She began building her own thoroughbred-breeding business, eventually leaving the magazine and selling successful horses, including the mother of the winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France.
    Lynch traveled the world. She was happy. She certainly wasn't thinking about writing.
    "Up to that point, I had never written a thing," she says.
    Then she met 'The Venezuelan.'
    Lynch will not name the mystery man in her life. She will only say he is from Venezuela and she met him in horse-breeding circles. One night over dinner, he pointed out her job would be the perfect cover for a spy. She asked how he would know.
    "Trust me, I know," he replied.
    Lynch didn't want to become a spy but found herself thinking about creating one.
A longtime reader of spy novels while on the road, Lynch decided one night at the Normandy Hotel in Deauville, France to try her hand at writing one.
    But, with a significant change.
    "In the books I read, it was always guys, guys, guys," she says. "I wanted to create a female spy, an intelligent woman who is also deadly."
    She completed 50 pages and faced the dilemma all writers face: Is it any good? She contacted John Piesen, a friend and newspaper editor.
    "He told me to send it to him," Lynch says. "He said, 'If it's no good, I'll tell you, so you won't waste your life.'"
    He called back a few days later with a simple message: "Don't stop writing."

Another Good Suggestion

    She didn't, but the demands of her business kept interfering. And then, "The Venezuelan" provided another happy detour. This time, he suggested she meet a friend of his, Grayston Lynch. The two married, and Lynch set aside "The Game of Lies" to work on "Decision for Disaster."
    Lynch also went to college in her 40's, earning degrees in political science and creative writing from the University of Tampa. She and Grayston moved here. She scaled back her business - she keeps a handful of horses at Jdon Farms and on a farm in Wisconsin - and gave more time to writing.
    Over the years, the novel came together. In addition to receiving input from Grayston and approval from the CIA, Lynch studied martial arts, sought information from military personnel and researched European architecture.
    Finally, she's sharing the story she began 20 years ago. Determination? Lynch says the hardest part, by far, is the writing.
    "Writing is hard: writing is time consuming," she says. "The main thing that you have to do is be honest with your reader."
    While offers came from traditional publishers, Lynch researched publishing and decided to go with AuthorHouse, a print-on-demand publisher that allows authors "to keep the rights to their books and make more money on the royalties," she says.
    Lynch is scheduling appearances to promote "The Game of Lies," but she is already working on the next book featuring Reynolds.
    "That's the best thing people have said after reading the book," Lynch says.
"They can't wait to read the sequel."