Duality by K.J. McGillick
What started out as a normal art restoration project for
Melinda Martin soon took on a life of its own. Could this unusual
painting actually be a Botticelli masterpiece thought to
have perished as part of Savonarola’s Bonfire of the Vanities? Had
Melinda’s friend, Lana, a well-known art picker inadvertently
acquired stolen art; art that might have ties to the occult and
worth millions? Did a bad business decision endanger everyone who
touched this potential treasure?
When the painting disappears and both women are found dead, the
police think it’s an open and shut case. The husband - it’s
always the husband. He had means, motive, and opportunity, and acted
strangely cold after the fact.
Is it a case of mistaken identity? Does a secret relationship
put Mr. Martin in the crosshairs of an assassin sent to retrieve the
painting? Or is he really a sociopath forger with mysterious ties to
the Vatican?
What
I want my readers to take away from my books is new knowledge and new
ways of processing information. I also want to challenge them to
think beyond a bright line of good and evil and be able to see that
sometimes people are the product of their environment yet have the
ability to make different choices. The choices they make have
consequences, and karma knows their address.
My
books are for the most part legal mysteries and thrillers. But each
book involves information that most people would not encounter in
their daily lives. In each book I deal with a new subject however it
usually involves a murder with a twist. My books involve issues that
face us every day and most we are not even are aware if one threat
away from each of us.
I
enjoy the teaching aspects I infuse in my books. Money laundering
occurs every day. It’s a nebulous concept. But who would think
eBay, Etsy, and PayPal are money laundering sites? Would it even sit
in your mind that someone can use job sites to launder money? Who
needs complicated smurfing and funneling to move money when all you
have to offer is a Beanie Baby for sale for a quarter of a million
dollars and pay through PayPal to launder money? Why wrap money in
cellophane and truck it across countries when you can purchase art
for a quarter of a million and move it in a container and resell it.
Or better yet move the art to a freeport and not pay taxes on it and
it stays hidden as long as it is needed to be hidden. I want my
readers to learn about how criminals work and yet be entertained with
a story around it.
Let’s
face it at the end of the story everyone wants a happily ever after
and the villain to be punished. But in real life that doesn’t
always happen. Criminals slip through the system on a technicality,
or the criminal is smart, and the evidence trail goes cold. In my
books I want my readers to have a whiff of reality yet a closure
that will satisfy them.
The
Last Lie She Told was a slight departure from my psychological
thrillers and more of a mystery who done it. I hoped that the readers
saw that the villain had terrible flaws, but those flaws may have
been the product of the hand life dealt her. That not everyone is
born a bad seed, and sometimes their psyche has developed from their
struggles in life.
Facing
A Twisted Judgment and Karma Never Loses An Address, are mysteries
that introduce very flawed characters, all struggling with some
aspect of life. In these books, I challenge the reader to think past
the dislike of the main character and decide if the punishment he
receives is just based on circumstances. Does the antagonist ever
truly receives the punishment she deserves?
Trust
Me is a legal mystery that involves a sociopath whom people who trust
multiple times a day, a doctor. How many people blindly trust all
types of people in the medical profession? Should we?
What
I enjoy most is that my readers get to put the pieces together and
struggle to determine how they actually feel about the bad guys. It’s
not always black and white. In Duality you are never quite sure who
the villain is because of blind loyalty by others.
As she evolved so did her career choices. After completing her graduate degree in nursing, she spent many years in the university setting sharing the dreams of the enthusiastic nursing students she taught. After twenty rewarding years in the medical field she attended law school and has spent the last twenty-four years as an attorney helping people navigate the turbulent waters of the legal system. Not an easy feat. And now? Now she is sharing the characters she loves with readers hoping they are intrigued by her twisting and turning plots and entertained by her writing
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