Retired professor Ed Lehner is an author and poet who has published three novels and a short story collection. His newest contemporary fiction release is Sunset in Paris (Alkira Publishing, March 2025), book two in the Jennifer Morse Series. You’ll find Ed on Facebook and Twitter, and on his website ELehner.com. Look for the Jennifer Morse Series on his Amazon Author Page, and read more about Ed and his writing in his 2020 and 2022 SWW Interviews.
What would you like readers to know about the story you tell in Sunset in Paris?
Jennifer Morse, now a successful author, has been required by her publisher to spend a great amount of time away from her home on book tours. Consequently, her health and relationship with her partner, Chris, have deteriorated. Then she finds out he is cheating on her with another woman and throws him out.
Recovering her health and from her breakup, she decides to visit her grandparents who are spending several months in Paris. On a side trip to Monte Carlo, she meets a race car driver who becomes completely smitten with her. While she is attracted to him, she is not yet ready for another relationship. All her doubts about men and betrayal from her abusive childhood, have been stirred up by Chris’s deception.
An unpleasant encounter in a dark Paris alley stirs up old childhood trauma and she returns to the U.S. and departs on a road trip to the California coast to escape, forget, and work on her new novel. By chance, she meets someone from her father’s past which sets her off in a new direction. Circumstances arise that cause her to return to France and to Paris where she finds new resolve to move forward from her past.
What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
I would say the main challenge was doing the research (most of which was done for Book 1, San Juan Sunrise) to understand the difficulties of abused children and recovery as an adult. Nevertheless, I did a lot of review and learned some new things, especially about anger.
Tell us about your main character, Jennifer Morse, and what she has to overcome in this story. Did you ever worry you wouldn’t be able to write from the point of view of a female protagonist?
I have a daughter and two stepdaughters. Watching them grow up into women, I learned a lot. Albeit, far from being an expert on women. As a university professor in small studio classes, when someone wasn’t doing well, I would have a talk with them. Some things I learned about their lives and early lives, especially from some of my female students about their abuse as children astounded me. So, I sent a lot of my students, over the years, to student health for counseling. And I received much gratitude. From all these experiences, I have become an advocate for women’s rights and freedom from abuse. So, with all this, Jenny was created as a catchall from the encounters I have had with the opposite sex. As a young woman, she still struggles with the trauma of her youth, her abuse and bullying resulting in the subsequent anger and mistrust of others, especially men. It is also difficult for her to trust in herself.
How did the book come together?
I started this book about three years ago, then I got Covid-19 followed by long Covid and then congestive heart failure from the long Covid, all of which sort of fried my brain as well as my creative juices. The editing and design took maybe six months. Also, I don’t plot out or outline when I write. I let the story unravel as I go along.
What was the inspiration for this second installment in the Jennifer Morse series?
I always thought there was more to Jenny’s story. Then the Paris angle hit me and I put them together along with the racing aspect. It was a fun book to write. And we still might not be finished with her exploits.
In a previous interview for SWW, you said you wished you’d had more guidance at the beginning of your writing/publishing career. What lessons have you learned in the eight years since publishing your first book that you applied to Sunset in Paris?
My publisher got on my case about ‘show, don’t tell.’ It was a hard concept for me to grasp but she (Tahlia Newland of Alkira publishing in New South Wales, Australia), the delightful and helpful person she is, gave me a crash course. That was one of several things she helped me with. She is a gem and I owe her a lot.
What was your favorite part of putting this project together?
It was all fun to write. Especially the Paris parts as I spent a week there about 10 years ago and the experience has never left me. I’m also a Formula 1 aficionado and loved writing about the racing and Jenny’s rides with Jean Luc.
At what point did you realize you needed more than one book to tell Jennifer’s story?
After I finished San Juan Sunrise, I realized how great a character Jenny was. I couldn’t let that feeling go to rest and realized there was more she had to say.
What are the challenges of writing a series?
The biggest challenge I had was writing the second book as a stand-alone. It was difficult revealing just enough of Jenny’s backstory necessary for this book to work without retelling the whole first book. How much was too much? How much was not enough?
What writing projects are you working on now?
Regretfully, I have no projects going at this time. I finally feel well enough and have the energy to try to do some marketing. However, I do have several ideas floating around in my head, just have to get focused again after a two-year hiatus of health issues.
KL Wagoner loves creating worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Her current work in progress is The Last Bonekeeper fantasy trilogy and short stories in the same universe. A member of SouthWest Writers since 2006, Kat has worked as the organization’s secretary, newsletter editor, website manager, and author interview coordinator. Kat is also a veteran, a martial art student, and a grandmother. Visit her at klwagoner.com.
Leave a Reply