
Part of Series
AFTER the SUNRISE, a short story introducing Kat Martin's Maximum Security series, plus an excerpt from her new novel, THE CONSPIRACY. They Called Him the Hero of St. Andrew's When an active shooter in full body armor strides down the center aisle of St. Andrew's church, Kurt Layton knows he’s the congregation’s only hope of survival. As petite, auburn-haired Erin McCallum looks into the barrel of an assault rife wielded by a ruthless gunman, she knows she is going to die. But sometimes, in the instant between life and death, a connection is forged between two strangers—as strong as steel and as timeless as eternity.
Author

Kathleen Kelly Martin (aka Kathy Lawrence, Kasey Mars) Kathleen Kelly was born on 14 July 1947 in the Central Valley of California, USA. She obtained a degree in Anthropology and also studied History at the University of California in Santa Barbara. She was a real estate broker, when she met her future husband, Larry Jay Martin. A short time after the two became acquainted, Larry asked her to read an unpublished manuscript of an historical western he'd written. Kat fell in love with both the book and the author! Then, after doing some editing for him, she thought she'd try her own hand at writing. She moved on to become a full time writer. Published since 1988, she singed her books with her married name, Kat Martin, but she also used two pseudonyms: Kathy Lawrence for a book in collaboration with her husband Larry Jay Martin, and Kasey Mars for her first contemporary romances. The New York Times bestselling writer, among her many awards, has won the prestigious RT Book Review Magazine Career Achievement Award. To date, Kat has over eleven million copies of her books in print. She has been published in seventeen foreign countries, including England, South Africa, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Bulgaria, China, and Korea. Currently residing with her husband, a Western-writer and photographer, in Missoula, Montana, USA. But when they are not writing, they also enjoy skiing and traveling, particularly to Europe. "I've always loved books. I was an avid reader, with any number of my own stories rolling around in my head. Writing them down seemed a logical step." "I love anything old," Kat says. "I love to travel and especially like to visit the places where my books are set. My husband and I often stay in out-of-the-way inns and houses built in times past. It's fun and it gives a wonderful sense of a by-gone era."