About the Book

Book: Induction (Prequel to The Agency Files)

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

Release Date: November 10, 2023

Someone wants her dead. Not happening on his watch.

When Roman Simon goes missing, the small town of Fairbury burns with rumors hotter than the sidewalk in July. They’re certain he’s either left his wife, or she killed him (not that they’d blame her). As the weeks pass and the police fail to find answers, things heat up more when Anna Simon disappears, too. If that’s not strange enough, the chief of police orders his officers to leave Anna out of their investigation.

As a new recruit into a secret protection service known only as The Agency to the few who know it exists, Keith Auger doesn’t know what he’s doing, but he’s determined to do his new job well. But when he finds himself guarding a woman before he’s fully trained, he already begins to doubt the wisdom of this career path.

Pressure mounts as Keith tries to stay one step ahead of the men out to kill Anna and another step ahead of Anna who is determined to find answers no one will give her.

Keith can’t help but wonder: will his first assignment with The Agency be his last?
Induction is an introductory novel to The Agency Files.

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About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours, and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

Author Writing Woes: or How This Book Came to Be.

Way back in the dark ages of my writing career (you know, around 2009…ish), I had an idea for a couple. She was a plain woman in many ways—a good student. He was the star quarterback for a college football team. And one day, while goofing around with his teammates, he bumped into her and caused her to drop everything, ruining a library book.

She wasn’t happy.

Did several chapters follow with him trying to make it up to her? Yep. Did she cave?

Eventually. And a couple of years later, the day before their wedding, his mother begged him not to marry someone so dull and uninteresting.

But all this came out about a quarter of the way into the book. The first chapter opened with her eating lunch with her husband, who ordered her least favorite dish because it’s good for her. Employees scowled, and the rumors of how awful he was to her flourished.

If only they knew. No one loved anyone more than Ramon Simon loved his Anna. Abusive? Never. Not even a hint, but no one in Fairbury would ever believe that.

But that was my problem. That’s all I knew. I called it “A Man and a Mouse” while waiting to find out what their story really was.

Twelve years later, I finally knew.

See, I had this character from one of my favorite series. The Agency Files is a suspense/romantic suspense series focusing on protecting people from “the bad guys” until law enforcement can round up those bad guys and it’s safe to go home. They’ll do anything they have to in order to keep you safe—even kidnap you. The best of the best? Keith Auger. And well… he wasn’t born an agent, was he?

I decided to write his “induction” into The Agency, and what better way to do it than to introduce him to Anna Simon? Her husband is missing, and someone’s after her. So, after a crazy ride at his job interview, and a few weeks of training, Anna is his first assignment. Keep her alive until those trying to kill her are caught. But that’s when things get complicated.

The series has grown a lot since Justified Means released. From that one book to last month’s exciting conclusion to this “branch” of the series with Take Cover, we’ve seen human trafficking, a drug running biker gang out to kill an ex-member who met Jesus, a crisis of faith combined with bioterrorism, a guy running for his life—he just doesn’t know why, an office manager gone rogue, an unemployed woman hiding out from “goons” in a Michigan castle, a traitor in the agency, and a bad guy who just might be the only one who can help them thwart a hostile takeover.

It’s been a bit of a wild ride for The Agency, but with the series “complete” (there will be spin-offs), it seemed like a perfect time to introduce folks to the series prequel, Induction. All of the series books are available in print, on Kindle Unlimited, and as audiobooks (they’re even FREE on Christa DelSorbo’s YouTube channel!).

Happy reading! And I apologize in advance for Flynne’s slang. That girl!

Interview with the Author

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

This one’s hard, but I think maybe Shattering Secrets. That book wrecked me to write. It focuses on the affect adultery has not just on an individual family, but the church family as well. I wrote it after watching marriage after marriage in the church (at large) destroyed by adultery. Additionally, I just LOVED little Joey in that book and was convicted by the way one of the main characters convinced himself that he’d been blindsided by his own actions rather than admitting that he’d been foolish.

How do you select the names of your characters?

That depends on the era, genre, etc. Historical books need names commonly used during that time. Calling a Regency man “Jaxton” just doesn’t work. Calling her Edisyn… equally a no go. I also work hard to choose names that don’t trip up the reader. There’s nothing like reading along in a book and coming across Jenyffur or Danyuhl and being ripped out of the story while you play with the phonetics. Even in fantasy, I work hard not to get so creative that a reader wants to throw a book.

If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?

Short stories. I would have made writing a single short story (no matter how bad it turned out to be) every week. It would’ve developed the habit of writing for one thing, but it also would’ve let me explore a lot of ideas before I ever got serious about working on novels.

What comes first, the plot or characters?

Absolutely depends on the book. With my first book, it actually started with an irritating incident. I was sick to death of people asking how I “did it” with “all those kids.” After explaining that you don’t get them all at once, so you have time to adapt and grow into a mom of two, four, eight… I went home and started wondering what would happen if you got eight kids all at once. And what if you were young. Single. No experience with kids… Another book, Past Forward definitely started with a character. The first book in my Agency Files began when I had the idea of someone kidnapped for her own good. What would that look like? Why would someone do that? So the plot created questions, which inspired characters that formed an entire series.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I read a GREAT deal. Like tons. I also love to create hand-sewn and bound journals. I love travel, although all it does is give me more book ideas. Oh, well. It’s not like I don’t get a dozen a week anyway! 😉