Facing the Truth of Climate Change

The Hero of Gucci Gulch is a murder mystery set in the world of lobbyists, corporate representatives and members of Congress and their staffs.  It takes place on Capitol Hill--sometimes known as Gucci Gulch--for the prized brand of Italian leather often worn by the well-paid corporate lobbyists who patrol its halls. 

But the novel is much more than the story of murder, muggings and mayhem, though it has plenty of these.  It is set against the backdrop of the global challenge of climate change and the need for meaningful U.S. policy to address out-of-control carbon emissions into the environment.  It revolves around the struggles of environmental lobbyists to persuade a reluctant Congress to cap and trade legislation as a way to curb those emissions and bring the U.S. into better alignment with environmental actions being taken in much of the rest of the world.

The protagonist, Henry Wright, is an environmental lobbyist for a public interest organization.  He coordinates his work with Alicia Cummings, a pretty young intern.  But the impetuous intern gets too close to the nefarious secrets of the anti-environmental opposition.  When Henry finds her body in a lonely Washington garden, the investigation begins.

While the police slowly follow up false leads, Henry tries to assuage his grief by working members of Congress to support environmental legislation.  At the same time, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the murder investigation until at last his own life is put in danger.

Throughout, the story follows Henry's attempts to get a cap and trade bill passed over the objections of industry's heaviest polluters.  In the end, the book not only traces the chase to find the guilty but also the difficult path of facing up to global environmental challenges.

The book is available from Amazon.com and the CreateSpace eStore.  A Kindle edition is also available.

The Story Line of Gucci Gulch

The Hero of Gucci Gulch features Henry Wright, a milk-loathing dairy promoter turned environmentalist, who is naïve, unsure of himself, sometimes quirky.  Now he is caught in the political fight of his life—to get a climate change bill passed by a Congress riddled with the scheming pals of polluters.  But this test of his political skills is no match for his fight to escape his own seemingly inevitable death. The Hero of Gucci Gulch is set in the halls of Congress, where anti-environmental skullduggery mixes with mayhem to create exciting twists and turns sure to entice any fan of mysteries.  

Henry befriends Alicia Cummings, a pretty young intern whose passion for environmental justice matches his own. But youthful impetuosity leads her to ignore Henry’s warnings and she digs too deeply into the nefarious plans of the powerful opposition.  When Henry finds her strangled body in a lonely Washington garden, he becomes the number one murder suspect.  He tries to plow his anguish into his legislative campaign, but the unsolved murder weighs heavily on him and he can’t leave it alone.  He stumbles onto clues that point to his anti-environmental enemies, and when the police are slow to act he takes matters into his own hands.  His increasingly daring amateur investigation gets him crosswise with the police but he persists until violence and still more death force him to live on the run. Henry faces both personal threats and political challenges as he claws his way toward the surprising conclusion. 

The first novel in a series featuring the lobbyist amateur sleuth is rich with Washington and political insider details and explorations of environmental policy and the need for climate change legislation . It will appeal to mystery fans, environmentalists and lovers of political intrigue alike.  But climate change-deniers should probably not apply!

The Hero of Gucci Gulch is available at Amazon.com and in the CreateSpace eStore.  A Kindle edition is in the works.  I'll announce it here when it becomes available.