Where are you from? Did you have a happy childhood? I grew
up in Philadelphia. The Port Richmond neighborhood, do you know it? It’s not
bad. We were happy. Well, I was happy. Dad worked hard. A lot. My mom, too.
Dad’s first generation American. His Dad came from Poland with his father, my
great grandfather, during the war. Lots of stories there, I’m still looking
into that.
We didn’t have a lot of money but my folks managed to put me
through school. I helped a bit, too. I had a couple of scholarships, a few part
time jobs. It all paid off — I got a teaching gig right out of college. I guess
it’s easier to get a job teaching history if you’re willing to work in the
city. I didn’t see a reason not to. It was where I lived, where I grew up. Why
not teach the kids growing up around me?
Man, my folks were proud of me. They always taught me how
important education was. The most important thing, right after family.
Where do you live now and what do you do for a living? Is there
something you'd rather be doing? I’m still in Philly. But I don’t teach anymore… not anymore.
Now I’m a cop. There are bad guys out there and it’s my job to catch them, to
stop them from hurting anyone else. Turns out there is something even more
important than education. I learned the hard way. You gotta keep your kids
alive before you can even think about teaching them. You can’t teach a dead
kid.
I liked teaching. I’d love to think there'll be a time I can
do it again. Without remembering those other kids. The ones who didn’t live.
The ones I didn’t protect enough.
What's going on in your life right now? I’m
just focusing on the job. It’s good. I’ve got a great partner, Pete. He keeps
me in line. I can get angry sometimes but Pete, he’s by the book. Absolutely.
Is there someone special in your life? Yeah,
I just got engaged. Kind of exciting. It’s been a rocky relationship, but I
think we’re good now.
How did you meet? What's his/her family like? She’s
not close to her family. I met her when I was in Warsaw. I went out there for
an easy, political visit. Ended up solving a murder. Trouble seems to follow
me. It was tough, but it brought me closer to my cousin in Warsaw plus I met
her, so that’s good.
What's keeping you two apart? Now? Nothing. We’re good.
She had some doubts. About our future, you know, about what I wanted. Where we
were going. She made a few mistakes, but I think she knows that now. I feel
good about it.
What one thing could you do that would make you feel like the
relationship will work out?
I need to convince her that my job is a good career. There’s
nothing wrong with being a cop. She should be proud of what I do. She doesn’t
like to talk about it much. With her friends or at her job. But I think she’ll
get it. Then I’ll know we’ve made it.
Any last comments? I would just say to all your readers to always protect the
ones you love. And do the right thing. It’s not always easy. But it’s worth it.
Coming Soon from the PUBLISHER AND BUY LINK
Available now from Blue Eagle Press. A Blind Eye, book 1 in
the Adam Kaminski mystery series. http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Eye-Book-Kaminski-Mystery-ebook/dp/B012IVZFXU/
Book blurb:
It was a quiet death, a young woman falling into the frigid
waters of Warsaw's Wisła River. The police accept it as suicide, the pressures
of a political internship too much to handle. Her father knows it was murder.
Philadelphia Detective Adam Kaminski, visiting Poland on an official
delegation, gets drawn into the investigation over the objections of his
superiors back home. For the dead girl was family, her father a cousin Adam had
only just met, and Adam was raised to put family first.
He begins uncovering the
clues that point to the killer, clues that lead him inexorably into an
investigation of the close-knit community of Polish politics and the legacy of
the Secret Police. But the past isn't always black and white, as Adam is forced
to accept as he learns more about the killer and about his own family legacy.
Murder can only beget murder, driven by even deeper secrets.
Chapter OneŁukasz Kaminski collapsed against the rough stone wall as a wave of pain passed through him. He curled into himself, his lean body pressed against the hard stone, no longer caring why or how he got here. A few minutes or a few hours later, he couldn’t be sure, he opened his eyes and forced himself to move. He moaned, the shock of cold air painful against his face and hands. He sat up, leaned forward, and retched.The sound of his spasms filled the narrow street, echoing off the yellow stone buildings. With a final cough, he rolled away from the steaming mess on the ground and stood, wiping his face with the back of his sleeve. Leaning against the wall, he shivered and hunched his shoulders, tucking his bare hands under his armpits. A freezing mist shrouded the cobblestones around him.Tiny particles of ice covered every surface, catching the dim yellow light escaping from old-fashioned gazowy lamps that sprouted at uneven intervals. A man and a woman hurried toward him, huddled together into one dark, moving mass. Their heads touched as they leaned into each other, their already low voices muffled even more by scarves and high collars.“Która godzina jest?” He heard a female voice complaining. “Szybciej, szybciej.”The couple glanced at him as they drew closer then looked away, their faces registering their disgust at the stink of the vomit. Łukasz opened his mouth to speak, but turned his eyes down when he saw their expressions. The clicking of their boots on the cobblestones faded as they turned the bend in the road. He stood for a minute, considering his options, and limped in the same direction.
Author bio: Jane Gorman is the author of the Adam Kaminski mystery
series. Having worked as an anthropologist, a diplomat and a park ranger,
Gorman turned to mysteries as yet another way to visit new worlds and meet new
people.
Gorman's books are informed by her international
experiences, both as an anthropologist and through her work with the U.S. State
Department. She has previously published in the field of political
anthropology, negotiated international instruments on behalf of the U.S.
government, and appeared on national television through her efforts to support
our nation's cultural heritage. Her books are each set in a different city or
town around the world, building on her eye for detailed settings, appreciation
of complex characters, and love of place-based mystery.
She lives in Cherry Hill, NJ, with her husband, who loves
traveling even more than she does and has a voracious appetite for life, two
cats who are very picky eaters, and a Pointer-Hound mix who wants nothing more
out of life than to eat the cats.
Author links, webpages, fan pages, and book trailers.
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