The Other Murder a Crime Mystery by Kevin G. Chapman Book Tour with Guest Post and giveaway ➱ Sometimes, the most dangerous thing . . . is the truth.
Sometimes, the most dangerous thing . . . is the truth.
The Other Murder
by Kevin G. Chapman
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
“A sleek, gripping thriller that raises important questions about truth and justice.” ~Kirkus Reviews
FINALIST -- 2023 CLUE AWARD
Sometimes, the most dangerous thing . . . is the truth.
For
disgraced cable news producer Hannah Hawthorne, covering the shooting
of a pretty NYU sophomore is a chance for redemption. When the story
snowballs into a media circus, Hannah’s reporting fans the
sensationalistic flames and earns her acclaim. The tragic murder,
seemingly the result of random urban gun violence, prompts protests
and vigils that further magnify the story.
Meanwhile,
Paulo, a reporter for a small online neighborhood newspaper, is
following the other murder in Washington Square Park that same night
– a Hispanic teen. He discovers an unexpected connection that is
political dynamite. When Hannah and Paulo team up, they uncover
disturbing facts, leading them to question everything they thought
they knew. Their reporting also leads them to the man who might be
the killer.
When the story is ready to explode, the truth may be
hotter than anyone can handle. Breaking the next scoop could ruin
Paulo’s paper and wreck Hannah’s career – and it could get them
both killed.
If you like David Baldacci's page-turners,
Michael Connelly’s cops, and Sara Paretsky’s quirky characters,
you will love The Other Murder.
What readers are saying:
“With intelligent characters and believable dialogue, Chapman has managed to create a riveting whodunit that also speaks volumes about social issues plaguing the justice system. . . . The social issues are skillfully woven into the narrative, making readers seriously consider these problems even when they’re immersed in conversations with possible snitches and the chaos of climactic shooting scenes.” ~Kirkus Reviews
"Haunting, chilling, and heroic . . . a must-read novel." ~Chanticleer Book Review (5-star "Best Book")
“Chapman once again knocks it out of the park.” “The author did a superb job of developing all the essential players.” ~Feathered Quill Book Reviews
“Chapman's attention to building a fast-paced story filled with satisfyingly unpredictable twists and turns creates a memorable, compelling saga. . . .
Worthy of a top recommendation.” ~Midwest Book Review
“The Other Murder will grip you from the start and keep you reading through all the twists and turns until the surprising end.” ~ReadorRot.com
“Magnificent.” “An excellent story, it is a must read for mystery-suspense/thriller lovers!”
~InD’Tale Magazine
“The story is a mystery that kept me involved as the different pieces of the whole story came to light. But there is also a side story that sent my thoughts off on tangents, pondering the press, what we can and should expect from them. Chapman’s story ought to get us all thinking.”
~Big Al, Big Al’s Books & Pals (5-stars)
“The writing is gorgeous, the narrative is filled with realism and mystery, and the action moves in unexpected directions.” ~The Book Commentary (5-stars)
“Absolutely chilling. It's a gripping and harrowing storyline! A great story to follow and try to figure out what will happen next. This is one of those books that grabs you from the start and pulls you in.”
~Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews (5-stars)
“A captivating story with a thought-provoking premise.” ~Bookpleasures.com
“Fans of a ‘whodunit?’ mystery will love trying to piece together this mystery. . . . With its suspense, mystery, and twists, this book is a must-read.” ~ Georgia Lyonhyde for Reedsy Discovery
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Chapter
3 — Step Right Up
DETECTIVE
ANDREW “DRU” COOK ducked under the streamer of yellow crime-scene ribbon. He
glanced back to make sure his partner, Mariana Vega, made it through behind
him. Dru had been a homicide detective for seven years and was increasingly
annoyed when calls came in on a Friday night. It was certain to ruin his
weekend.
Dru liked to think he didn’t look like a
cop. His athletic six-foot frame attracted admiring glances. He still had a
full head of wavy hair, although he had to admit that what was once
Norse-god-blond had darkened through his twenties. Now, at age thirty-six, it
was at best sandy-brown. Still, he had the blue eyes and light skin of his
Scandinavian ancestors.
The area around Washington Square Park
was buzzing with an intensity unusual for a Friday at nearly midnight—and that
was saying something. The New York University area, like much of Manhattan,
normally got busier as the hour got later. Mariana had parked two blocks away
because of the news vans blocking all the normal no-parking spots cops usually
occupied. With several dozen reporters and at least eight camera crews
encircling their crime scene, this figured to be a long night.
The two detectives each pulled out blue
latex gloves and prepared for the initial look at their stiff. Dru wore a faded
blue sport jacket. Mariana’s tailored blazer was a dark maroon above her black
slacks. Her long, dark hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, leaving her face
unobstructed.
Two uniformed officers stood guard at the
entrance into the park. One had a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
“Put that shit out!” Dru snapped. “You’re
on duty.”
The officer dropped the butt and crushed
it into the ground with a black boot.
Mariana turned her head slightly and
mumbled, “Geez, Dru, give a cop a break. Just because you’re trying to quit
doesn’t mean everyone else has to.”
“Smoking on duty is against regulations.”
“When did that ever stop you?”
Mariana raised one manicured eyebrow.
Dru and Mariana walked slowly down the
paved path, curving through the landscaping toward the big tree known as the
Hangman’s Elm. When the pavement curved left, they ducked under more yellow
tape onto the grass. They knew to take their time when traversing a fresh crime
scene.
They emerged past a line of azalea bushes
into the clearing around the huge elm. Mariana turned to her right, surveying
more crime-scene ribbon wrapped around protruding branches and bushes in the
absence of anything else to which it could be affixed. She couldn’t help but
think of the song her mother loved about yellow ribbons and old oak trees.
Mariana stood six inches shorter than her
slightly more senior partner. A light-skinned Dominican with slender legs and
mysterious dark eyes, she looked like anything but a cop. After nine years on
the force and four working homicide, the veteran beat cops had learned not to
underestimate her small package.
A uniformed officer stood between them
and the big Elm tree, waiting. Four portable light stands, each with three
large aluminum pans reflecting the light from halogen bulbs, made the clearing
as bright as a movie set.
“Hey, Hernandez,” Dru called out. “You in
charge here?” Officer Emmanuel Hernandez nodded. He had a boyish brown face
below short-cropped black hair, buzzed above both ears. Dru had worked with him
before and was glad he had a competent officer in charge of the scene. “Good.
What’ve we got?”
Hernandez gave a quick rundown to the
newly arrived detectives. “The victim is identified as Angelica Monroe,
sophomore, nineteen. Looks like a gunshot.” A lumpy white sheet lay under the
Hangman’s Elm on the packed dirt. One large light, resembling a grotesquely
oversized desk lamp on a bent goose-neck arm, illuminated the corpse.
The assistant medical examiner was
packing up her gear in a green duffle bag, looking like a dental hygienist who
had completed a tooth cleaning. An EMT crew stood idly by beyond the big tree,
ready to remove the body as soon as the detectives finished their inspection.
Hernandez explained that the university security guard who found Angelica
searched her purse and found an NYU identification card. The responding
officers had already contacted campus security and were securing her dorm room,
several blocks to the north.
“Good,” Dru interrupted the narrative.
“We’ll check there when we’re done here.” Dru then took a few paces toward the
covered body and called to the Assistant ME. “Natalie! We have a cause of
death?”
“Detective,” she sighed, “you know I
can’t give you that at the scene.” Natalie Or, a slender Asian woman in her
early thirties with long black hair tied in a bun, put a bony hand on her hip
and glared at Dru. They had worked on the same crime scenes many times. Without
an autopsy, she could not give any definitive answers and they didn’t want to
be quoted to the press prematurely. Despite the caution tape and a phalanx of
officers surrounding the scene, an intrepid reporter could be lurking in the
shadows, waiting for such juicy information.
“I know. The university security guard
and Officer Hernandez here both say gunshot. Can you at least confirm the
likelihood for me?”
Natalie pressed her lips together until
they formed a pink line and rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll say there appears to
be a gunshot to the head. Large caliber. I see no obvious alternative causes of
death. Yet.” She turned away and grabbed her bag. “Now, if you will excuse me,
it’s a busy night and I have another corpse to inspect.” She walked toward the
park exit.
Dru nodded in sympathy. He knew there was
another body waiting for her on the other side of the park. Two for the price
of one. She didn’t even need to move her wagon from its parking space. He
wondered whether she had secured a closer spot than Mariana.
Then he turned back to Hernandez. “Sorry,
Hernandez. I cut you off before you were finished.”
“Understandable, Sir.” He continued the
rundown in an efficient monotone. “The victim had a large purse containing a
plastic baggie with what I estimate to be one ounce of weed and $500 in cash.
Also an iPhone, which is locked.”
“So, not a robbery,” Dru observed.
“A drug buy gone bad?” Mariana suggested.
“Why would a dealer shoot his customer
and not take the cash?”
Mariana shrugged. “Somebody trying to
steal the weed after the buy?”
“Why not take the weed and the money? And
why would she fight back enough to get shot?”
Hernandez, who had been listening
intently, asked, “Should we let the press know about these details?”
Dru put a hand on the officer’s shoulder.
“Hernandez, you know better than that. The press is never our friend. They want
any details they can get out of us, but anything we say will only hurt the
investigation. Say nothing. No cop has ever cracked a case by sharing
information with the press at a crime scene.”
“OK,” Hernandez replied, properly
schooled. Hernandez then finished his recitation of the important information.
The responding officers had bagged blood found near the body and a small amount
from the ground about twenty feet away. They also recovered a silver-grey
shoulder bag with the logo of Emirates Airlines, which had been on the ground
near some bushes on the perimeter of the clearing around the tree. After
following standard safety protocol, they had opened it and found a pair of Air
Jordan basketball shoes and a basketball jersey. The jersey was damp and
sweaty, as if recently worn. There was no identification in the bag, but the
sneakers had the initials “JE” written in black ink under the Nike logo.
“Good work, Hernandez. We’ll get you
promoted to detective yet,” Dru smiled. Hernandez bowed his head in
acknowledgement, but didn’t comment.
Dru and Mariana slowly walked the scene.
When they reached the body, Dru motioned for Mariana to remove the sheet. The
body’s most significant attribute was a dark hole above the left eye. It was
easily identifiable as the likely cause of death, even without confirmation
from Natalie. Angelica’s purple top, which looked like silk, was torn off one
shoulder. The corpse showed scratches and bruises, consistent with an assault.
Two fingernails on her right hand were jaggedly broken.
Mariana extracted a tongue depressor from
a pocket and lifted the dead girl’s skirt. “Natalie will do a rape review when
they get the body back to the morgue, but her underwear looks to be intact. If
it was a sexual assault, it doesn’t look like it got far.” Nothing else around
the body caught their attention.
They next inspected the athletic bag,
which was waiting a few feet from the body. Inside, the basketball jersey was
less sweaty than Hernandez described, but the passage of time explained the
change. The bag could be significant, but Dru had no idea how.
Dru and Mariana both pulled out
flashlights and slowly patrolled the area. Despite the artificial lights, the
detectives liked to provide their own illumination, since there were always
shadows and hidden places at a nighttime murder scene. They were already
assuming a murder. College students didn’t shoot themselves in the foreheads
with nonexistent guns.
Five minutes later, Mariana called out,
“Hey, Dru. Take a look at this.” She was standing near the edge of the
clearing, next to some thick bushes. On the ground to her left, two yellow
flags marked the place where the responding officers had found the Emirates
Airlines bag. When Dru joined his partner, Mariana directed her flashlight beam
to the ground next to a forsythia bush, thick with new spring leaves and the
last remnants of yellow blossoms. In the pool of light, Dru saw the object of
Mariana’s attention, a small detached branch sporting four shoots of green
leaves. “Had to come from that bush, pushed forward by somebody coming through
from the back side.”
Dru nodded his agreement. “You think the
bag?”
“Probably. Somebody came through here,
then dropped the bag.”
“The girl?” Dru asked.
“Not likely. Sweaty basketball gear? We
can check the sneaker size against her foot, but I doubt it.”
“The killer?”
Mariana looked around, as if the bushes
would speak to her. “Maybe. Could have seen her, or followed her, then dropped
his bag to attack her. Then ran off afterward, leaving the bag behind.”
“Maybe,” Dru said slowly, not convinced.
“It would explain the bag. But why not take it with you after you kill her?”
“The bag could belong to a bystander.”
Dru cocked his head to the side. “If so,
where is he?”
Mariana shrugged. “Ran away?”
“And left his bag? Those are Jordans. He
must have been in a big hurry.”
“It’s just a possibility,” Mariana said.
“Could be another buyer, waiting their turn?”
After another ten minutes of meticulous
searching, Dru and Mariana rejoined Hernandez next to the elm tree. The EMT
crew had removed the body, leaving only small yellow markers behind.
Dru asked, “Any luck finding a witness?”
“None so far.”
“What about the guy who found the body?”
“The security guard? Name’s Joe Malone.
Says he’s former NYPD. We sent him back to his guardhouse at the corner of 4th
& MacDougal. He was being a pest. He’ll be there until two o’clock. We told
him not to leave until he talked to you.”
Dru and Mariana exchanged a glance, then
Mariana shrugged. “Might as well get it over with. What else do we have?”
Hernandez pointed to the east. “There was
another murder on the far side of the park, a Hispanic male. Shot once in the
chest. A bloody knife was recovered at the scene. At least, that’s what I
heard. We have two teams of officers over there handling the scene. One’s a
buddy of mine and gave me the details.”
“Any time of death on that one?” Dru
asked.
“Not sure.”
Dru looked at Mariana. “Could be a
connection?”
“Maybe. We should check to see if the
dead guy fits the shoes from our bag.”
“You have a Cinderella complex, Mariana.
Anybody ever tell you that?”
“Fuck you.”
Dru chuckled as he turned away toward the
path back to the exterior perimeter of the park. “Let’s go. Nothing else for us
here. Let’s take a stroll over to see who’s working the other stiff. Then we’ll
talk to the security guard and then check the girl’s dorm room.”
“Oh, boy,” Mariana replied sarcastically
as they walked briskly away from the Hangman’s Elm, toward the street and the
bright lights of the television camera crews. They ducked under the yellow tape
and walked east. After several hundred yards, they reentered the park and
walked along an internal path to the far northeastern corner.
They reached a wide swath of grass
crisscrossed by dirt paths. Even after midnight, the unusually warm April air
was comfortable. An ambulance, lights on but without a siren, pulled up on the
narrow, paved path.
Dru spotted detective George Mason,
standing alongside two uniformed officers. He called out, “They’re still
sending your ass to the dog cases, eh?”
“I’ll take ’em,” George replied with a
chuckle. “You can have the spotlights.”
Mariana playfully punched George on the
right shoulder. “We got a circus over on the other side of the park. Where are
your film crews?”
“Nowhere,” George said. “We got a Latino
teen here, dead with a gunshot in the chest. Nothing those vultures care
about.”
Dru asked, “You get a bullet?”
“Nah. Embedded in the body. Looks like
small caliber.”
“Hmm,” Dru grunted an acknowledgement.
“We’ll see if there’s any connection to our NYU undergrad. If it’s the same
gun, we may have something to investigate.”
“Yours also small caliber?”
“No, actually. Ours looks like a
howitzer. But you never know. Any ID on the kid?”
“None.” George moved toward the body,
holding out an arm to welcome Dru and Mariana to his crime scene. “We’ve got
nothing else here besides the knife.” Dru pointed to the evidence bag on the
grass next to the covered corpse’s head. George nodded. The bag held a long
knife, its blade extended and bearing dark stains.
“Prints?”
“The forensics team collected some, then
bagged the knife. The body has no obvious cuts, so it looks like the kid made
the mistake of bringing a knife to a gunfight.”
“Anything else of note over here?” Dru
asked while walking around the body, examining the trampled grass with his
flashlight. The floodlights here were half as bright as those illuminating the
Hangman’s Elm. “Any witnesses?”
“No. The after-dark regulars aren’t in a
hurry to talk to us. Until we have an ID on the kid, there’s not much else to
do.”
“Yeah,” Dru mumbled, “we’re lucky. We
have an ID, and now we have a dorm room to search. We should go.”
“Sure. You go stand in front of the
cameras,” George said with a chuckle, “I’ll close my case before you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Dru turned
and tapped Mariana on the arm. “Let’s go talk to Joe Malone.”
* * *
THE LITTLE
GUARD SHACK wasn’t large enough to contain three people, so Dru and Mariana
asked Joe Malone to step outside for their interview. Joe was happy to oblige.
“I knew I heard a gunshot,” he
volunteered. “It definitely came from the north, so I made the call to check it
out.”
“Slow down, Joe.” Dru held up an open
palm. “Let’s do this one step at a time. First, do you remember seeing the girl
earlier in the evening?”
Joe, who was bouncing on the balls of his
feet, became still as he contemplated the question. “I don’t think so. I
certainly don’t specifically recall.”
“OK,” Dru continued, “So, you heard a
shot. How long between hearing the shot and finding the body?”
“Lemme see,” Joe looked at the sky. “I
waited a minute to see if there was another shot, then I called the precinct
and asked them to send a squad car. The dispatcher didn’t seem to take me very
seriously, which is why I decided to go in myself. I went in cautiously, so,
maybe six or seven minutes.”
“When you got to the clearing, did you
see anyone there, besides the girl?”
“No,” Joe immediately replied. “I swept
my light all around the area. There was nobody.”
Mariana then cut in. “Did you hear
anything, like somebody running away, or shouting?”
“I heard another shot,” Joe offered. “It
was farther away, off to the east.”
“The other murder,” Mariana made eye
contact with Dru.
“That’s good information,” Dru took back
the lead. “So, you found the girl. Did you move her?”
“Sure. I had to check if she was alive,
so I rolled her over. She was face-down when I got there. As soon as I got a
look at her head, I saw the shot, so it was pretty obvious she was gone.”
“And you checked her wallet?”
“Yeah,” Joe dropped his head, suddenly
not as enthusiastic. “I know I should have left it for the responding officers.
But I was a cop for twenty years, so I know how to manage a crime scene. I
worked the Righteous Assassin murders, you know.”
“Really?” Mariana responded without
considering how she was interrupting Dru’s questioning.
“Sure.” Joe snapped back to his animated
self. “I was at the scene when Slick Mick Gallata got snuffed.”
Dru looked at Mariana while replying to
Joe. “That must have been exciting, but let’s stick to the present. Did you
remove anything from her purse?”
“No. No way. I saw her NYU ID, so I
pulled it out to see who she was. I figured it would aid any investigation to
have an ID on her.”
“Did you identify anything else of
significance at the crime scene?”
“No. I told everything to the responding
officers.”
“OK, Joe. Thank you.” Dru turned away.
“Wait,” Joe raised his voice. “Don’t you
want to hear my theory about what happened?”
Dru turned his head. “If we have any
additional questions, we’ll let you know. Detective Vega will give you a card.
Please send her a text so we know how to get you if we need you.”
Mariana extended a business card, which
Joe took, looking annoyed. Without any additional conversation, the two
detectives walked toward their parked sedan. Angelica’s dorm room was far
enough away that they should take the car. “Looks like we’re going to run up
some overtime this weekend,” Dru mumbled.
* * *
A HALF-HOUR
LATER, Dru and Mariana left Angelica’s dorm building, leaving two uniforms
behind to finish taking an inventory. A clumsily hidden space in a bin under
her bed contained two smaller plastic bins with remnants of marijuana and three
pre-rolled joints. The hangers in her small closet contained some fashionable
dresses and tops, with similarly high-end shoes on the floor. They had her
phone, but could not access it without an unlock code. They found nothing else
of significance in the room.
On the walk back to the car, Mariana
said, “You figure the weed is our connection?”
“Maybe. She could have been meeting her
supplier. She either had a heavy habit or was buying for more than one person.
Hard to figure why the guy would shoot his customer.”
“You assume a guy?” Mariana opened the
car door and slid into the driver’s seat.
When Dru had buckled up, he replied.
“Women don’t generally carry cannons. You saw the hole in the girl’s head.”
“True enough. But you know what the old
man taught us. Never assume anything. Keep all possibilities in play until the
evidence rules them out.”
“Who are you now, Mike Stoneman?” The two
detectives had both spent time under the wing of the department’s most senior
homicide detective. Dru wished Stoneman, or any other detective, had drawn this
case.
“I wish.” Mariana rolled down her window,
enjoying the warm air of spring in New York. It had been a cold winter and she
wanted to enjoy the fresh breeze. She pulled into traffic without another word.
Neither asked what the other had planned for the weekend. It didn’t matter.
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Interviewer: How did you develop the
idea for The Other Murder, and what
inspired you to explore the intersection of media, law enforcement, and
personal biases in the narrative?
Kevin: I’m a lawyer who works for a media company
and writes crime thrillers, so the three most significant elements of my
professional life all come together in The
Other Murder. The story sprang from my non-original observation that
pretty, affluent White girls who are missing or killed tend to dominate the
news cycles. We often hear statistics about the number of murders and violent
crimes in a particular city, but seldom (if ever) see significant media
coverage given to a minority victim who isn’t rich and famous. This phenomenon,
could be called “unconscious bias,” but is likely more a conscious choice by
producers and media executives to feature stories that will tend to get the
biggest ratings. Particularly in broadcast news, including 24-hour cable news
networks, getting eyes on your story is the most important thing. The story
that can be made sensationalistic and which involves a victim that your viewers
will sympathize with and relate to is the story you feature. That’s good
economics, but leads to a slanted presentation of the world. I wanted to make this
murder mystery a story that gets inside that culture and lets my readers see
all sides of the story as it unfolds.
Interviewer: The story involves two
journalists and two homicide detectives. How did you approach developing these
characters, and what challenges did you face in creating complex relationships
between them while navigating the intricacies of the murder mystery?
Kevin: The real “leads” of this story are the two
journalists. Each of them has positive and negative attributes and each makes
choices that are both selfish and noble – the two being not mutually exclusive.
I wanted my cable news producer to be understood in the context of her job, her
bosses, and her ambitions. I wanted the print journalist to be understood as
someone who could have a “better” job, but who has a calling both to journalism
and to his community. Their interactions disclose their similarities and
differences as well as the nature of the business in which they work. And, of
course, it’s a murder story so there must be cops. Here, the cops don’t have
all the information and need the help of the journalists. The two partners have
their own problems, including a recent incident that set them at odds. Through
their eyes, the reader learns things the journalists don’t know and sees the
way the media coverage affects the police investigation. Making the characters
the focus of the story lets me tell the mystery story through interesting eyes.
I have always
loved the mysteries of Sara Paretsky, whose characters are the heart and soul
of her books. In the Mike Stoneman Thriller series, I had a fixed set of main
characters to be my narrators. They, and their minor-character companions, gave
me a universe of backstories to weave into the mysteries. Here, in this
stand-alone story, I had to create brand new characters and get my readers to
relate to them and care about them. My goal, like Ms. Paretsky, is to make my
readers as interested in the stories of the players as they are about the
underlying “main” plot. The plot needs to hold them together, but the
characters need to behave in a way that is both realistic and interesting.
I’m always
disappointed in a book when the characters are stupid, make irrational
decisions (for the sake of advancing the plot), and where the logic of the
story doesn’t hold together. I want my plots to make sense – in the context of
the fictional facts. This past year I read a best-seller called Just the
Nicest Couple, by Mary Kubica, who has a big publisher and whose new book
sold a zillion copies based on her stellar reputation. But the plot was a mess,
the characters made nothing but bad decisions, the key bits of information made
no sense, and the ending was entirely unsatisfying. And, along the way, none of
the characters were likable. I didn’t care whether they all ended up dead or in
jail because they were all idiots. I’m hoping nobody thinks that about The Other Murder.
Interviewer: How did you handle the
portrayal of racism in the novel, and what message do you hope readers will
take away from this aspect of the story?
Kevin: The main plot here involves the subtle
racism that permeates the media and, to some extent, the police and the city
officials, who are driven by publicity (positive or negative) and public
perception. When the media tells the public that a situation is a horrible
tragedy and an example of a huge problem that needs to be fixed, crowds gather,
memorials are created, politicians and activists make speeches, and the media
feeds on itself to amplify the story. Government officials like the mayor and the
police commissioner react by making that crime a priority and devoting
resources to solving it. Catching that killer matters because everyone is
watching. In this story, the second murder involves a Latino boy with a history
of gang membership. It garners no media attention and would have generated
minimal police interest – until the cops discover that Javier Estrada’s murder
may be connected to the White girl, Angelica Monroe. The immediately reported
story is that Angelica was an innocent victim of urban gun violence. She
becomes a saint. Javier Estrada is ignored.
Meanwhile, the
two detectives on the cases are a White man and a Hispanic woman. Mariana is
the only character involved in the police investigation who cares about
Javier’s story. Similarly, only Paulo Richardson, the local newspaper reporter,
cares about Javier’s portrayal in the press. Paulo wants to make people see the
truth about Javier. Mariana wants her colleagues to see that the White girl
isn’t always the victim and the Latino boy is not always the criminal. The
investigation also lays bare the recent rift between Mariana and her partner,
Dru Cook, arising from an incident of police brutality. Was that incident
racially motivated? Dru didn’t think so. Mariana saw it differently.
In the end,
once the reader has all the facts (or, at least all the different versions of
the facts), the question of who is a little bit racist and where motives and
biases get mixed together makes things a lot less clear cut. My hope is that
the reader not only enjoys the story and cares about the characters, but that
the tale makes them think a little bit about their own perceptions.
Interviewer: The story involves two
murders on the same night—one garnering intense media attention and the other
mostly ignored. How did you balance the narrative between these two cases, and
what narrative choices did you make to ensure both stories were effectively
told?
Kevin: It was fun weaving together the four
points-of-view in the story. Through each one (and the two detectives are one
joint POV), the reader has more information than any of the individual
characters. I had to deconstruct the story at one point and separate out each
POV into its own sub-story to make sure that all the events and facts stayed
straight. When the POVs collide at different points in the book (and all of
them together in the climax), it was a juggling act to make each story compelling
while allowing the reader to “view” the action in a coherent way so that it all
made sense. It was even more of a
challenge when narrating the audiobook, where I was jumping back and forth
between the voices!
Part of the
challenge was making sure there was enough of a mystery for the reader to try
to figure out, and how to keep them guessing.
Interviewer: The novel challenges
readers to guess what happened, indicating mystery and suspense. How did you
craft the tension in the narrative, and what techniques did you employ to keep
readers engaged in solving the mystery?
Kevin: In the first draft of the story, chapter one
gave the reader a view into all the events that happened leading up to and
including the murders of Angelica and Javier. I’ll be publishing that chapter
as a “deleted scene” on my website after the book has been out for a while. I
realized after the first draft was done that letting the reader know what
happened and then following the investigations by the police and the
journalists with that knowledge was not fully satisfying as a mystery. The
story was: “how are they going to figure it out?” rather than “what happened?”
So, I went
back and deleted most of that first chapter and re-wrote the story so that the
journalists and the police (along with the reader) are piecing together the
facts, without knowing for sure who is giving them good information, which of
their assumptions are correct, and what information they are missing. This
allows the reader to guess where the characters have it right, and what might
be wrong. Even at the end, nobody (including the reader) can be 100% sure they
know the whole truth.
Elements of
the plot changed to the point that I sometimes got confused about what had
happened in the earlier chapters of the current version. I had two of my
typokiller readers point out where one of the characters made an important
observation – that was not true in the version of the facts that they could
have known. (Thank you to all my typokillers and Beta readers!)
Interviewer: The novel highlights the
danger of the truth. Can you elaborate on the significance of this theme and
how it plays into the challenges faced by the characters, particularly Hannah
and Paulo, as they uncover disturbing facts?
Kevin: The tag line of the book was one of the
first things I wrote after outlining the basic story. “Sometimes, the most
dangerous thing . . . is the truth.” It is a common observation that humans are
significantly influenced by what is called in psychology “recency bias.” Your
strongest memories and emotions are attached to the things that happened most
recently. It is also true in media that the first story is the one that gets
imprinted in people’s memories, particularly if it sparks strong emotions. When
asked whether one of two things is true, the one you heard first is the one you
are more likely to believe.
One of the core messages of The Other Murder is that people need to
be careful about believing the first narrative they hear. But the reality is
that, once a set of facts is in your head, it is hard to push it out. This is
especially true when the original narrative reinforces your personal views and
political objectives. Telling people who are emotionally, financially, and
politically invested in one version of a story that the story they heard and
want to believe is really a false narrative – is a dangerous thing to do.
In the media world, once you
have established your narrative and “hooked” your audience, it’s hard to switch
gears and retain your viewers if you suddenly try to tell them that what you
had been telling them is false and that there’s a new truth they should switch
to. They are likely to switch – to a different news source that will reinforce
their belief in the original story. That is part of the challenge facing Paulo
and Hannah.
Interviewer: Where can our readers learn
more about you and The Other Murder?
Kevin: The
Other Murder is now available (as of February 29th) as an ebook
for your Kindle via Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJN6W5NJ. Amazon can also sell you a
paperback or a hardcover. Paperbacks and hardcovers are also available through
select independent bookstores and via Bookshop.org, which supports local
bookstores. The audiobook version is available via CHIRP, iTunes, Googleplay,
Roku, Nook (Barnes & Noble), LIBRO.FM (which also supports independent
bookstores) and on Audible. All my other titles are also available at all the
same retailers. Readers can contact me and see all my content at https://www.KevinGChapman.com.
Kevin G. Chapman is an attorney specializing in labor and employment law. In 2021, Kevin finished the first five books in the Mike Stoneman Thriller series: Righteous Assassin (CLUE Award finalist), Deadly Enterprise (Kindle Book Award semi-finalist), Lethal Voyage, (Winner of the 2021 Kindle Book Award, CLUE finalist, RONE finalist), Fatal Infraction (Best Police Procedural of the year – CLUE Award), and Perilous Gambit. In late 2022, Kevin published a stand-alone mystery/thriller titled Dead Winner (CLUE Award - Best Suspense/Thriller of the year). Kevin is a resident of Central New Jersey and is a graduate of Columbia College and Boston University School of Law. Readers can contact Kevin via his website at www.KevinGChapman.com.
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