Dear Reader,
Thank you in
advance for giving False Flag in Autumn a shot. I am a reader as well as a writer, and my
shelf of books waiting to be read is always daunting. Time is the most precious thing a reader has,
so it will mean a lot to me if you’re willing to invest half-an-hour or so in
reading FFA’s first few chapters to see if the story will work for you.
I could be
wrong – there’s a first time for everything – but I think it will. FFA is a Washington crime story with a
heroine, Josie Kendall, who will never be mistaken for Nancy Drew. She’s a particularly charming (and wryly
humorous) version of the kind of D.C. apparatchiks who actually populate not
the halls of power, exactly, but the side streets and back alleys of power in
these head-spinning political times. She
is cheerfully manipulative, pragmatic, unapologetically ambitious, and relentlessly
unsentimental (except about her devoted husband, Rafe). She says frankly that, “You don’t do politics
with choir girls.” In the story’s first
paragraph she tells the reader, “I have no objection to the truth, but I don’t
let it push me around.”
I’m sure some
readers would prefer an earnest, idealistic policy wonk with an untarnished
halo – but I don’t write science fiction.
In today’s Washington, earnest policy wonks don’t get to the bottom of
nefarious schemes hatched by rogue White House aides. Instead,
they either keep their heads down and stay on the sidelines, or end up as D.C.
road-kill. By contrast, Josie compares
her methods to a spikes-high slide into second base: “It ain’t pretty, but that’s the way the game
is played.”
In FFA,
Josie uncovers planned campaign season surprises intended to manipulate the media
and control headlines. (“Welcome to
Washington,” as Josie would say.) These
plots, however, go beyond standard confected news efforts. They involve loud noises and body counts that
will end with flags at half-staff if they succeed. Josie will have to decide whether to step out
of the Beltway cocoon, where the weapons are spin, winks, and leaks, into a
darker world where the weapons are actual weapons. As she puts it, the choice she makes “made me
feel good – but it didn’t make me feel smart.”
I think that
reading FFA will make you feel both good and smart – and I promise
you’ll have plenty of fun along the way.
Love,
Michael
Bowen
Title: False Flag
Genre: Political Thriller
Author: Michael Bowen
Website: www.michaelbowenmysteries.com
Publisher: Farragut Square Publications
Find out more on Amazon
About the Book:
Josie Kendall is an ambitious political apparatchik whose memoirs will not be titled Nancy Drew Goes to Washington. Josie has no objection to the truth—but she doesn’t let it push her around. When a rogue White House aide tries to use her as an unwitting pawn in a plot for a spectacular October surprise before the 2018 mid-term elections, Josie calls on her D.C.-insider husband, her edgy uncle, and colorful denizens of the Louisiana demi-monde to help her out-hustle the hustlers. But then Josie finds herself facing an even more daunting question: is there a false-flag attack planned in order to influence the 2020 presidential election? Josie will be forced to decide whether to venture out of the Beltway cocoon—where the weapons are leaks, winks, nudges, and spin—into a darker world where the weapons are actual weapons. Josie will end up on the side of the angels even if, Josie begin Josie, the angels play a little dirty.
About the Author:
Michael Bowen recently retired from a 39-year career as a trial lawyer. The author of nineteen published novels, as well as scholarly and political commentary, Bowen is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served on the Harvard Law Review. Bowen and his wife Sara, a noted lecturer on Jane Austen and Harvard Law graduate, live in Fox Point, Wisconsin.
Connect with the author on the web:
