Casualty Crossing tells the compelling story of an abused runaway teen, an outspoken Madison police detective on the verge of losing his job, and his meddling ex-wife who has her own law firm.
Although based on experience author Kevin Hughes acquired in his three decades as a cop, the story is not a typical murder mystery tale. But it is a page-turner of a book just the same.
One keeps turning the pages to find out what happens to the runaway teen, Billy, who is abused by his step father to the point he risks the dangers of life on the run, leaving Northwest Minnesota heading for California. He takes only a baseball bat and a small bag of possessions including some cash he's stolen from his sleeping stepfather.
Making it as far as North Dakota in the back of a stinky livestock hauler, Billy takes off walking until he tires and eventually makes the mistake of hitching a ride with a carload of teens who say they're heading toward Denver.
After being robbed and knocked out, Billy wakes up in a Madison hospital where Madison police detective Toby Jenkins (TJ) is assigned the case. It's a difficult case, because Billy will not reveal his identity, not even his name.
A social worker, Coletta, and TJ resolve to keep the unnamed runaway out of the hands of the person who abused him, after the doctor's x-rays reveal he is a victim of long-term abuse.
TJ is determined to find out Billy's identity and uses the one clue at his disposal, the Louisville slugger police found in the car.
Unable to elicit a comment when TJ brings the bat into the juvenile facility where the runaway is housed, TJ comments, "I'm not giving up on you dammit. No way. You can withhold the answers as long as you want, but I won't bail on you. You're going to get through this and put it behind you and I'm gonna make certain it happens. That's a promise."
Hughes' use of dialog reveals much about his story's characters. TJ is joined by a wily social worker named Coletta in the effort to help the abused runaway. TJ's ex-wife Elizabeth also gets into the act, using her skills as an attorney. These characters cross paths in a story that is easy to read and compelling in its compassion and humor.
Set against the reality of a legal system which too often is against a victim like Billy, who is without friends or funds, this story is definitely a good read.
Hughes, who works as a detective with the Dane County Sheriff's Office, says that writing fiction comes easily to him, but getting a book published is more difficult. He also said he likes his job as a detective and will stick to writing books primarily based on his law enforcement experience.
"I'm sticking to my area of expertise-police procedure," he said.
"When I sit down and write, the story takes on a life of it's own," said Hughes who said he writes every evening after dinner and also writes on the weekend.
"(Writing's) a discipline, but also a nice escape," he said. "I don't look at this (book) as a best seller. If people I don't know come up and tell me they enjoyed the book, it's worth my time."
Hughes said he began writing after a coworker who typed his reports said she enjoyed his writing. She reminded him to use his vacation to start writing, and his first book, Just Another Shade of Blue was the result, and thus his passion for writing fiction began.
Hughes said that the character Toby Jenkins will appear in two more novels. One book is already written and will be released in 2009. Of this character, Hughes writes, "Toby Jenkins isn't much different than me and you; he 's just doing his best to make his way through life without incurring too much damage. I have a feeling that you'll be able to relate to TJ in one way or another and if you do, 2009 and 2010 will host two new Toby Jenkins novels that will chronicle his endeavors beyond Casualty Crossing that I trust you'll find entertaining as well."
Casualty Crossing is available through the South Central Library System, Walden Books at West Towne and you can also order it on-line. It is published by Stonegarden.net Publishing.
For more information on Casualty Crossing and Hughes' other novels, visit his Web site kevinhugheswrites.com
