Lisa Jamison is the main protagonist in the “Lisa Jamison” mystery series and sits down to answer a few questions so that we can get to know her better.

What is your full name?
Lisa Jamison. Well, Melissa, really. I took the nickname “Lisa” when I ran away from home at 15 years old and it stuck.

How old are you?
33

What is your profession?
I am a reporter for the Seneca Springs Sun Times. I was recently promoted to the projects desk, which means I get to dig deep into the good stuff. No more daily beat.

Do you have a significant other?
My only long-term relationship was with Marty, the father of my daughter, when I was 15. We lost touch before our daughter was born, but he reappeared in our lives as a corpse—he was murdered, actually—two years ago. I’ve dated people here and there, but not much. I’ve always been focused on my career and my daughter. I think I am ready though. Marty’s death really woke me up to what’s important in life.

Do you have any children?
Yes. My daughter, Bridget, is my one and only. She is my rock, but she is 18 and headed to college in the fall. I am so proud of her, but I don’t know what I will do without her.

Do you have any siblings?
Not that I know of.

Are your parents nearby?
My father lives one county over in the house I grew up in, the house I ran away from. I visited him for the first time in 16 years two years ago. Never again. I don’t know where my mother is. Probably dead. She ran off with some drug dealer after I ran away.

Who is your best friend?
Dorothy, hands down. Dorothy came into our lives as my daughter’s live-in nanny, but she quickly became family to both of us. She a super talented artist, who happens to keep a gun in the spice cabinet.

Do you have any pets?
No. I am not home enough. It didn’t seem fair to have one, but I would love to have a dog someday. A big one.

What town do you live in?
Seneca Springs, N.Y.

Do you live in a small town or a big city?
Seneca Springs is what we call in the newspaper business a medium-sized metropolitan area – a city of about 200,000 in Central New York, surrounded by small suburbs.

What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
I own a two-story house in an older section of the city.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
The sofa in the living room. I love to curl up with my daughter and a glass of wine at night to watch some fun, mindless show. It doesn’t happen often. I work a lot.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
Give me some falafel in a pita with lots of cucumber, tomato, and tahini sauce! There is a Greek place near the office that makes falafel fresh. It’s the best. I’m not much of a dessert eater, but I probably won’t turn down a good cheesecake.

Do you have any hobbies?
Running and kickboxing. My friend Ricky has a kickboxing studio about two miles from the house. When I am super frustrated, I stop by to take it out on a bag.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Vacation? What’s that? I don’t think I’ve ever taken a real vacation. When I have time off, I take day trips with my daughter, usually with a friend or two along. We did go to the ocean once. All three of us – me, Dorothy and Bridget. That was fun.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
I’d love to spend time in a cabin on a lake in the woods, surrounded by hiking and running trails, with my daughter, Dorothy and no phones. Someplace where I can skinny dip off the dock in the morning before everyone else wakes up and watch the sun rise.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
I had always hidden my past from everyone, even Dorothy and my daughter. I was ashamed of it. But Marty’s murder changed that. I see myself differently now, my young self. I don’t know. Maybe Everyone Loses in Russian Roulette, although Russian Roulette saved me, really. I landed in foster care that night, the night Brian Prentice killed himself. I was lost before that, but foster care saved me.

Never Broken, A Lisa Jamison Mystery #2
Genre: Traditional
Release: April 2022
Purchase Link

The near corpse of a stranger had no idea where he’d been, how long he’d been there or who had kept him captive. But one thing intrigued journalist Lisa Jamison even more than his story: recent memories of a woman named Chandra Bower.

Seven years had passed since Chandra disappeared from Seneca Springs without a trace. Police investigators still compared DNA records whenever an unidentified body appeared, hoping to at least bring her family closure. Lisa still chased down leads from desperate family and friends, being careful to hide her investigations from an editor who thought she’d become obsessed with a woman who was clearly dead.

But this man had just seen her, sewing designer clothes in a dark, filthy basement with about twenty other men and women under horrifically inhumane conditions. And the sweatshop workers all had one thing in common: All were people of color.
A split-second decision to help the man takes Lisa on a race against time. His captors want him back, there is evidence someone on the police force might be involved and the man knows that if he were recaptured, they would torture him until he revealed the names of the two people who helped him escape: Lisa Jamison and Chandra Bower.

Lisa promised her teenage daughter she would stay away from the dangerous stories ever since her job had nearly gotten them both killed two years before. But she no longer has a choice. She must keep the stranger hidden while she gathers enough evidence to turn the case over to city police or the FBI. At least three lives—her own, the stranger’s and Chandra’s—depend on it.

About the author
Lori Duffy Foster is a former crime reporter who writes and lives in the hills of Northern Pennsylvania. She is author of A Dead Man’s Eyes, the first in the Lisa Jamison Mysteries Series and an Agatha Award nominee. Never Broken is book 2 in the series. Look for her debut thriller, Never Let Go, in December of 2022. Her short fiction has appeared in the journal Aethlon, and in the anthologies Short Story America and Childhood Regained. Her nonfiction has appeared in Healthy Living, Running Times, Literary Mama, Crimespree and Mountain Home magazines. Lori is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, The Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers and Pennwriters. She also sits on the board of the Knoxville (PA) Public Library.

All comments are welcomed.