Leading A Double Writing Life

Darby Kane (also known as HelenKay Dimon)

For years I wrote romance, mostly romantic suspense, as HelenKay Dimon. A few weeks ago my first domestic suspense, Pretty Little Wife, came out under my new pseudonym, Darby Kane. Strangely, both names and my writing career in both genres can be traced to my previous career—divorce lawyer.

When you write romance, you write with an end goal in mind. The expectation is that the book will have a happy ending of some sort. That’s the reader expectation in the genre, and I’ve never questioned it. We need happy endings. Everyone deserves a happy ending. See, to me, the romance genre is about hope. It’s about a lot of other great things, too, like, finding someone who understands you, being loved and appreciated for who you are, building found families, and overcoming difficulties. But the point is hope.

For more than a decade before I started writing, I was a divorce lawyer. I had some heartwarming cases, like adoptions, but those were unusual. Most days centered around people fighting over objectively unimportant things that actually were very important to them, like who got the curtains or who should have the kids on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Working in the family law field meant seeing people at their most vulnerable and, many times, at their worst. The process often wasn’t fair.

I read romance for the first time late in life. It’s not that I didn’t like it. It’s more than I was a mystery and suspense reader and with limited time, I read what I knew worked for me instead of venturing into other genres. That was a mistake. 

I came to appreciate the need for a happy ending during a particularly difficult time at work. I was an associate, working toward being a partner in the law firm. That meant putting in long hours and, at times, dreading my calendar. There’s one year where every case seemed to include a high conflict custody dispute filled with terrible accusations and children trapped in the middle. It was the kind of year where you wonder what else you can do for a living. 

I turned to reading romance at the suggestion of another lawyer. My love for reading morphed into a desire to write. At first, my attempts amounted to little more than notes and scribbles. Then my husband asked if I was really going to try or just leave it as a hobby. That spurred me to get working and, eventually, I got published. My first sale was a novella in a romance anthology for Kensington Publishing.

That was 2006. Now, in 2021, I’m also writing domestic suspense. That might seem like a long way from romance, but it really isn’t. I wrote romantic suspense, enjoying the journey of both parts, romance and suspense. But at some point that wasn’t enough. I wanted a chance to write about the people and the pressures and the danger without the romance, without the need for a happy ending.

Blame years of being involved in other people’s divorce litigation, but I knew things didn’t always work out. People did awful things to each other that seemed unforgivable, and I wanted to write about that aspect of human nature. About survival.

Hence, Darby Kane was born. Readers of HelenKay Dimon books can expect a satisfying resolution that puts the characters in a positive place moving forward. That all important happy ending. Darby is not stuck on happiness. When writing domestic suspense, my goal is different because reader expectations are different. Finding love is not a focus in a Darby Kane book. I want thrilling, intriguing, and fast paced. I want danger, unraveling, and tension. If romance drives toward a happy ending then, for me, domestic suspense drives toward closure and some form of justice. 

When I write a Darby Kane book I think in general terms about the people and things I’ve seen. I write fiction, but in my version an abused spouse might get revenge. A parent who used a kid as leverage or as a weapon to destroy their spouse might pay for their actions. I decide the level of justice and how the closure happens, and that power lets me work out all of the injustices I’ve seen in a way where I’m in control.

My work life has come full circle. Difficult cases, to happy endings, to searching for closure and justice. I didn’t take the linear route. Frankly, I didn’t even know I was pushing toward anything, but I was. Now romance can be part of the closure but it doesn’t have to be. Darby Kane can be satisfied with vigilante justice, with people fighting back. With a woman-focused story that is well-rounded and compelling and suspenseful but not necessarily related to her love life in any way.

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I love having options. I love writing both. I love writing people who command attention, whether in romance or domestic suspense. And I really love that Lila Ridgefield in Pretty Little Wife kills her husband (or thinks she did)…and that’s just the start of the story. She’s been pushed too far. She’s searching for her own form of justice and closure. I couldn’t give that to many of my clients when I was practicing law, but I can hand it out in my books. That is really satisfying.

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Darby Kane’s debut, PRETTY LITTLE WIFE, is a #1 international bestseller that has been featured in numerous venues, including Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, The Toronto Star, Popsugar, Refinery29, The Skimm, and Huffington Post. She also writes award-winning romantic suspense as HelenKay Dimon.

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