Distractions and Knowledge

Distractions and Knowledge

The seventh book in my Rachel Christie murder mystery series is moving along slowly. I am two-thirds through writing the book and then, of course, editing follows. This year I am enrolled in a criminal justice class. Although I am learning valuable information and meeting a lot of law enforcement, my writing is moving along at a snail's pace because of it. Some information I have learned will be used in my latest book.

I have found the discussions in our class informative and enlightening. The viewing public of forensic shows, such as CSI and NCIS, have been informed of DNA evidence that can be used to solve crimes. However, in these shows, DNA evidence is secured in a manner of hours to days. In real life, it may take months or a year to get such DNA evidence. The homicide clearance rates in larger cities have declined sharply because of gang-related crimes and the unwillingness of witnesses to testify. That's one thing the shows have right and that's that the witnesses are scared of being killed themselves by the very murderers they are testifying against.

Small towns are cliquish and, if the FBI who are strangers, came and started asking questions, the locals would remain quiet. A better chance of finding the criminals would lie with the local authorities, who know all the suspects and have a better rapport with the local town people. It's not surprising that the homicide clearance rate is higher in small communities than in large urban cities.

Rachel Christie lives in a small town, but she also has to go to the larger cities at times to help her solve her cases. Hopefully, I can integrate the knowledge I learn into my novels and make situations within them appear more believable.

One Easy Way to Cut Health Care Costs

One Easy Way to Cut Health Care Costs

In an advertisement on television yesterday, Blue Cross said they wanted us to help them save money. Find ways to cut costs. Luckily, over the weekend the local newspaper ran an article about Blue Cross Blue Shield's CEO's pay increase. It turned out that the CEO's salary was increased by 19 percent in the past two years while the company's profit increase was only one percent compared to three percent the previous year. Sounds like a clue on how to save money.

It seems strange (sarcasm) to me that his salary went up just as much as my premium rate increase. Mr. Obama implied that he had health care costs under control. Nineteen percent increase doesn't sound like it's under control to me. Maybe he didn't have Blue Cross. Blue Cross is the state's largest health company insurer and for many years, the only choice for many buying their own insurance. An increase of this much may be only $38 if a person only paid $200 a month where they were employed because the company subsidized the payments. However, if someone purchased his own insurance and was not a member of a group, that 19 percent increase equaled about $100 per month. Not a small amount.

I can't understand the mentality of the company giving a compensation package of over $1.6 million to this CEO and another six higher ups receiving more than $1.08 million when the profit margin was at 1 percent compared to 3.2 percent the previous year. I'm all for free enterprise, but this has gotten to be ridiculous. Why do we pay for a CEO who did not perform as well as his merit increase? No wonder health care costs are rising if we have to pay higher compensations to CEOs and their associates for not performing. Oh, yeah, the old saying that his compensation was comparable to others in his field is a bunch of bull. All the other CEO's used his salary increase to justify theirs. It's circular logic and it's foolish. If the CEO quit, many competent people would be standing in line, willing to take even lower pay, for the same job.

The advertisement on television yesterday said that Blue Cross wanted us to help them save money. The answer is obvious. They could save millions of dollars by cutting the pay of the higher ups, but, of course, the CEO does not want to hear this and he would have to agree to it. A novel I recently read called it SUWE, the Spiral of Unpardonable Waste and Extravagance. It seems appropriate, suwe is how they call pigs, isn't it?

Free eBook - Murder One Too Many

Free eBook - Murder One Too Many

"Murder One Too Many," a standalone novel and the 5th in the Rachel Christie murder mystery series, will be available for free on Friday, 3/1/13, and Saturday, 3/2/13.


The CEO of a hospital dies and her body is found in a shallow grave. Her husband kills himself from an apparent suicide. Or was it? Rachel Christie was in a room fifty feet away and heard no shot. Yet she heard a woman scream. Rachel's investigation gets her too close to the answers and a dismissed employee attempts to kill her.

What secret does the hospital hold? Is someone killing hospital executives and relatives out of revenge? Rachel must unlock the answers before anyone else dies.