The
past is always with us.
The
past comes back to haunt former police chief Daniel ‘Sticks’ Hetrick and his
protégé, Officer Flora Vastine as an outbreak of arson shakes residents of
rural Swatara Creek, Pennsylvania.
At
first, the minor nature of the fires inclines authorities to see them as
pranks, possibly the work of juveniles. Then, tension increases in the wake of
a murder at the site of one fire and an increase in the value of targets.
Hetrick
and Flora must confront troubling, dangerous people from the past, and errors
in judgment add to their jeopardy.
A Burning Desire is the sixth in the Sticks Hetrick series.
Sticks originated as a character in a short story—a story which, by the way,
never found a home.
When I began work on Something In Common, first in the
series, Sticks seemed right as a protagonist. Retired police chief of a small
rural community but with a broader investigative background, he became
unofficial consultant to his less experienced successor. As sometimes happens
with such characters, he grew in my imagination and demanded a role in more
books.
Like nature, readers abhor a vacuum. Change is essential,
else a series will stagnate. Characters are the essence of a series and they
must evolve. If they don’t, readers will soon become bored and look elsewhere
for entertainment.
The Hetrick series has developed an ensemble cast and some
readers have told me they view them as old friends and look forward to catching
up on what’s new in their lives. I’ve expanded the original base to include
some non-police characters who make regular appearances. The regulars include:
Police Chief Aaron Brubaker, a good, honest man; a family
man, and a good cop. He has grown in the subsequent novels, gaining
self-assurance and trying to be less reliant on Sticks. Occasionally he’s a bit
jealous and harbors a suspicion Hetrick wants his old job back.
Rookie Officer Flora Vastine warranted no more than a few
paragraphs in the first book.
She wasn’t a police officer then and only had a minor role
in that novel. In fact, I didn’t even see her as a recurring character at the
time. In Cruel Cuts I had need of both another protégé for Hetrick and a love
interest for Corporal Harry Minnich. Flora, who expressed interest in a police
career in the first novel, fit the requirements. She’s young and energetic. She
has enthusiasm and genuinely cares about other people. Occasionally she makes
mistakes and gets in trouble. All of which make her very human.
And Sticks, a widower in the beginning, is now involved in a
new romance and has accepted a new job as county detective, which offers
opportunity for further evolution of the series.
Bio:
J.
R. Lindermuth began his writing career as a journalist in the U.S. Army. Later
he was a copy editor for North Asia Press in Seoul, Korea. Returning to the
states, he worked on a weekly and several daily newspapers on nearly every beat
and various editorial desks until retiring in 2000. Since then he has been
librarian for his county historical society, assisting patrons with genealogy
and research. He has published 13 novels, including six in the Sticks Hetrick
series, and a non-fiction history book. His articles and short stories have
appeared in numerous magazines. He is a member of International Thriller
Writers, EPIC and the Short Mystery Society.
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