Do you have someone who loves a good mystery, particularly one set in Washington, DC?
Then check out my new book, Murder in Ocean Hall. In this mystery novel, the world’s most famous ocean explorer is killed at the Smithsonian. It’s up to a cynical DC detective to solve this high-profile case.
Murder in Ocean Hall takes place in a Washington “beyond the monuments”, in the real neighborhoods of the city that most tourists don’t see. Set during the summer before the 2008 presidential election, we follow Detective Thomas across the city as he encounters the powerful and the powerless in his quest to solve this high-profile case. He’s grown bitter from decades of investigating bloody mayhem on city streets. Despite the new condos and gentrification, has the city really changed? Or is it doomed to dysfunction?
I’ve lived in DC for almost twenty years. I know the neighborhoods, the conflicts and the personalities of this unique city. I’ve been behind the scenes at the Smithsonian and worked in the field of ocean exploration, where my murder victim comes from. The book is set in places I’ve lived in and is informed by that most universal DC experience, street crime. It features some real characters, including a brief appearance by Marion Barry (no book in DC would be complete without him).
A reviewer wrote about my book that it:
will take you behind the scenes of places you’ve been and tell you how they function then give you insights into people in power and how they fail to function.
Murder in Ocean Hall makes a great gift for anyone who likes a good mystery or wants to uncover the seedy underbelly of our nation’s capital.
Murder in Ocean Hall is available in print and e-book formats:
Each year the Oxford MD.bookstore and the Washington Academy of Sciences put together a panel of authors and speakers to talk about the use of science in modern literature. It is called Science is Murder and held at AAAS. We usually have about 50 folks there with wine and light dinner fare. It will be held at 6:30pm on Dec. 14. There is no monetary reimbursement, but we do have an author’s table for signing and selling books — usually quite a lot of them since we hold the event just in time for Christmas giving. Our website, http://www.washacadsci.org/, features the minutes of last year’s Science is Murder. Just click on the appropriate banner.