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It’s National Police Week, and yesterday was National Peace Officers Memorial Day. Sadly, I’ve never paid attention to either event until this year.

What’s different this time around?

Jim Abbott.

Yes, he’s a fictional character, but my people (as I call them) are like family in my head. Jim came to me when I first drafted Severed Legacies (The Malevolent Trilogy #3) about four years ago. In January of 2023 this side character from the trilogy took on new life as a main character in the second half of Washington Square Secrets.

When we meet Jim in the spring of 1919, he’s settling into civilian life as a bank guard in his hometown after serving overseas in the U.S. Army during The Great War. Sean Spunner hand picks him as a tenant thinking Jim would get along well with Nathan and Winnie (Ethelwynne.) You can read Severed Legacies to see how all that goes.

In Loyalty: Washington Square Secrets 3, Jim Abbott is finishing up his first year as a Mobile Police Officer in the autumn of 1920. Have you ever tried to research the Mobile Police Department during the Prohibition Era, which started in 1915 in Alabama? The only thing readily available are the arrest news and court case information about the (former, as of court time) chief of police. And the fallen officers–three that decade. Be prepared to be laughed at by archivists because there is “nothing”, pick up scraps from the turn-of-the-century and then about 1930, and try to fill in the blanks.

That’s what I did for a year. In late February 2024, after a final ditch effort/plead for help to double check my assumed information before publication, divine providence (an unknown to me MPD social media person) put me in touch with Captain Billie Rowland. These last few months of edits on the manuscript for the third book in the Washington Square Secrets series have included me changing what I got wrong and adding in amazing MPD details Cpt. Rowland shared with me from his gathering and curating of MPD history. It’s not everything, but for this historical fiction writer, it’s been a motherload.

To further my search for authentic storytelling, I joined the Citizens Police Academy last month. Even though I’m writing about police officers a century ago, the weight of the job and other stressors are similar even if the technology is completely different.

I’m learning first-hand from those who serve the city and participating in plenty of hands-on activities as well. It’s thought-provoking, educational, and has allowed me to connect and sympathize with a diverse group of people I never would have crossed paths with before–both students and those who teach us. I highly recommend the course to everyone.

One wall inside the Mobile Police Academy has a Fallen Heroes board. It’s humbling to see each week and a constant reminder of the sacrifice sworn officers are taking each time they put on their badge. Twenty-two souls gone, but not forgotten.

This morning, I was able to witness the annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service for Mobile County at Public Safety Park here in Mobile, Alabama. It was a moving experience, and a beautiful statue was unveiled in the memorial/reflection area. I didn’t take any photos, but there are some great ones on the MPD and Team Sherrif Facebook pages.

I look forward to continuing my research, editing, and sharing more about the final two books in the Washington Square Secrets series.

Here’s the official “about the book” for Loyalty:

In the autumn of 1920, a murder-suicide shakes the residents of Washington Square. Officer Jim Abbott doesn’t realize the return of his shellshock is only the beginning of his concerns. Jim is assigned to keep tabs on the surviving child, Ernest Hart, who appears to be haunted by the recently departed murderer.

Neighbor Francesca Wilton grows closer to Ernest during her temporary guardianship of him, but his deteriorating emotional state reveals there is more to the seven-year-old than she expected. Then a loss of her own throws her life into further turmoil.

As the haunting looms closer, Francesca involves a friend gifted with telepathic and astral powers, as well as a skilled medium from the neighborhood to rid Ernest from his father’s oppression. In their attempt to save Ernest, Jim becomes entangled in the women’s unconventional abilities on a level he never expected.

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Yes, that final paragraph is talking about Josephine (from Alliance) and Deborah (from Discernment.) They’re coming back and you get to see them together! Stay tuned for the cover art reveal and more information about the release of Loyalty: Washington Square Secrets 3.