Intersection Column | An Idea That Wouldn’t Go Away

mtlmagazine
Nov 10, 2025
4 min read

by Patricia Bradley

A lot of authors I know have an arsenal of ideas to pull from a file or drawer when they need it. They have more ideas than they can possibly use in a lifetime. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I do not. God has blessed me with a story idea every time I’ve needed it, but not before, which is probably good for my ADHD mind. If I had a drawer full of ideas, I would be like a little girl in a candy store who can’t make up her mind which candy bar she wants.

However, one idea has bugged me for years—that of someone being convicted of a crime they did not commit. The idea came because of a case that happened near my home in the mid 1990s. It was a murder case, and the suspects, while not criminals, weren’t very likeable. But even with the limited information the police released at the time of their arrest and the testimony produced at trial, the evidence seemed flimsy.

What if they weren’t guilty? That’s the idea that wouldn’t go away. I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Others continued to dig deeper, and ultimately, the evidence collected from the crime scene was tested for the teens' DNA. The results came back negative, and pointed instead to three other suspects. The first three teens, now men, were eventually freed, but they spent almost eighteen years behind bars.

A few years later, I started listening to a true crime podcast that spent a year investigating another murder case. The podcaster uncovered evidence that led to the release of a man who had spent twenty years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. That’s when the idea that had been bugging me for years became full-blown. I started thinking what if…and the plot for On The Edge Of Trust was born. Now I needed characters to flesh out the story…

For several years I’d toyed with the idea of doing true crime podcasts, but I didn’t have the background for it. Most of my heroines have careers I would love to have—like the heroine in Justice Buried, I’d always wanted to be a rock climber, but knew if I tried, I’d fall and probably break an arm and not be able to type my stories. So I created my rock-climbing cat burglar, Kelsey Allen. And if I couldn’t be a podcaster, my heroine could be! Tori Mitchell came to life in my head.

Like the podcaster I’d listened to, Tori believes in a convicted man’s innocence and digs into his case. She finds evidence the prosecution had suppressed and clears the man. But if the convicted man didn’t do it, someone else did. And when she vows to find the true killer, that puts her in the crosshairs of a killer.

That brings us to the hero, Scott Sinclair. Have you ever read a book and wanted to know more about a story’s secondary character? In the first book I wrote, Scott was an alcoholic teen accused of stalking the heroine and almost dies at the hands of the true killer. By the end of the story, he meets Jesus and is working on getting clean, but his future is uncertain.

In On The Edge Of Trust, he’s been sober ten years and is a decorated undercover FBI agent rehabbing a gunshot wound that cost him his job. He is determined to learn how to shoot with his left hand and get his job back, so when the local sheriff asks him to help protect Tori, he doesn’t hesitate. Of course they’re attracted to each other, and sparks fly between the independent podcaster and over-protective undercover agent.

Writing On The Edge Of Trust fulfilled two desires I’d had for years—writing about an idea born decades ago and redeeming Scott Sinclair. I hope you enjoy On The Edge Of Trust.

About the Author

Patricia Bradley is the author of multiple romantic suspense novels including the popular Pearl River and Logan Point series. She is the winner of an Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, a Selah Award, and a Daphne du Maurier Award. Bradley was selected as a Carol Award finalist and three of her books were included in anthologies that debuted on the USA Today bestseller list. She makes her home in Mississippi. Learn more at PTBradley.com.

About the Book

When decorated FBI undercover agent Scott Sinclair suffers a gunshot wound in his right arm, the injury threatens his future career in the field. Tori Mitchell is a passionate crime reporter whose nephew is accused of murder, and nothing can stop her from getting involved and clearing his name. As the investigation intensifies, so do the threats and the sparks between Tori and Scott.

Did You Know?

Sometimes we hear that women lack the visual orientation men have. Yet three out of four Pinterest users are women, and more women than men use Instagram. The idea that only men are visual differs from the picture the Bible paints.

Scripture presents both male and female as “visual.” In no other ancient Near Eastern poetry does a woman describe her beloved’s body. Yet in the Song of Solomon, a woman or woman’s voice(s) comprise more than 60 percent of the text. And right in the middle, the female character admires her lover’s body—feet to forehead (Song of Solomon 5:10–16).
Scripture celebrates physicality. The sensory images in Song of Songs include raisins and apricots; aromas in perfumes, henna blossoms, and sachets; touches in kisses; sounds in the voices of friends and lovers; and the sight of gazelles and does. The senses celebrate physical love in a physical world. Matter is good. Physicality is a gift of God. He clothed himself in it.
Scripture presents intimacy as an exclusive gift. Words such as “locked garden” and “sealed spring” (4:12) suggest inaccessibility and exclusivity. Often we hear of sex in the Bible as one big taboo. But the Scriptures present it as a gift from God.

-Sandra Glahn, The CSB Women’s Study Bible (notes for Song of Solomon)