A Howard Watson Intrigue

 Hello Howard Watson Fans! I know, I know, it's been a minute since you've heard from me but I have great news - I just finished The Fury, my latest Intrigue , and I have to tell you, it's my best. W hat is  The Fury   about you ask? The Fury  takes the reader back 14 years to a time when FBI Supervisory Special Agent Howard Watson’s wife Carol was married to another FBI agent. He, in turn, was murdered for information he had and deemed detrimental to the lives and careers of those in high political places. Later, FBI Agent Eric Glenn, along with his FBI partner David Snell, attempted to kidnap Carol and her then 10-year-old son Mark to retrieve the information they believed her husband had given one or both of them. The plan backfired because Glenn wounded Carol, and both Glenn and Snell ended up in prison. The tragic twist in the tale comes with Glenn’s passing in prison just a week before his scheduled release, a loss that reverberates through the story. This stor...

The story started with a different working title, but once I got going on the plot, the idea that people can be greedy to the point of not caring about who they can hurt spoke to me to change the name to The Avaricious. Two scientists who had just invented the super microchip for the US Army had been missing for four days when the body of one washed up on the rocks of a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay. Only a select few experts outside the military knew that these scientists had invented this chip. FBI Supervisory Special Agent in Charge Howard Watson thinks otherwise. Where is the other scientist?  On the other side of the Chesapeake, in Baltimore, Maryland, three business associates who are making a financial killing selling leftover landmines to countries bracing for war are desperately searching for the other scientist, hoping this one, too, is dead.  What do these two events have in common? That's what Howard Watson and his team must find out quickly before another death...

The Year 20/20 Clarity.  The sharpness of vision. The quality or condition of being clear or easy to understand. The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day is April 22, 2020, and us Earthlings are not in any way closer, it seems, to recognizing climate change is happening right in front of our eyes. Icebergs that have never melted before are melting now. Polar bears are showing up in urban areas, and on city streets, because their tundra is melting, and in searching for and finding food, they must leave what's left of their natural habitat to traverse city streets sneaking into backyards and trashing garbage cans.  We, humans, are a pathetic race. Climate change is real.  We have now witnessed snow in Houston, Birmingham, Alabama, and Miami. Chicago enjoyed a record high seventy-nine degrees in late March, a month that the average temperature reaches fifty degrees. Floods have consumed Nashville, the states of Mississippi, and Kentucky. Tornadoes are appearing earlier each year...

 Why I write what I write  Based on many years of receiving "no's" in the mail from literary agents, I am still a messenger. I have not quit. I used to call myself a "closet activist," but no more. I have emerged from this moniker to write about an FBI Agent (fiction) who deals with global problems that hit America's shores: Illegal drugs, illicit diamonds, illegal logging, tobacco smuggling, and shameful human trafficking.   The issues above have brought those who are poor, oppressed, homeless, depressed, jobless, hungry, and saddled with low self-esteem into a sort of bondage that has allowed those "industries" above to flourish. Seems America - the country that has offered to take care of its "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse, the homeless and tempest-tossed" - stopped lifting its lamp a while ago beside the golden door.  I like to believe that I tell a compelling story about the changes I'...

Is there any correlation between climate change and the new diseases touching down on earth? The simple answer is "Yes," says Erin Lipp, professor of environmental health at the University of Georgia. "For example, heat waves will result in more heat-related illnesses and deaths. This is a direct effect of climate change. Climate change has a more indirect effect on infectious diseases, with climate and shifts in weather patterns influencing the pathogens (bacteria, viruses, etc.) and their hosts (insects or other animals), and consequently how humans are exposed." According to some spiritualists, events occur in the universe that humans can't possibly claim as instigated or created. But what is created by us is the degree to which these occurrences impact our life: Bird Flu  ( The outbreak was linked to handling infected poultry. H5N1 occurs naturally in wild waterfowl, but it can spread quickly to domestic poultry); Cholera i s considered a Pan...

The Antarctica reached a record-high temperature of 64.9 degrees Fahrenheit or 18.2 degrees Celsius on February 8, 2020. “This is the foreshadowing of what is to come,” a researcher said. “It’s exactly in line of what we’ve been seeing for decades.” The high temperature is in keeping with the earth’s overall warming trend, which is in large part caused by emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels). E ven the warmest of Antarctic summers rarely sees temperatures rise above 10 degrees Fahrenheit . Antarctica is Earth's 5th largest continent, and although to some people, its' existence seems to have no direct bearing on them, Antarctica's very existence matters hugely to the Earth. Antarctica has a specific environment that is home to unique plants and animals and it is a continent where very little has been disturbed, even though it is the coldest, windiest, and driest continent on aver...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The one-room church in the woods was adorned better than planned. The shimmering twinkling lights hanging from the ceiling hung almost low enough for people to touch. The place of worship never looked so beautiful; its unbelievably improved appearance catching everybody off guard. The atmosphere felt electric. Allen Knox snuck a peek down the aisle at his beautiful bride-to-be as her father guided her carefully up the aisle. Knox glanced over at Howard Watson, his best man, and smiled uncontrollably. Janet Forrestal felt the smile and not to appear looking like a Cheshire cat, stroked her white satin wedding gown with the pale yellow flowers. When she reached the altar Knox took her hand. The smiles were infectious.   A few moments later red spots appeared on Janet's dress which made her suddenly realize her groom had red stains on his chest. Janet screamed. Howard grabbed Knox and shouted "No, Knox, no! Someone call 9-1-1....

Trees. Oxygen. What do these two have in common? During the chemical process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe. Trees also improve air quality and the climate, conserve water, preserve soil, and support wildlife. Using trees in cities to deflect the sunlight reduces the heat effect caused by pavement and commercial buildings. Trees are an essential part of our life – you find them in abundance along streets, in parks, playgrounds, and backyards. They provide not only food, medicine, and tools but shade from the sun and shelter from the elements. Trees absorb and store rainwater which reduces runoff and sediment deposit after storms. This helps the groundwater supply recharge, prevents the transport of chemicals into streams, and prevents flooding. Fallen leaves make excellent compost that enriches the soil. As of this writing, the Amazon Rain Forest (yes, RAIN forest) is still on fire and has been for months. With its mi...

According to the International Energy Agency, China is a significant culprit in CO2 emissions (c ombustion of coal, natural gas, oil, and other fuels, including industrial waste and non-renewable municipal waste on the globe (30%), and the United States is in second place with 16%. Anthony Barnoski, executive director of Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve , and a global expert on extinction said three years ago “that we humans have, at the very most, 20 years to change the way we treat nature, or we will bring about the sixth mass extinction event in the entire history of Earth.” Climate Disasters. Climate Change. Global Warming..not much difference in definition as we humans are murdering the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil for planting, creating shipping disasters and assisting in the extinction of many of our animals. The devastating drought in Zimbabwe has seen over 200 elephants die, zebras grazing grounds being decimated a...

 Coming Spring 2020 -   The Scheduler (A Howard Watson Intrigue) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind." Five men have been targeted for death by someone trained on an M-24 sniper rifle..a rifle that only the military provides. The person or persons unknown is an expert shot. Howard Watson i s an FBI Supervisory Special Agent in Charge in Washington, D.C., and his friend and colleague, Allen Knox , is one of the two targets on the offenders' list who escapes the deathtrap. What do these five men have in common that has garnered the wrath of the shooter? The FBI Profiler will offer her insight. Howard Watson will be forced to realize  t hat mental illness is a scarring disease that can leave a healthy person blemished, and sometimes with fatal results. #joannfastoffthewriter #mysteryandintrigue #howardwatsonsonthecase #womenmysteryandintriguewriters #blackwomenmysteryandintriguewriters...

The rain was heavy. Why didn’t I wear my ugly shoes? Samantha tried walking around the large puddles on the sidewalk, but they were too numerous to avoid. Her $300 heels were now soaked. She waited at the corner for the light to turn green. A car turned right in front of her and splashed gallons of water on her and others. She let out a sigh of exasperation. This new dress and these new shoes will not see the light of day at the banquet! The day had begun on a much more promising note. Melissa had called and offered a shared trip to The Caribbean. Like always, she somehow had managed to get some unsuspecting man to fund her dalliances in the sun. A week at an all-inclusive where the most complicated decision to be made was what drink to order sounded just about right, especially since the calm, blue skies of earlier in the day had transformed to an apocalyptic deluge. Skipping the banquet was not the best career move, but attending in dripping silk plastered to the ...

First Thanksgiving? Isn't it ironic that there is little coverage of whether November is Native American Heritage Month or that November 23rd is Native American Heritage Day? Wow, one whole day! "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. This feast lasted three days and was reported by Edward Winslow, who wrote that it was attended by 90 Wampanoag Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims. What wasn't being written were the massacres of Native tribes like the Pequot that took place in the years that followed the so-called "First Thanksgiving." It seems no one mentioned that English settlers robbed Wampanoag graves and stole food from their storage to survive their first years on the new continent, America. The same Wampanoag greeted them with food for three days in November 1621. It's possible but unlikely that there was a turkey on the first Thanksgiving. More than likely...

Duty, Honor, Country Plebe that I was West Point Academy was originally established as a fort that sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River,  with a scenic view about 50 miles north of New York City.  It is one of the five U.S. Service Academies .  Tuition for cadets is fully funded by the Army in exchange for an active duty service obligation upon graduation. Approximately 1,300 cadets enter the Academy each July, with about 1,000 cadets graduating. The idea of attending West Point Academy didn't hit me until my junior year in high school.  By that time my dad and I were bonafide political opposites. The Vietnam War was raging and I had the nerve to want to go to a military college. Go figure. My father would have liked to hit the roof but decided at nearly the last moment to refrain from doing so, as he would only be hurting himself. In addition to the required excellent grades and test scores for admission to West Point, a candi...

CIA Friends This piece will be short and sweet because I only have three CIA friends: Officers Allen Knox, Liling Xu and Trent Michaels. To be honest, I don't know if I could call Trent a friend per se,  maybe a little more than an acquaintance...but I like his peculiar take on things. The CIA and FBI are both members of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The CIA, however, has no law enforcement function. The CIA collects information only regarding foreign countries and their citizens. Unlike the FBI, it is prohibited from collecting data regarding "U.S. Persons," a term that includes U.S. citizens, resident aliens, legal immigrants, and U.S. corporations, regardless of where they are located. Of course, I'm not about to tell Knox this. He and I have worked on several missions together. In The Smoke Ring case ,  he helped the FBI tie up strings that might have been missed had he not been on board. In The Standing People  case, Knox's resources were ...