The Next Big Thing - Counterfeit Chemistry

Author Natasha Alexander tagged me to answer the following questions about my work in progress as part of The Next Big Thing meme. Be sure to read Natasha's answers about her novel, Moon Beach Magic, here: http://natasha.edcentric.org/2013/03/22/the-next-big-thing/
 
What is the working title of your next book?  
Counterfeit Chemistry Where did the idea come from for the book?
Two years ago, I wrote a short story from a writing prompt about Jessie, a young divorced mother. She stayed in my mind until I figured out how to expand her story. I meshed her search for love with something that I wanted to alert readers about, and came up with Jessie inadvertently stumbling into the middle of a counterfeit drug operation in a small town.

What genre does your book fall under?
Mystery/suspense with a romantic subplot – a good story to immerse yourself in for a mini-vacation.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
A young Meg Ryan for Jessie. The gorgeous chef would be Orlando Bloom. 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? The story of a young divorced woman who suspects that a local pharmacy, owned by her mother’s boyfriend, is not only purchasing drugs from the grey marked, but is selling them on the street, and when she sets out to prove it, finds her life and the lives of her mother and her six-year-old son in danger.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I’ll pitch it to agents when it’s done, and hope to entice one into taking it on. (Well, a girl can dream!) If not, the self-published route would work, as an e-book and/or paperback.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the story?                                                  I
I started this manuscript in November last year and am at the half-way point now, about 44,000 words, so have a ways to go.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, and Susan Wiggs all have authored books with a heroine looking for love but somehow getting herself caught up in a mystery that pushes her into dangerous territory. The outcome of my story shows her which man is worthy of her trust. 

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
As a pharmacist, I wanted to show the dangers of buying medication through the internet or the grey-market. I read the book Dangerous Doses by Katherine Eban and knew I wanted to incorporate that theme into my story. Plus, I’m a romantic at heart, so a love struggle was a must.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?                                                       
Many US citizens purchase their prescription medications off the internet where integrity cannot be validated and the drugs they receive can be deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity, purity, and/or source. The FDA estimates that counterfeit drugs make up more than 10% of the global medicines market and this number in increasing.