This latest book in my series focuses a bit on the romance and comedy aspect of the characters I’ve developed, at least at first.
Romance and comedy are emphasized in my books and people tend to think of them as “cozy” for that reason. A common misunderstanding since I bend and blend the genres a great deal. However, I began writing The Frank Gould Mystery Series with a particular set of goals in mind and some of them had very “hardcore” ideals motivating me at every step.
Take a good, long look at this US Drug Enforcement Agency “most wanted” poster, please.
Although you don’t hear very much about these people or these organizations in the first few books, I wrote this entire series—and continue to do so—in order to write about them.
Perhaps you’ve heard about someone named Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump became President of The United States of America in great measure on the back of horrid, racist lies and propaganda surrounding the actual, factual truth about these criminals and their organizations.
Among other things, I wanted to expose that truth and those horrid lies Trump and his supporters have told and so many Americans, unfortunately, have believed.
These monsters, depicted in this poster (and others not!) are responsible for terrible crimes, murders of tens of thousands of innocent people—and not-so-innocent people. And Trump used them, and racist lies about millions of innocent others, to obtain a position of overwhelming power.
The lies must stop and so must that racism. The lies hide a larger truth about what is taking place in the world around us.
These criminals must be brought to justice. And so must those who continue to justify this racism and lust for ultimate power. It is a sickness that is pervasive within our society and others, creating violence where there should be compassion and war where there should be peace.
The romance and comedy is a nice cushion to support the story. The truth has also to be told.
As with other books in the series, before the end comes in When Viewed Through Pain, the romance and comedy have met their match in the reality of the times we must all confront. But, let’s keep our fingers crossed, all will end on a hopeful note as well.
Because without hope we have nothing.
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