DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She weaves memorable characters with unpredictable plots to create action-packed, suspense-filled novels with threads of romance. DiAnn believes every breath of life is someone’s story, so why not capture those moments and create a thrilling adventure? Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards, Selah, Golden Scroll, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, an active member of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Mystery Writers of America, the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and International Thriller Writers. DiAnn continues her passion of helping other writers be successful. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country. DiAnn has been termed a coffee snob and roasts her own coffee beans. She’s an avid reader, loves to cook, and believes her grandchildren are the smartest kids in the universe. She and her husband live in sunny Houston, Texas.

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Lethal Standoff

Justice can be elusive. Family secrets can be deadly. The stakes are high, and the clock is ticking in a volatile criminal case filled with unanswered questions. And Carrington Reed is running short on time to piece together clues that will solve the puzzle. Hostage negotiator Carrington Reed is called to the scene when reports come in that fifteen hostages are being held by the Kendrix brothers in an abandoned house in south Texas. When she arrives on site, Carrington quickly learns that the brothers are armed and refuse to release their victims, a group of undocumented immigrants, until the local police identify their father’s murderer. Working closely with Levi Ehrlich, a handsome investigative reporter who has covered some of Carrington’s negotiations in the past, she finds herself being undeniably drawn to him. Carrington digs deeper into the death of the Kendrixes’ father and begins to notice that some details surrounding his death aren’t adding up. As Carrington investigates the brothers’ claims and tries to piece together their motive for taking innocent people captive, it soon becomes clear that they are trying to hide something and that revenge for their father’s death may not be what they’re really bargaining for after all. To protect the hostages and ensure the brothers don’t carry out the rest of their sinister plot, Carrington must get to the bottom of one family’s secret and the truth they’re trying so hard to hide before time runs out.

ISBN: 1496485106
Publisher: Tyndale

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Interview With Author DiAnn Mills

By Jessica Baker - October 28, 2024

What made you want to become an author?

I love story. From the time I was a little girl, I made up stories and wrote them. But I didn’t have confidence in myself and destroyed them. In 1996, my husband said, “Stop telling me that one day you’re going to write a book. Quit your job, and I’ll give you one year to get anything published. You don’t have to get paid for it, just published.” So I took the challenge, wrote the book, sold it, and never went back to my other job.

What did you learn while writing Lethal Standoff?

Family dysfunction can be lethal. The victim who neglects or refuses to seek help when caught up in family lies, betrayal, and secrets may never heal and often learn to inflict the same pain on their family.

What is the toughest part of writing?

Researching and learning about a character that I’ve never encountered. I strive for accuracy and credibility, which keeps me digging into the psychological workings of a character’s mind.

If someone were to look at your Google search history (all for research of course!), what types of things would we find?

That’s funny! Here’s my list:
1. Various personality types.
2. Behavior of people according to their personality.
3. The lives of those who commit horrendous crimes.
4. Real people who have experienced tragedy and survived.
5. Real people who have experienced tragedy and not survived.
6. How people react and respond to life events and happenings according to their personality.
7. Culture, language, homes, parenting, socio-economic, education, occupations, and anything else that pertains to people who live in a unique area.

If you could have coffee with an author, dead or alive, whose work you admire, who would that be? What would you ask him or her?

C. S. Lewis. I’d want to listen and soak up his wisdom. I’d ask him to pray with me that I might leave a spiritual legacy in a small way like he did.

What’s your go-to drink while writing?

Coffee! Dark roast and black.

If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Never give up. Never stop learning. Never lose confidence. Never stop helping writers learn the craft, marketing, social media, and maintain God’s standards for His scribes.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

Cooking and baking. Reading all types of books. Gardening. Spending time with family. Not necessarily in that order!

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

I’m currently reading:
The Never Game – Jeffery Deaver
Surprised by Hope – N. T. Wright

Next up!
A Calamity of Souls – David Baldacci
The Seven Storey Mountain – Thomas Merton
Mastering Showing and Telling in Your Fiction - MarcyKennedy

What can we look forward to next?

Romantic Suspense Canyon of Deceit is a 9-2025 Tyndale release. A Texas Ranger Hostage Negotiator teams up with a woman wilderness survivor expert trek into an off the grid area in the Guadalupe Mountains to find a kidnapped little girl.

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