His latest book is The Dance We Shared (Book 3 in Men of Honor). Other books include The Heights of Valor (Book 1 in Men of Honor) and The Man In the Arena (Book 2 in Men of Honor.
Visit his website at www.davidtindellauthor.com.
Connect with him on social media at:
╰┈➤ X: www.x.com/davidtindell1
╰┈➤ Facebook: www.facebook.com/DavidTindellAuthor
╰┈➤ Instagram: www.instagram.com/djtindellauthor
Can you tell us a little about yourself? Are you a full-time author?
I retired from Federal service several years ago, but continued to work part-time in radio, my first profession. I’d written some short stories and an unpublished novel while in college, but then real life intervened, so they stayed in my files. Then one evening my wife was reading a paperback and tossed it aside. “You can write better than this junk,” she said. I decided to prove her right. The result was The White Vixen, my first published novel.
Can you tell us about The Dance We Shared (Men of Honor Book 3)?
The series is about men placed in situations where their personal honor is tested. How will they respond? Will they take the easy way out, as so many people do these days? Or will they do what it takes to meet the challenge?
In The Dance We Shared, we meet Ben Fletcher, radio announcer, age 54. He’s been single for a long time, has a good job, lives alone, trains in the martial arts, and tries not to think of Vernoica Starr, the glamorous TV host he loved — and lost — 20 years ago. Ronnie walked out on him after he made a foolish choice. She married another man and moved away.
One day, Ben is cleaning out a file cabinet in his office when he discovers an envelope. Inside is a card, with a phone number and a short message, in Ronnie’s handwriting: “Please help me.” Then he looks at the envelope and sees that it was postmarked five years ago…just before Ronnie disappeared.
Can you tell us a little about the characters?
Ben Fletcher was the top-rated radio announcer in La Crosse, Wis., when he met Ronnie. Recently divorced with two small children, Ben fell hard for the TV morning news anchor when they co-hosted a charity telethon. Things went well for a year and a half. There was talk of marriage and a child together, and then one night when Ronnie was out of town on assignment, Ben made a selfish choice.
Veronica Starr, the city’s most-watched TV news personality, seemed to recover quickly from her devastating discovery. She met an older man, a banker, married him after a short romance and soon moved with him to the Twin Cities, where she quickly rose to the top of the TV ratings again, getting notice from national networks. But as exciting as her professional life was, her home life was dull and suffocating. She often thought of Ben, and what they might’ve had together if she had just found the strength to forgive him.
Ben has moved on as best he can, getting a new job at the local university, spending his spare time weightlifting, swimming and training in taekwondo. Reasonably content, he’s starting to think about retirement, but memories of Ronnie won’t fade away. A day hasn’t gone by without regrets for what he did, but as time passes, so do his chances to make things right…or so he thinks, until the day he finds Ronnie’s five-year-old call for help.
Where is this book set and why did you choose that location?
As a native of Wisconsin, I like to set my stories in my beautiful state and its neighbors. We start in La Crosse, a charming city on the Mississippi, drop in on the Twin Cities, and then move to Wisconsin’s northwest, to the village of Birchwood, near where I lived for more than three decades. The novel then takes the reader farther north, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where Ben’s quest reaches its climax.
How can people benefit from reading The Dance We Shared?
Those of us lucky enough to still be with the love of their life, like I am, can remember a time when things were shaky. I don’t know any men who want to wind up like the guy in the Garth Brooks song, looking back on the memories of the dance he shared with the love of his life, knowing that it would end. Writing the novel took me back to a time early in my relationship with Sue, when it looked like we wouldn’t make it. But we did, and remembering those times, as tough as they were, can make us appreciate what we have. And for those who lost their loves, perhaps the story can give them some hope. It wasn’t too late for Ben, and maybe it won’t be for the reader whose dance ended way too soon.
Is this your only book?
Dance is my tenth published novel. I have four in my White Vixen series, which follows USAF special operator Jo Ann Geary through the 1980s into the early 90s. There are three in my Quest series, about middle-aged Wisconsin brothers Jim and Mark Hayes, partners in a security firm, and their adventures with their wives. Last but certainly not least are the first two entries in Men of Honor. In The Heights of Valor, modern-day Army officer Jake Dawson seeks inspiration and guidance from the diary of his great-grandfather Charles, who fought with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. And then we have The Man in the Arena, set in modern-day Crawford County, in Wisconsin’s beautiful Driftless Region. Air Force officer Scott Armstrong, forced into early retirement after his marriage implodes and a mission goes sideways, goes back to his boyhood home along the Mississippi, where he starts rebuilding his life. He meets beautiful divorcee Beth, and things start looking up, despite the presence of a drug gang which is poisoning the county, staying two steps ahead of the police. But when the gang turns its attention to trafficking, and its first target is Beth’s teenage daughter, Scott decides its time to be the man his late grandfather always wanted him to be.
Thank you so much for this interview, David. What’s next for you?
My wife and I are in the midst of a move from Wisconsin’s Northwest down into the Driftless, so it’s an exciting time. I still don’t have radio out of my system, so I’ll be dabbling in that down here. As for writing, I’m already starting to plot out my next novels: Man on a Mission (Men of Honor book 4), Quest for Justice (Quest book 4), and The Black Orca (White Vixen book 5).
Where to purchase the book:
The ebook is on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3T01SNz
Where to find David:
www.facebook.com/DavidTindellAuthor
www.instagram.com/djtindellauthor
Inside the Book
Ben Fletcher seems to have it all going for him. In his early fifties, he’s in great shape thanks to a disciplined regimen of weight training, swimming and martial arts. He has a job that pays him a good living in the charming Wisconsin city of La Crosse. Divorced a quarter-century earlier, he remains close to his two grown children and grandkids. Ben is content with his life.
But he’s not happy. Twenty years ago, he was, during that glorious year and a half he was dating the glamorous Veronica Starr. They were an “item”: Ben, the city’s highest-rated radio announcer, and Ronnie, an award-winning TV newscaster. They were starting to talk about the future, one that would include marriage and kids. But then, Ben made a stupid mistake, and it all came crashing down. Ronnie broke off the relationship, met an older man and married him. Within a year she was gone, moving with her new husband to the Twin Cities. Ben had no choice but to move on with his life the best he could.
One day, he’s cleaning out a file cabinet in his office and finds an old catalog. Before throwing it out, he riffles through its pages, and an envelope drops onto his desk. Opening it, he finds a card. In handwriting he immediately recognizes as Ronnie’s are a phone number and the words, “Please help me.” When he looks again at the envelope he sees the postmark: it had been sent five years earlier…just before Veronica Starr left her husband, quit her job and disappeared.
David’s latest book is The Dance We Shared (Men of Honor Book 3).
╰┈➤Book Details
● Title: The Dance We Shared (Men of Honor Book 3)
● Author: David Tindell
● Genre: Romantic Suspense
● Language:English
● Pages: 229
● Publisher: KDP
● Publication Date: August 9, 2026
● Price: Kindle $2.99
