I know it’s been awhile since I last updated you my loyal readers on my latest projects. After I finished a trilogy on the Nick Roberts Mysteries, I thought I would strike out in a new direction. The character in question isn’t new, it’s Chrystal Guilderbund, the big boned woman with self-confidence issues except when she is shooting her pistol, a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum she inherited from Grandpere Guilderbund the famous western fiction writer.
The story takes over where the last book ended. When Robert Young the lawyer pays her for her company’s services, he hires Chrystal to find the person behind the unearthing of her daughter’s and the other three murdered victims remains. But that’s not all. City Police Detective Michael Schwartz inadvertently gave Chrystal a flash drive that not only had the police reports of the desecrated graves, but also a video of a woman raped and abducted who admits to being a slave to a man named Boris. She also embedded in the video a link to illegal accounts.
Chrystal not wanting to pass up on this huge case, begs Detective Schwartz to let her help him solve the case of this woman, whose body was found in an alley in Billings Montana. He naturally refuses and tells her he needs the resources of the FBI. She responds that her team is made up of many former agents herself and can more than make up for any discrepancies Billings Police might have.
As all of you know I write by the seat of my pants and I’m formulating the plot as I write. So, I too don’t know how this will pan out for Chrystal, or for Detective Schwartz for that matter. At this point both have just apprehended one of the people responsible for unearthing the remains of the four murder victims from the last book that I named Onion Breath.
This book I tentatively titled Grave Robbers. At this point I’m not certain if I’ll do more than one book. One wrinkle I have done on the story is point of view—it’s in the first person. While it offers me a bit more freedom, I’m also limited because I can’t do sub plots where I use other characters’ storylines to enhance the whole book’s effect on the reader.
At any rate, I’m going to be pushing the envelope both in size and scope of what I’ve written previously. It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to.
Jerry Schellhammer 