Elle E Kay’s Inspiration Starts With Setting
Award-winning author Elle E Kay recently stopped by my newsletter to share some about her writing life.
Why do you like writing romantic suspense?
I write romantic suspense and thrillers because that’s what I most like to read, so they feel the most natural to me. I enjoy crafting gripping stories that keep readers flipping pages to find out how the hero and heroine achieve their happily-ever-after.
Where do you get the inspiration for your plots?
Inspiration often starts with the setting. For the Pennsylvania Parks series, I drew inspiration from family camping trips to state parks like Hickory Run, Worlds End, Ricketts Glen, and Promised Land. I knew I wanted to write romantic suspense set in these beautiful locations even before I had characters or a suspense plot in mind.
What is your favorite spot for reading or reflecting on your current work-in-progress?
In the spring, summer, and fall, my favorite go-to place to write is my screened porch, where I can look out over the acres and enjoy the animals on our hobby farm. In the winter, I usually write from the couch.
How do you ensure your books are accurate?
I research as I write. I establish the basics first and then hunt down specific details as I need them. For example, when I needed information about bomb-sniffing dogs and their handlers, I found most of what I needed on government websites and through videos. There are times when I get the details wrong and have to go back and fix them, though. I had to completely redo the beginning of Midnight Masquerade when I realized I’d misread the landscape of the area of Turkey where the opening was set.
Which of your books is your favorite and why?
My favorite is The Bodyguard’s Fake Bride. I adore everything about this novel, which features a protective, kilt-wearing Scottish hero who brings the heroine to a fictional castle in Scotland for a family reunion.
About Elle
Elle E. Kay is an Angel Award-winning author of 25 Christian fiction titles with 15 million page reads. Her recent release, Midnight Masquerade, delves into the dark world of human trafficking and finaled in the 2026 ACFW Carol Awards. Elle lives on a North Central Pennsylvania hobby farm, and serves in women and teen ministries.
Connect w/Elle
Website: ElleEKay.com
Midnight Masquerade by Elle E. Kay
CIA operative Dante Reyes has strict orders at the Turkish port: gather intelligence on the trafficking ring, do not intervene, and do not blow his six-month cover. Then the shipping container doors screech open. His former SEAL brother’s kidnapped sister stares at him through the darkness, and every order he was given means nothing.
He fails in his attempt to save her and carries the weight of that failure back to Virginia where his handlers ground him, reassign him to a domestic task force, and hand him the one case that puts him face to face with the woman he never stopped thinking about.
HSI analyst Lisa Harper has been following dirty money for weeks. Wire transfers. Shell companies. A charity called Liberation Trust connected to a polished anti-trafficking nonprofit hosting an annual masquerade gala in seven days. Every lead she pulls confirms the same ugly truth: the people profiting from human trafficking are hiding behind the cause of stopping it. And someone inside her investigation is leaking every move her task force makes.
When Lisa goes undercover on the dating apps the network uses to recruit victims, she walks deeper into the trap than anyone planned. Dante is the only backup she trusted enough to call. What they discover beneath the chandeliers of a Philadelphia ballroom will demand everything they have, including the faith neither of them is sure they can afford.
Dante carries his failures in a prayer journal and leans on scripture for strength. Lisa carries hers alone, because the last man she trusted with her faith used it against her family. Between them runs a mission that will cost everything, and a question neither can keep running from.
