The impetus for this novella was my attendance at my nephew’s funeral. He was murdered. A few years prior to his murder, his brother was murdered, and a few years prior to his brother’s murder, their sister was murdered. In between the first and last murders, a toddler belonging to a different niece was shot in the head and left for dead, but thankfully remains alive.
The news articles about each family member reported WHAT had happened (a murder), WHERE each murder had happened (Kansas City, Missouri), WHEN the murders
happened (in the new millennium), and HOW they happened (using handguns). The articles did not, however, report WHO murdered my family members or WHY. Thus, my novel attempts to answer these two questions.
The genders and ages of the victims in the novel are roughly the same as they were in real life. To some extent, the plot is a typical ‘whodunit’ story. Yet, the plot specifics: 1) a father brings a lawsuit against an arresting officer in a burglary case; 2) his children are murdered after the lawsuit is filed; and 3) the black community rallies around the father are the same as in real life.
My goal for the novel was to suggest answers that have not yet, even now, been forthcoming, and to:
- Indicate who might have committed the murders and why.
- Implicate the 1033 Program in the murders.
- Implicate gun dealers and pawnshop owners in the murders.
- Implicate brain malfunctioning in the murders.
This novel is not a biographical or journalistic account of the facts. The time frame is condensed for the sake of fiction. The characters have symbolic significance. The names of real people have been changed and their fictional names were chosen for their symbolic value.
This book attempts to supplement the insufficiencies of radio, television, and newspaper accounts. The book allows readers to be privy to the imagined internal thoughts and speculations of the family members, friends, and neighbors of the murder victims, matters not typically focused on in news stories or in ‘whodunit’ novels. The book tries to get at emotional and dramatic truth. And because the murders remain unsolved, events in the story might be the actual truth.
Newspaper Articles
The Real Case:
https://whatsupkansascity.net/34362-2/
The Children’s Murders
https://fox4kc.com/news/mothers-increase-rewards-in-2010-murders-of-siblings/