Spotlight on Linda J. White

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Linda J. White writes “white-knuckle fiction,” FBI thrillers and K-9 search-and-rescue stories with elements of faith. Her books are known for their gripping suspense and deep character development, and have won many awards, including HOLT Medallions. Linda’s late husband produced video training films for the FBI Academy for nearly thirty years. Together they raised three children and seven dogs. She now lives in Yorktown, Virginia, where she enjoys teaching the Bible, her family, the beach, and, of course, dogs.

Connect with Linda:
Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | Goodreads

Welcome to Heartbeats & Hideaways!

To celebrate her visit, our guest is offering one winner a signed print copy of their choice of either All My Bones Shook (K-9 Search and Rescue, Book 8) or All That I Dread (K-9 Search and Rescue, Book 1). Enter here.

Thanks for joining us today, Linda. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you became a writer?

Thirty years ago I was a mom at home with three kids and two golden retrievers. I taught Bible studies and did a little freelance writing. My husband, Larry, made dramatic video training films at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. A lot of our friends were agents. One day I wondered what would happen if a door-kicking FBI agent’s life spiraled out of control because the drug gang he was investigating kidnapped his son. What would he do? “That’s a great story,” my husband said, “you ought to write it!”

After some who, me? conversations, Larry started taking me to the Academy and introducing me to agents and instructors. They were happy to teach me everything from probable cause to the “fruit of the poisoned tree” to guns and ammo, nothing secret. A year later, I had a credible novel on my hard drive. It got me an agent and quite a lot of interest in New York and Nashville, but no contract. Through that “failure,” I learned three important lessons: (1.) I could write novels; (2.) When one didn’t fly, I needed to just keep writing; (3.) My goal could not be fame or fortune—my goal was to know Jesus. Sometimes setbacks do that better than instant success.

How would you describe your books to someone discovering your work for the first time?

I write authentic FBI thrillers and K-9 search and rescue books with a twist of faith—authentic because my books are well-researched, and a twist of faith because my characters struggle with the same questions we all have: Where is God? Why did he let this happen? Is God real? The faith aspect is organic, not preachy.

My first six books are straight FBI thrillers, page-turners full of realistic action. After my husband died, I started writing K-9 search and rescue books—again with FBI content, but centering around a young woman, Jessica, with a rowdy German shepherd. There are now eight books in the SAR series! Readers who start with Book 1, All That I Dread, see Jessica change and grow over the series—just as we do over time.

How do you approach creating authentic characters?

Observation, practice, and feedback. Good writers are good readers. I read voraciously, psychology (like Dr. Curt Thompson’s The Soul of Shame and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score) and theology as well as fiction. People are complicated. Characters should be, too. It took me a lot of practice to create a strong female protagonist who didn’t come across as “witchy.” Men have distinctive patterns, too, especially in language. At one point, my husband, reading a first draft of my first book, said, “He’s talking him to death! He’d hit him by now.” Point well taken.

Your K-9 Search and Rescue series features German shepherd Luke and his handler, Jessica Chamberlain (later, Cooper). What first drew you to search-and-rescue dogs and handlers, and how has that interest shaped these stories?

I have always loved dogs. I couldn’t have one as a child because my dad was very allergic. I grew up, got married, and finally got my first puppy, a golden retriever named Cricket. Following her came six more dogs over the years. I showed them (Cricket and I went to Westminster!), did obedience, rally, therapy dog training—you name it, almost everything except search and rescue. My husband died in 2017. I didn’t think I was going to write anymore because it was something we’d done together. Six months later, I got restless. I thought, maybe that dog story… I’d pitched a “young woman with a dog” series to a fledgling publisher sometime before. That company didn’t fly, but the idea lingered.

My love of dogs compelled me to start. My brother-in-law put me in contact with Sharon Johnson, an SAR trainer and handler with DOGS-East, our local volunteer SAR group. Sharon generously shared her time and expertise with me. She invited me to practices, read my manuscripts, and encouraged me. I am able to write authentically because Sharon, and later her friend Jessica, helped me. Sharon died recently after a valiant fight with cancer. She was gutsy in life and death—and I am so grateful for her.

You wrote several FBI thrillers, including the Kit McGovern books and standalones, before launching the K-9 series. Share a little about those earlier stories.

My husband took up sailing when I was past my adventurous age. I thought maybe I’d like it better if I wrote about it. That’s how Bloody Point, came about, published in 2005 by River Oak. I sailed a lot with Larry on the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River, and in the Caribbean, but I never did enjoy it as much as he did!

Remember the children’s book, Misty of Chincoteague? My grandparents moved to that island in 1961 and it became a magical place to me. I decided I wanted to evoke it—the marshes, the birds, and the sea—in my next book. In Seeds of Evidence, a HOLT Medallion winner published by Abingdon Press, FBI agent Kit McGovern returns to her grandmother’s house to relax. She stumbles onto a body on the beach and a human-trafficking ring and can’t resist getting involved.

Other FBI thrillers include Words of Conviction, in which an agent uses forensic psycholinguistics to find a kidnapped girl, Sniper, a take-off on the real-life 2002 D.C. sniper case, and Battered Justice, a sequel to Bloody Point. Oh, and that first book? I eventually self-published The Tiger’s Cage. Some think it’s my best book! I have loved writing these stories and am very grateful to everyone who helped me along the way.

What advice would you give to aspiring Christian suspense authors?

If you’re called to write, write. Don’t let setbacks stop you. Remember Habakkuk 3:17, “Though the fig tree should not blossom…” Study the craft, never stop learning, and trust God for the outcome.

Jessica Cooper, private investigator, search-and-rescue volunteer, wife, mom, and dog handler investigates the ex-wife of a lawyer, Brett Hudgins. He thinks she’s abusing their children and he wants full custody. Jess thinks maybe Brett’s just controlling. But sure enough, something’s fishy in Brittany’s life. Her behavior in court reveals a deeply unstable personality. Soon Brett has what he wants, and Jess marks the case closed.

Just when she thinks the whole mess is behind her, Jess finds out Brett is trying to “save” his ex-wife. Then someone finds a tracker on Jess’s car. Who could be tracking her? The stakes grow higher when Brett is found murdered. Early one morning, Jess is snatched away from her home, her family, her friends, and her dog.

Alone, standing on the banks of the Potomac River in the company of brutal men, Jess is about to find out if the faith she believes in the daytime will hold fast at night.

All My Bones Shook, the 8th book in the K-9 Search and Rescue Series, can be read as a standalone.