Fatal Infraction (A Mike Stoneman Thriller) by Kevin G. Chapman Narrated by: Kevin G. Chapman ➱ Audio Tour

Author: Kevin G. Chapman

Narrator: Kevin G. Chapman

Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

Series: Mike Stoneman, Book 4

Publisher: First Legacy Productions

Released: May 24, 2021

Genre: Thriller

He took a knee for social justice. Now, he's dead. Controversial quarterback Jimmy Rydell’s body was found naked - on the Central Park carousel. Who killed him? How did he get there two days after he disappeared? And why was the body frozen? Jimmy’s team just wants to move on, after collecting on the $20 million insurance policy. Jimmy’s teammate - the one who threatened to kill him - swears he wasn’t there. Jimmy’s bodyguard had the night off. Somebody is going down for this if NYPD homicide detectives Mike Stoneman and Jason Dickson can find a theory that explains all the bizarre facts. They just hope the case doesn’t tear the team, and the city, apart first. Buy Links

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Kevin G. Chapman is, by profession, an attorney specializing in labor and employment law. He is the most recent past Chair of the Labor & Employment Law Network of the Association of Corporate Counsel, leading a group of 6800 in-house employment lawyers. Kevin is a frequent speaker at Continuing Legal Education seminars and enjoys teaching management training courses. Kevin’s passion (aside from playing tournament poker) is writing fiction. Kevin’s first Novel: "Identity Crisis: A Rick LaBlonde, P.I. Mystery," was self-published through Xlibris in 2003, and is now available via Amazon.com as a Kindle e-book. His second novel, A Legacy of One, published in 2016 and was a finalist (short list) for the Chanticleer Book Reviews' Somerset Award for Literary Fiction. A Legacy of One is a serious book, filled with political and social commentary and a plot involving personal identity, self-determination, and the struggle to make the right life decisions. Kevin’s next novel, Righteous Assassin (A Mike Stoneman Thriller), was a much more "fun" read -- it's a page-turner. It has some serious sub-themes, but it's a serial killer chase and it's intended to be enjoyable and easy to read. It was named one of the top 20 Mystery/Thrillers of 2019 by the Kindle Book Review! Kevin has just recently finished book #2 in the Mike Stoneman Thriller series, Deadly Enterprise, which was published on December 2, 2019. He has recently completed the narration of books 1 and 2 in the Mike Stoneman Thriller series for audiobook release in 2020. Kevin has also written several short stories, including "Fool Me Twice," the winner of the New Jersey Corporate Counsel Association's 2010 Legal Fiction Writing Competition, which was the genesis of the character Mike Stoneman, the protagonist in Righteous Assassin. He has also written one complete screenplay (unproduced so far) and has another screenplay and two more novels currently in the works, one of which is a sci-fi space opera epic. Kevin is a resident of West Windsor, New Jersey and is a a graduate of Columbia College (‘83), where he was a classmate of Barack Obama, and Boston University School of Law (magna cum laude ’86). Readers can contact Kevin via his website at www.KevinGChapman.com.

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Q&A with Author/Narrator Kevin G. Chapman

What made you want to be a writer?
- I’m a lawyer, so I write for a living (in a way). My job requires me to draft arguments, which ultimately involves telling a compelling story. I wrote poetry and songs as a teenager, and in college I read a novel that had a disappointing ending. My professor challenged me that if I didn’t like it, I should prove that I could do better, so re-wrote the ending. It was better. But I had law school and then the beginning of my working life and had a child and . . . well . . . you know how it is – no time to write. Then, in 1991, I got laid off from my job and had three months with little to do aside from job hunting. I decided to use the time and started writing my first novel, a detective mystery featuring a New York City private investigator named Rick LaBlonde. I enjoyed the writing process, but then got a new job and the novel went on the shelf. Plus, it was the early 90s so there was no amazon.com to publish an independent author. I pitched the book to a few literary agents, but it’s impossible. The book got published when my wife gifted it to me for our 20th wedding anniversary and paid to have it self-published by Xlibris. I still have a few copies left from that one and only printing of Identity Crisis: A Rick LaBlonde Mystery. Since then, I’ve dreamed of someday retiring from my legal career and becoming a full-time author.
Where does Fatal Infraction fit into the Mike Stoneman story arc?.
- The Mike Stoneman Thriller series started with a short story called Fool Me Twice. That story was written for a short story writing contest. It’s available free for all readers on Amazon and other platforms. I liked the character so much I expanded him into a full novel in Righteous Assassin, which tells the story of Mike and his new partner, Jason Dickson, chasing a unique serial killer. Then, book #2 (Deadly Enterprise) picks up the partnership after Mike was injured at the end of book #1. Jason has to deal with a new partner and a crisis, while Mike hooks up with an old partner who is also rehabilitating from an injury, but one much worse than Mike’s. In the end, they confront some corrupt cops and have a very unauthorized shoot-out in a Brooklyn hotel. After that episode, the police commissioner tells Mike and Jason that they should take a vacation and get out of town to avoid the prying questions of the New York media. They quickly arrange for a cruise to Bermuda, which is the setting for book #3, Lethal Voyage. Suffice to say that the cruise is not the relaxing vacation they hoped for. The thrilling events aboard the ship culminate during the performance of Chicago (the musical) aboard the Colossus of the Ocean. When they get back to New York, they immediately get pulled into the next case, which is the story of Fatal Infraction.
- I try hard to make sure each book is a self-contained story and that the books can be read in any order. There are a few references to the earlier books and the events from the past, some of which are intended to be helpful references for new readers, and a few are Easter eggs that fans of the earlier books will “get,” but hopefully they won’t distract new readers (or listeners).
How important is it to read books when you want to be an author?
- Reading is critical. I encourage all aspiring writers to read, and to read many different genres. Don’t stay in your comfort zone. Read mysteries and sci-fi and romance and adventure. Get free books (available all over) and then post reviews, which forces you to really think about what you have read. Different authors with different voices and styles help you hone in on how you want your writer’s voice to sound. Reading good writing helps you know what it looks like, and reading some bad writing helps you identify the flaws in your own prose.
Do you remember the first book you read?
- The first book I remember reading was Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. I read a lot of sci-fi as a young adult, including Edgar Rice Burroughs (loved the Martian Chronicles), Robert Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land is perhaps my favorite book of all time), and Isaac Asimov.
What book are you reading now?
- I belong to a book club that reads a bunch of different types of books. I recently read Backstage Chinatown, which I really liked. I also just read All You Can Ever Know, which I didn’t like much. You can see all my book reviews, which I post on my Book Review blog on my website at www.KevinGChapman.com. You can also follow my reviews on Goodreads and Bookbub.
How did you come up with the idea for this book, especially the title?
- I distinctly recall waking up in the middle of the night after having a dream that somebody murdered the quarterback of the New York Jets. I wrote that down on a pad I keep by my bed, and the next day stuck it into my folder of story ideas. As a long-suffering Jets fan, the concept of killing of an underperforming quarterback (or other player) is a fantasy for many fans. That germ developed into the book, which was a ton of fun to write. The title was pretty easy, since I’ve established a pattern with my titles being two words, so it needs to be a adjective or a noun, so get to “fatal” and then – Fatal Infraction where an “infraction” is a football concept. Easy one. The title of the next book was harder, but we finally came up with “Perilous Gambit.”
Which character do you identify with most in your novel?
- There’s a lot of me in the Mike Stoneman character. He’s dedicated and highly moral, but he also recognizes that all issues are not black and white and he has some rough edges. He’s compassionate, but also impatient and doesn’t suffer fools. Sometimes he’s the person I’d like to be. Sometimes he’s more flawed.
How much of the book is realistic and are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
- Everything in the story is fiction, but the locations in New York are very real. The depiction of Kristi Olson dealing with sexual harassment is real, as is the unconscious bias training and the characters dealing with racism.
Tell us how the atmosphere needs to be for you to be able to write. Example, music on or quiet etc.
- I’m so busy at work that I write whenever I have spare time. I write on airplanes, on the sofa while watching baseball games, during quiet moments around the house, and anywhere else I can get a chunk of time. I can’t afford to be picky about the atmosphere or I’d never finish anything.
What is one goody you must have at your desk when you’re writing?
- I’m a gum-chewer, so that’s a must have. Also diet Pepsi.
Which part of the publishing process do you detest most?
- Marketing. Handling advertising and selling. I love doing signings and talking about the books, but the mechanics of marketing I could do without. I have writing to do!

Social Justice, Racism, and a Murder Mystery

Kevin G. Chapman

These days, the subject of how police officers treat suspects – particularly non-White suspects – is very much in the news. What factors cause police to have conscious or unconscious bias against Blacks and other minority groups? How to we deal with this as a society? Tough questions, for sure. As a writer and reader of crime fiction, I’m very much aware that stories about cops (in books and in movies and TV shows) mostly portray the “bad” guys as guilty and the cops as the “good” guys who strive to protect the public and uphold justice. Sometimes the cops are corrupt and are really “bad” guys, or they have drug or alcohol problems. Sometimes the criminals have ambiguous motives. But few stories, my own included, include “good” cops behaving in overtly (or even subtly) racist ways. It doesn’t make for great fictional storytelling, unless that’s the main plot, which doesn’t make for a sympathetic hero. When I started working on the outline of my newest book – installment #4 in my Mike Stoneman Thriller series – I decided to address the racism issue, as well as others, within the context of my existing characters. When my readers first met NYPD homicide detective Mike Stoneman in book #1 (Righteous Assassin), he was giving a hard time to his new, young, partner – a newly-promoted Black detective named Jason Dickson. Mike called him “Kid” or “Rook” and treated him with distain at times. Jason pushed back and their relationship was tense. We found out that Mike thought Jason was the unfair beneficiary of a departmental affirmative action program that gave him the promotion to detective when he didn’t deserve it. Other candidates who were White scored higher on the detective’s exam, but Jason jumped over them so that not all the new detective promotions would be White. Mike thought that was unfair. Later in the story, Mike’s very recent love interest, medical examiner Michelle McNeill, points out that Jason didn’t do anything besides apply for the promotion and score as high as he could on the exam. It wasn’t his fault that he got selected. By the end of Righteous Assassin, Mike and Jason had fully bonded into a partnership. Jason, despite Mike’s sometimes harsh treatment, learned from his experienced partner, and in the end had his back. Mike recognized that Jason could have thrown Mike under the bus, but he didn’t. Then, in book #2 (Deadly Enterprise) we learn along with Jason that Mike had another reason for his treatment of his young partner that had nothing to do with discrimination or racism. I won’t spoil it for you, but it explained a few things. (If you want to spoil it for yourself, you can listen to chapter 23, which I call “the scotch scene” from Deadly Enterprise here: https://kevingchapman.com/2020/02/04/audiobook-excerpt-deadly-enterprise-chapter-23-the-scotch-scene/) Still, the undercurrent of Jason’s struggle to be a great detective while also being the only Black detective in the upper Manhattan homicide division is always there. So, tackling the subject in book #4 was not a huge stretch. The main plot of Fatal Infraction is the murder of a Black NFL quarterback named Jimmy Rydell. Jimmy was already a lightning rod of controversy for taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality toward Blacks and racial justice in general. (Sound familiar? Jimmy is not supposed to be Colin Kaepernick, but in a very real way, the NFL “murdered” Colin’s career by running him out of the league for his protests.) Naturally, one theory about who might have murdered Jimmy is that it was some racist who was out to get him because of his protests. The story includes a player on the team who is a good ol’ southern boy with KKK roots and a racist background. He also threatened to kill Jimmy. Yep, he’s a suspect. So, racism, protests for social justice, and violence against Blacks are all built into this story line. As Mike and Jason investigate the case, I have an opportunity to have Jason (and others) show Mike how racism creeps into things, and how Mike may not be as non-racist as he thinks. I have Mike attend a mandatory training course on unconscious bias. I have a scene where Mike deals with overtly sexist (and perhaps less overtly racist) behavior within the police group toward a Black female detective who was recently promoted. Mike has to confront every day incidents of racist behavior that he had been overlooking. Then, he has to confront his own failure to do anything about them. All this gets baked into the plot and gave me the opportunity to explore the issues a little bit, without making them the focus of the book. Mike’s not perfect, and by the end of this story, he is more aware of how imperfect he is. Going forward, he has to make a decision to be better and not just think about it. Both Jason and Michelle tell him this. The challenge for a fiction writer is how to avoid making your hero protagonist look unsympathetic. He’s your hero. You can have peripheral characters who are racists and who can get their comeuppance, but that’s easy. They were “bad” guys. The hard part is to have “good” guys who aren’t always part of the solution. And you know the saying – if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. The good guys can become part of the solution – but first they have to recognize the existence of the problem. The problem, I would argue, is not the bad, racist cops who beat the Black suspects (or shoot them). The problem is that they are allowed to get away with it and are not called out by the supposedly “good” cops, who tend to protect their fellow cops rather than weed out bad behavior. I’ve written about a bunch of corrupt cops – even cops who murdered innocent people to protect themselves. But in all those cases, the bad cops got caught and punished (or were killed themselves). What about the bad cops who get away with it because other cops protect them? Now there’s a story – but it’s hard to write it and still be entertaining. I’m not writing literary fiction with a serious dramatic edge. I’m writing crime-thrillers intended to be escapist entertainment (and maybe a Netflix series?). But, that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little edge. Fatal Infraction has allowed me to get a little serious within the confines of my characters and their fictional universe. I’m pleased with the final result. I’m hoping that the small percentage of overly-sensitive (or racist) readers who will give me poor reviews because they don’t appreciate the subtle acknowledgements that systemic racism is real will be balanced out by readers who appreciate the reality baked into this book. I hope you will read it and enjoy it – and also think about it a little bit. If I get a few people to think, then I’m happy. Fatal Infraction, and the other three books in the Mike Stoneman Thriller series are available as ebooks, paperbacks, and hardcovers from Amazon, and as audiobooks wherever audiobooks are sold (including Audible). Book #5 in the series, Perilous Gambit, will be out in late 2021.

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