Minutes to Kill

The romance added vulnerability to the tense crime plot, but I wondered how the author planned to keep both aspects equally compelling. Did the romantic subplot come first or evolve alongside the mystery?

There was a build-up that felt deliberate, but I was curious if this was intended to heighten tension or if it could have been tightened.

The detailed descriptions made me feel immersed in the community, and I wonder if the setting was based on a real place or purely fictional.