James Byron Braswell was a financial reporting accountant working in Dallas for most of his adult life. He remembers that he loved writing poetry when he was younger, but that ended when he began a career in technical writing, drafting disclosure documents for publicly traded companies. Ten years ago, he suddenly wanted to write creatively again. “It was just weird,” Braswell says. “I’m 56 years old and I never really had any great inkling to write, but then I got inspired by the muse.” All at once, Braswell found himself with an idea for several novels, the first of which is his recent debut, Sultry Secrets.

“It was quite challenging putting a novel together. It’s really like starting two businesses at once,” Braswell says of the years he’s spent developing business plans and putting Sultry Secrets to paper. “There is a lot more to self-publishing than you would think.” If Braswell learned nothing else from his many years as an accountant, he learned how to approach a problem methodically. He spent ample time researching creative writing (David Trottier’s The Screenwriter’s Bible figured prominently) and carefully mapped out his plot points. “For me, it takes a certain amount of organization on the front end and then I just let the creative process take over.” 

Braswell is a longtime fan of thrillers along the lines of John Grisham, but the spur to write came from film. “It’s kind of silly,” Braswell admits. “But I was first hit with this idea when I picked up a movie starring Naomi Watts.” The film star certainly made an impression: The author dedicates the novel to “Naomi” and centers his story around two strong female leads. The novel follows beautiful Lindsey Johnson; sick of her high-pressure accounting job in New Orleans, she downshifts to a nonprofit in Dallas where her college best friend, Leslie Peterson, works. 

Lindsey’s excitement overwhelmed her! Ever since their college days, she and Leslie Peterson dreamed of finding ways to help troubled kids. Sure...they both volunteered, but to find a career to accompany helping youngsters seemed ideal. Both came from dysfunctional families. Nothing evil, but their shared suffering forged a strong bond between the two in college. They were even dubbed “the twins” by their sorority sisters. 

After Lindsey and her husband, Brian, arrive in Dallas, the “twins” get to work for the Hope Filled Homes organization, providing housing to youth in Dallas and Tulsa, Oklahoma. At first, life is just peachy for Brian, Leslie, and Lindsey. Born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, himself, Braswell knows how to illustrate the charms of Southern living. He shows the trio of young professionals flitting from lazy sangria-drenched afternoons by the pool to margarita-fueled happy hours and decadent dinners. One potential hitch: The twins might be getting a bit too close for Brian’s liking as sexual tensions start to bubble under the surface. That is, until Lindsey sees a “putrid colored” ghost out of the corner of her eye.  

“I thought it might be a kind of unique and different twist,” Braswell says of his decision to throw paranormal elements into the mix, something he’s able to pull off well, as the Kirkus review notes: “Braswell maintains a sense of ambiguity for much of the novel, keeping the nature of the apparition veiled.” But as the action ramps up—and Lindsey and Leslie realize all is not right at Hope Filled Homes—the book’s ghostly figures appear, and one even takes the role of narrator. “I was able to put in a little additional knowledge of what happened,” Braswell says about shifting the book’s perspective. “It allowed for things you can’t get from the rest of the story.” 

In Braswell’s novel, his leads’ primary plan is to assume control of the wayward nonprofit and reinstate its mission. For Braswell, running a successful nonprofit is more than a plot point, it’s a goal. “Early in my life, I did have some struggles with drugs and alcohol,” he says. As a teenager, Braswell came from a well-off family and attended “Party University” without much of a care in the world. “Then, we wound up losing all our money, and there I was with a goofed-up grade point average,” Braswell says.

But he managed to get past his misspent youth and is now in a position to assist others. He recently moved back home to Shreveport to care for his mother and young niece. “Since I had struggles as a young person, and having seen the issues in my family today, I wondered how I could help out,” Braswell says. Ultimately, the author would like to significantly expand his impulse to improve others’ lives. Just like his novel’s leads, Braswell sees helping disadvantaged youth as the best way to give back. He plans to one day make the nonprofit described in Sultry Secrets a reality. 

Rhett Morgan is a writer and translator based in Paris.