Death Upon a Midnight Clear

For all my readers, I have two treats for you. One I’ll tell you about now, and the other will be the subject of my next blog.

I have a writer friend who goes by the name of Det. James E. Lewis, Retired. Upon leaving the U.S. Marines, he joined the Louisville Police Force where he became detective and did  undercover work with street people. His novels relate his experiences in the police force. I interviewed Jim in October of 2018 when his first book came out, Back in the Game. You can find that blog post over here on the left side.

His second book, Death Upon a Midnight Clear, is equally as good, if not better. I’m shouting from the rooftops that everyone ought to indulge themselves and get lost in the world of Jim’s alter ego, Retired Detective Ray Conway. As a bonus, the dry-witted Colonel from his first book plays a large part in this story as well.

In Death, a homeless woman, who’s known only as Maggie a mean drunk, finds a newborn baby on a church doorstep during the Christmas season and claims it as her own. Where are the baby’s parents? Why does Maggie name the baby Mike? What is Maggie’s real name? Who is the dead girl in the woods? These are questions the police want answered and soon the investigation is under way.

Jim Lewis is a genius at hooking his readers and pulling them in. Here are the book’s opening lines:

          You know the day has potential to be lousy when you’re jolted awake at two in the morning by the cell phone shrieking, blue lights flooding the neighborhood and police banging on the front door.

          Not even bothering to roll over, Maureen indicates her displeasure from her side of the bed in that special tone of voice that only an experienced police wife owns; “I think your police buddies want you to come out and play. Now tell them to knock off the noise before they wake up the whole neighborhood! Again!”

And it just gets better and better from there. Jim gives you a realistic look at the ins and outs of police life and does it with a sense of humor that’ll keep you engrossed right up to the last page.

Jim says, “This book, like my others, are about people I met on the street while serving in law enforcement. What I would like readers to take from the story is that no one is born a drunk or homeless and sometimes what you don’t say is more important than what you do say. Everyone has a story and maybe if we take the time to look past the moment, we can give them a hand up. Good things happen when we care about one another.”

Do yourself a favor and go to Amazon.com and order this book for a great summer read. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Today's Quote: Most people never really sat down and got to know a homeless person, but every homeless person is just a real person that was created by God and it is the same kind of different as us; they just have a different story. Ron Hall