Why do you write Christian Fiction?

I have always been an avid reader, mostly for the sense of escape from the challenge of life. However, I didn’t exactly grow up in a Christian home. Sure we knew of Jesus and went to church on occasion, but His teachings didn’t guide what I read or watched. Enter the vulnerable years of middle and high school, and I discovered romance stories that were anything but godly. I ate up anything I could get my hands on, and somehow Janette Oke’s When Calls the Heart ended up in my hands. Other than by God’s provision, I still don’t know how it happened However, it was through reading her Canadian West series that I witnessed what real love and marriage should look like when guided by God. I was a new Christian, and it totally rocked my world and completely shifted my world view. I write Christian fiction because God changed my life through a story I’d only picked up to be entertained by. It is my hope that those who read my novels will not only be entertained, but see how much God loves and cares for them. No matter their situation.

What did God teach you through the writing of Counterfeit Love?

Oh my, that is a big question. I even wrote a longer post in the bonus content of my website detailing just how God used that story to teach me to love Him even if everything I know and love was stripped from me. The short of it is while writing this story, my grandmother on the opposite side of the country was diagnosed with terminal cancer on top of her dementia and Parkinson’s disease. My mother spent almost two years spending more time out west with her, than home. Just as it should be. However, during this time, my mother-in-law was also suffering massive complications from a hip surgery. I didn’t have my mom, my husband was doing a lot of traveling, I had two preteen boys, and I was caregiving in a fragile situation. I was completely stripped of everything I’d come to rely on. I distinctly remember seeing my life as a rope that had been stripped of everything but one silver, unbreakable thread. Jesus Christ. It was through this experience that, like my characters, I learned to love and trust God even if in my darkest seasons of life.

You can read the full story here: https://crystalcaudill.com/bonuscontent/behindcl/.

Why did you choose to write about the Secret Service?

Everyone knows the Secret Service as the men and women in black uniforms who protect the president, but few know the department’s original purpose. I didn’t until I stumbled upon it, and once I did, I was completely captivated. You see, the Secret Service only informally protected the president part-time until 1902, but the department was created in 1865. For over thirty years, their primary focus was to arrest counterfeiters. I absolutely adored diving into that research and bringing to life a story that shoes only a very small part of what they did. You can learn more about their history by visiting https://crystalcaudill.com/bonuscontent/historyofthesecretservice/.

What fascinating facts did you discover while researching for Counterfeit Love?

I spent years researching everything from Cincinnati in the 1880s to details of how counterfeiters and Secret Service operatives ran their operations. For space sake, I’ll give you my top three favorite facts.

1. Cincinnati experienced two historic floods almost exactly a year apart. In fact, the 1884 flood crested on February 14th while the 1883 flood crested on February 15th. The 1884 flood is still Cincinnati’s second highest flood, superseded only by the 1937 flood. Since then, the Ohio River has been dammed in such a way that the flow of the river has been forever altered.
2. The Secret Service didn’t have the authority to obtain arrest and search warrants, or even the ability to authority criminals on their own until almost the 1900s. They required the aid of local police or the U.S. Marshals in order to do so. One way they got around arresting criminals is by using citizen’s arrests when necessary.
3. Long before the Miranda Rights were a thing, the Secret Service informed criminals of their right to remain silent. Anything said could and would be used against them in the court of law. This practice came about because criminals of the day were used to a practically universal policy of immediately ratting out other people during their arrest in order to be let go without consequence. This is different than the plea deals we think of today. Criminals literally just volunteered information at their arrest and were let go without being charged for their crime. 

You like to choose a ministry to support with every book you release. What ministry did you choose for Counterfeit Love and why?

Part of the setting of Counterfeit Love is the print shop Theresa’s grandfather owns. Through a service project done with my church small group, I discovered a Cincinnati Bible printing ministry called Bearing Precious Seed. During this service project, we actually went to their printing facility, got a tour, and helped to assemble over 1000 Bibles. Bearing Precious Seed provides God’s word free of charge to missionaries and national pastors all over the world. Since 1973, they have priced and given away nearly 200 million copies of Scripture in more than 60 languages to be distributed within over 130 countries. You can find out more about their ministry on my website https://crystalcaudill.com/bonuscontent/bearingpreciousseeds/ or by visiting their website https://www.bpsmilford.org/.

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• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Counterfeit-Love-Crystal-Caudill/dp/0825447402/
• Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/counterfeit-love-crystal-caudill/1139916746
• Books-A-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Counterfeit-Love/Crystal-Caudill/9780825447402
• Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Counterfeit-Love-Crystal-Caudill/9780825447402
• Christianbook: https://www.christianbook.com/counterfeit-hidden-hearts-gilded-vol-1/9780825447402/pd/44740X

Hook: Can this undercover agent save the woman he loves–or is her heart as counterfeit as the money he’s been sent to track down?

Short Blurb (50 Words):

Can this undercover agent save the woman he loves–or is her heart as counterfeit as the money he’s been sent to track down? They’re both keeping secrets–and that lack of trust, along with the dangerous criminals out for blood, threatens their hearts, their faith, and their very survival.

Full Blurb:

Can this undercover agent save the woman he loves–or is her heart as counterfeit as the money he’s been sent to track down?

After all that Grandfather has sacrificed to raise her, Theresa Plane owes it to him to save the family name–and that means clearing their debt with creditors before she marries Edward Greystone. But when one of the creditors’ threats leads her to stumble across a midnight meeting, she discovers that the money he owes isn’t all Grandfather was hiding. And the secrets he kept have now trapped Theresa in a life-threatening fight for her home–and the truth.

After months of undercover work, Secret Service operative Broderick Cosgrove is finally about to uncover the identity of the leader of a notorious counterfeiting ring. That moment of triumph turns to horror, however, when he finds undeniable proof that his former fiancée is connected. Can he really believe the woman he loved is a willing participant? Protecting Theresa and proving her innocence may destroy his career–but that’s better than failing her twice in one lifetime.

They must form a partnership, tentative though it is. But there’s no question they’re both still keeping secrets–and that lack of trust, along with the dangerous criminals out for their blood, threatens their hearts, their faith, and their very survival.

Combining rich history, danger, suspense, and romance, Crystal Caudill’s debut novel launches this new historical series with a bang. Fans of Elizabeth Camden, Michelle Griep, and Joanna Davidson Politano will be thrilled to find another author to follow!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Counterfeit-Hope-Crystal-Caudill/dp/0825447410

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/counterfeit-hope-crystal-caudill/1141659529

Books-A-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Counterfeit-Hope/Caudill-Crystal/L40537871

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Counterfeit-Hope-Crystal-Caudill/9780825447419

Christianbook: https://www.christianbook.com/counterfeit-hope-hidden-hearts-gilded-series/9780825447419/pd/5447419

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61898532-counterfeit-hope

Hook: Trapped in their pasts, is there hope for a future?

Short Blurb (70 Words): Trapped in their pasts, is there hope for a future? Secret Service operative Andrew Darlington and pickpocket Lu Thorne believe the other to be the enemy to their future plans. Even if they could learn to work together, the secrets they hold could shatter all hopes and dreams. Can either of them escape their past–and the family that is willing to kill their own when they smell betrayal?

Full Blurb: 

Trapped by their pasts, is there hope for a future?

When Secret Service operative Andrew Darlington is brought in to support a US Marshal case involving counterfeiters in rural Indiana, he thinks it’s simply the next rung on his climb to the top of his career. But liars can only climb so high–and Andrew is keeping a dangerous secret he doesn’t ever want to get out. When he clashes with the criminal family that took over the town of Landkreis and killed the Marshal he was sent to assist, his past life is in danger of being exposed.

Widow “Lightning Lu” Thorne has only one goal: escape the clutches of the Thorne family with her son. Her decision to be an informant and testify against the Thornes looked like the perfect answer. Until the Marshal ended up dead. Now the tether keeping her tied to her felonious family is tightening, and forced marriage to someone else in the Thornes’ clutches threatens to kill any hope of escape.

Andrew and Lu find themselves on the same team–unwillingly. They each believe the other to be the enemy to their future plans. And even if they could learn to work together, the secrets they hold could shatter all hopes and dreams. Despite the encouragement of the local preacher, they’re not even sure God can be trusted–much less other humans. Can either of them escape their past–and the family that is willing to kill their own when they smell betrayal?

On the heels of her smashing debut, this second entry in Crystal Caudill’s historical series maintains the excitement that readers of Michelle Griep, Liz Tolsma, and Elizabeth Camden will love.