I, Spy?

“The British spy is elegant, suave and sophisticated. The British spy is not blonde, built, and confused.”

But Sophie Green is, and she’s just been hired by a highly secret government agency. She drives a car the colour of bile and is obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She doesn’t know which end of the gun to fire from and her hair hasn’t been natural since she was twelve. But that’s not going to stop her from trying to save the day, once she figures out who to save it from.

Sexy spies, plane crashes, firebombs and multicoloured cocktails—they’re all in a day’s work for Sophie. Roll over, Bond, there’s a new bombshell in town. And it’s got Sophie’s name on it…

I, Spy?

Never underestimate the blonde.

Warning, this title contains guns, swearing, dark thoughts about cheerful people, incomprehensible Britishisms, and painful sarcasm. Book one of the Sophie Green Mysteries. For an excerpt, click here.

Available in digital format (ISBN: 1-59998-434-2) March 2007 and paperback September 2007 (ISBN: 1-59998-635-3) from Samhain Publishing.

Retailers who sell the paperback of I, Spy? online include: Amazon.com, Blackwell or Barnes & Noble in the US; Amazon.co.uk, WHSmith or Waterstones in the UK. It's also listed on Amazon's other international sites, including Amazon.ca. Currently, I don't know any Australian or New Zealand sites that sell it: if you find one, please tell me!

Check your local bookstore and let me know if you see it! If you can't find I, Spy? in your local bookstore, don't despair; just take the ISBN (above) and ask them to order it for you. It's listed in international catalogues, so you should be able to order it anywhere.

"5 Stars! I absolutely LOVED the story. Sophie is an awesome character, full of life. She has a quick and sarcastic sense of humor that made me laugh out loud. Did I tell you how much I liked her?" Ann Chaput, eCataRomance.

"This book has everything! Kate Johnson has created a wonderful set of characters. This is one book…I would have on my keeper shelf!" Jan Crow, ParaNormal Romance

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Random stuff about I, Spy?

I wrote I, Spy? and the first five sequels within a year. This is inhumanly fast for me, but it's a sign of how into it I really was.

The beginning of I, Spy? was rewritten more times than I can remember, and rejected by just about every publisher in London, who told me I needed an agent.

I was then rejected by every agent in London.

Okay, I thought, being how one of my biggest influences while writing this is an American author (Janet Evanovich), why don't I try across the Pond?

I was then rejected by every agent and editor in New York.

I entered RWA chapter contests, finalled a few times but never won, and eventually put Sophie on the shelf. She stayed there for four years before my buddy Amelia Elias read I, Spy?, talked it up to her editor at Samhain, and well, the rest you can probably figure out.

When I first started writing, Sophie was called Sally, and she lived with her parents. Then I figured that most of the stuff I wanted to do in the book would be completely impossible if she had her family in the same house all the time, so I put her in a little flat nearby.

Sophie's flat is based on the flat where a friend of mine used to live. It had the little courtyard and everything, and it was the size of a postage stamp. Nonetheless, because she was the first of my friends to get her own place, I remember it really well. I probably spent more time there than in my own house, drinking sugary alcopops and watching Buffy.

Yes, that's where the Buffy thing comes from.

Luke's flat doesn't actually exist in real life, because the site (which had some barns, storage garages, etc) has since been redeveloped into some very nice houses. But the location is real.

The I, Spy? soundtrack

(warning, contains spoilers)

Like many authors, I often write to music or at least have an idea of what would be playing in the movie version of the book (yes, I'm happy in my delusions, thank you for asking). Here's the list for I, Spy?

Opening scenes: There are two songs for this. One is the movie opener, the other is what aways, always reminds me of sophie's life pre-SO17. The movie opener is The Rasmus, Lost In The Shadows, especially with that alarm-clock-type siren at the start. "I've been watching, I've been waiting in the shadows all my time."

The other one is Natalie Imbruglia's Just Another Day, which was only ever a B-side, and that's a criminal shame because it's a great song. This pretty much soundtracked all the rubbish jobs I've ever had (and that's all the jobs I've ever had) and how much I just wanted every other day to be over. "Nothing excites me, and I don't know where I belong. But I still look in the mirror, and I still get out of bed: it's just another day."

Sophie chasing Brown 2 through the airport: Kaiser Chiefs, I Predict A Riot. Brilliant festival song (and at Christmas in my house is usually sung as I Predict A Diet). Fast, exciting, and funny.

KT Tunstall, Suddenly I See. There's no specific point in the story for this, but it's definitely a 'becoming' song. "Suddenly I see, this is what I want to be."

Leaving the Buckman Ball: Aretha Franklin, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Well, if you're going to kick someone in the chest and flounce out, you really need the right soundtrack. "What you want, baby I got it... All I'm asking for is a little respect."

Sophie figuring out what's what at the end, while she goes to the office: Frou-Frou, Holding Out For A Hero. A wonderful slick, dark version of the song, and one I'm using ironically: there aren't any damn heroes, so Sophie's having to be one herself.

End/closing credits: Sheryl Crow, I Want You. All right, it's eerily cheerful for Sheryl, but go with it. "I want you, and can it be you really want me too?" Captures the delight of finding out the person you really, really want actually wants you in return.

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