Isabella Maldonado and Jeffery Deaver on new book

Award-winning mystery authors Isabella Maldonado and Jeffery Deaver are back with a sequel to their mystery, “Fatal Intrusion.” Titled “The Grave Artist,” the book follows federal agent Carmen Sanchez and private security expert Jake Heron as they combine their skills to face a new adversary. Maldonado and Deaver joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss their new book.

A wedding reception is coming to a close when the day is shattered by the death of the groom. Though it appears to be an accident, the death is actually the third in a series of similar deaths. Sanchez and Heron believe something sinister is at play.

Maldonado and Deaver’s collaboration began at a conference in Chicago when the pair met at a convention and joked about writing a book together. After they continued bumping into one another, they decided to get serious about their partnership.

During the process of writing their newest book, Maldonado and Deaver said they have developed a general structure they tend to follow, writing the book in such a way that it fulfills the needs of readers and not being too predictable.

“It’s the originality that you bring to that, and in this case we really wanted to be really original, and we did,” Maldonado said. “People are telling us, ‘We’ve never seen anything like this before.'”

While Maldonado and Deaver have both excelled in their careers as writers, neither of them started in the industry. Maldonado started in law enforcement while Deaver was a journalist, folk singer and attorney before his career switch. Both authors had a childhood dream of writing but agree their diverse life experiences is what helps them to write well.

“Mozart was composing when he was 4, Jackson Pollock was pouring paint on his mother’s laundry room floor when he was 3,” Deaver said. “Writers have to live a while; they have to experience things.”

“The Grave Artist” can be purchased online.