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.
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