Ever Ready: My Sister's Detective

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

My Sister's Detective

Lies, Deceptions and Untold Stories
"When I write, my world can be anything I want."
T.J. Jones

My Sister's Detective is the first of the Eric Slater mystery series written by T.J. Jones. It's a contemporary mystery romance story that delves into the underworld of clubbing and the dark times of human trafficking. A web of entanglement with many plot twists make for a suspenseful read.

Slater returns from the Navy to find his best friend from childhood Davey dead. Close to his home on Point Road live the wealthy and the beautiful Jeffries sisters, Angela and Maggie, also close childhood friends of Davey and Slater. Angela begs Slater to do some investigating as none of them think Davey's death was suicide. Angela's younger sister, Maggie wants to help in the investigation. When Davey's mother hires Slater as her private investigator to look into her son's death, Slater joins forces with Maggie. As the story develops so do their feelings for each other. They follow a trail of deception and murder going to Miami to investigate where Davey worked as a talent scout. On the surface, most testified Davey as being a good guy, but there were so many rumors. Was he dealing drugs? Was there trade going on all the time, all over the world with women, kids, girls and boys sold like livestock to the highest bidder? And why did Davey have so much money in his bank account. It's obvious something's not right. Slater soon uncovers clues that Davey may have grown up into somebody he didn't really know at all. Maggie turns out to be the perfect sidekick, helping put together the clues they find, and fearlessly stepping in to help save a young girl from being abused at no small risk to her own safety. Slater struggles with his feelings for both of the sisters.

The novel will appeal to a wide range of readers with its suspenseful plot and wry dialogue moving the storyline at good pace. Jones skillfully creates tension between the three main characters as the mystery unfolds. Relatable issues of sibling rivalry, deception and former teenage crushes add to the heightened tension. The reader's interest is sustained while trying to sort out plot twists and make predictions while the darkest secrets of Point Road are exposed. Jones's inclusion of comedic relief with amusing and constant banter between Maggie and Slater lightens the tension.

Empathy is the core theme of this book. The author shows empathy for Davey's sexuality, empathy for Angela's craziness and empathy for young girls like Rosalyn in the story who have been kidnapped and robbed of their sexuality through sex trafficking.

Jones's writing career started later in life. His day job in a skilled trade business has kept him busy over the years. He remembers reading countless books as a child and always thinking that he could do that. What Jones loves about writing is crawling into his characters head and living their reality. He likes putting people together and keeping them in character, whether it’s comedic or all out war. He tries to imagine what it’s like to be in someone else's shoes. Jones wrote his first books three years ago in sub genre fantasy, “Callie's Secret” and ''The Magic of Stones.'' He switched to mystery and romance looking for a broader readership.

Jones resides in the Pequot Lakes area and considers himself fortunate to have had several writing models that nurtured him as he developed his own style: Craig Nagel, local author, was one of Jones's teachers in high school, author Jon Hassler was his literature teacher during his first year of college and author James Casper at Central Lakes College. Jones hopes to keep the Slater momentum going with a total of 5 books in the series. “My Sister's Fear” is the second book of the series recently published in 2019. For Jones the best part of the writing process is figuring out how to say what you want to say, and seeing it in print, and not a rewrite by someone else. His character driven plots and themes will resonate with diverse audiences.