Shirl Henke
Personal Information
Description
Shirl Henke ( Alexa Hunt) lives in St. Louis, where she enjoys gardening in her yard and greenhouse, cooking holiday dinners for her family and listening to jazz. In addition to helping brainstorm and research her books, her husband Jim is "lion tamer" for their two wild young tomcats, Pewter and Sooty, geniuses at pillage and destruction. I was offered the opportunity to use my history degrees, teaching in a large urban university in the Northeast. I truly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, when the history requirement was dropped for incoming students, so was my instructorship. After that I taught gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies and freshman composition at the same university. Further life experiences. My last two years of teaching were in remedial English—just the nudge I needed to take this writing thing seriously. Since childhood I’ve been an avid reader, everything from Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi adventures to Frank Yerby’s historical romantic sagas. More recently I became hooked on thrillers. Since childhood I had story ideas in my head, but never the epiphany to write them. Okay, maybe I just didn’t have the courage. But there were just so many times I could explain what a verb was to a college senior before I realized that maybe writing a book might be easier. I sold my first novel, a big historical romance titled GOLDEN LADY, to Warner Books in 1985. Within two years, I quit remedial comp. Now I can't imagine doing anything but writing for a living. In 2005 I switched over to the “dark side.” Tor published two political thrillers, CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY and HOMELAND SECURITY under the pseudonym Alexa Hunt. I’ve also written romantic suspense for Penguin Onyx and Silhouette Bombshell as Shirl Henke. Since I began my career, I’ve appeared on the USA TODAY bestseller list, been a RITA Finalist twice, received a BookraK Bestseller Award, and won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewers Choice Awards from Romantic Times. My husband Jim Henke is a former cabdriver, bartender, sailor, judo instructor and English professor. He's a scholarly authority on obscene slang and a master at its use, but an astonishingly understanding man who puts up with my all-night writing sprees and sudden dashes to my desk to jot down bits of dialogue as dinner burns on the stove. Since he took early retirement from academe, he has helped me brainstorm plots and research my novels. After four years in the U.S. Air Force, our son Matt works in telecommunications and lives in an adjacent county with his brute of a cat, Max. Jim and I now share our cedar house in the woods with a pair of utterly adorable tomcats, Inky and Pewter, whose destructive capacity rivals that of a medium sized thermonuclear weapon. But just as life without writing would be unimaginable, so would life without cats. For therapy when I'm not at the computer or off researching a new book, I cook large dinners for our extended family, putter in my garden and greenhouse, and still read voraciously. When deadlines permit, I love to travel. I'm a member of the Author's Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc. and International Thriller Writers I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ball-point pen--it's hard to get good quills these days. Dragged into the 21st century, I now use one of those "devil machines. Another troglodyte bites the dust. *Author website
Books
Finders Keepers
At the height of summer a dark shadow falls across Exmoor. Children are being stolen. Each disappearance is marked only by a terse note - a brutal accusation. There are no explanations, no ransom demands ... and no hope. Policeman Jonas Holly faces a precarious journey into the warped mind of the kidnapper if he's to stand any chance of catching him. But - still reeling from a personal tragedy - is Jonas really up to the task? Because there's at least one person on Exmoor who thinks that, when it comes to being the first line of defence, Jonas Holly may be the last man to trust ..."--Back cover.
Wanton angel
Her beauty was intoxicating. Drunk on passion, in the midst of the burning town of Amnonville and amid the flames eating away the Fallen Angel brothel where he found her, Aaron Court mistakenly took Susanna's innocence. When he discovered that she was not the Gold Rush's newest lady-for-hire but the naive younger sister of the brothel's owner, Court, realizes he has a lot of explaining to do. But he cannot forget her sizzling embrace, luscious lips, or burning passion. Although he is determined to save her reputation, Court cannot resist her ever-present temptation.
Sneak and Rescue
MEN WHERE ALWAYS CHASING HER...WITH GUNS Toting a .38 and a loaded makeup case, retrieval specialist Samantha Ballanger distracted her enemies with disguises and disarmed them with a swift kick. Hired to find a missing teen at a sci-fi fan convention, Sam became the bull's-eye in a ruthless target practice -- and soon suspected she'd been hired under false pretenses. She couldn't in good conscience bring the teen back. But with her hunky but overprotective husband plus the teen's Elvis-impersonating friend as untrustworthy allies, it would take some sneaky moves to uncover a dangerous evidence trail and a truth that was stranger than science fiction....
Night Wind's Woman
"Theirs will not be an easy path to travel, but they are fated to love." So spoke the Indian medicine woman when Night Wind led his Spanish captive into the remote Apache stronghold. Proud and untamable as a lioness, Orlena vowed she would never submit to the renegade who nightly teased her body into a frenzy of longing. For though his searing touch promised ecstasy, his heart was filled with hatred. A long-ago betrayal had made this man her enemy, but a bond even stronger than love would make her...Night Wind's Woman. Santa Fe Trilogy Night Wind's Woman (Santa Fe Trilogy, #1) White Apache's Woman (Santa Fe Trilogy, #2) Deep as the Rivers (Santa Fe Trilogy, #3)
Return to Paradise
A continuation of the same characters found in Volume One.
Terms of surrender
First--she'd left without a word.Second--he hadn't chased her down. Now they had to face their past under heated circumstances. And SWAT team hostage negotiators Jolie Conrad and Dace Recker couldn't let their simmering feelings explode. Because they'd suddenly become partners--and targets for a thwarted felon with revenge on the brain. Staying alive would push them to the limit--but staying away from each other might just push them over the edge....
Love Unwilling
The Californios #2 A riveting historical romance that captivates the reader from the first page, Love Unwilling is the story of two men--and the two women bound to them by destiny and passion--who must struggle against the powerful force of their inheritance. The Californios: Golden Lady Love Unwilling
A Fire in the Blood
When Jesse Robbins rode into Cheyenne, the notorious range detective was sure of three things: the townsfolk would scorn him as a half-breed, the cattle thieves he had been hired to stop would fear him, and proper white ladies would secretly desire him. But he never imagined that a flame-haired spitfire named Lissa Jacobson, his employer’s daughter, would be one of those ladies. Dark, dangerous and deadly with his Colt revolver, Jess was forbidden to the spoiled, pampered heiress to the largest cattle empire in Wyoming. But the moment Lissa stumbled upon Jess in his bath, she felt the pull of a fascination that she could not deny. Pitting her innocence against his experience, Lissa knew she was playing with fire…but she never imagined that the dancing flames sparking between them could consume them both.
Love lessons at midnight
No one knows the true identity of the mysterious madam who runs London's most notorious brothel, The House of Dreams. Even in his most secret fantasies, Robert St. John has not imagined the pleasure he will find or the danger he will court while seducing its mistress. When Rob St. John asks for a courtesan to teach him how to pleasure a woman, bordello owner Lady Fantasia goes into disguise in order to fulfill the request, but fears revealing her true identity after falling in love with him.
Love a Rebel...Love a Rogue
Blackthorne #1 From the ballrooms of Savannah to the battlefields of the Revolutionary War, a historical romance presents the Blackthorne brothers--Devon, who vows not to belong to any woman until he meets a spirited enchantress, and Quintin, whose rage and political beliefs lead him into the arms of a rebellious Blackthorne: Love a Rebel, Love a Rogue Wicked Angel Wanton Angel
Pale moon stalker
A sexy, humorous battle of wills between a Sioux beauty educated in the white world and the deadly bounty hunter she hires to track down her husband's killer. The Nympth series: The Nymph #2