How Much Wicked is Enough? by Randy Overbeck #WickedWednesday

 WICKED WEDNESDAY

How great to have Randy Overbeck back on Discover... Now I'm not calling Randy wicked, but he sure knows how to write about it. Take it away, Randy... 

            As a writer and a reader, I’ve always been fascinated by how much we are all drawn to the “wicked”. In TV news and on newspaper headlines, the dominant saying is “If it bleeds, it leads.”
On Social Media posts, those who get the most traction are often the ones depicting horrible events. Earlier this month, the demented gunman who shot up a Louisville bank and killed six livestreamed the event, no doubt because he thought people would be drawn to the horror of it all.

I believe most of us are surrounded by far too much real life “wickedness”—a twenty-something using an AK-15 to shoot up a bunch of six-year-olds in a Texas school, a politician accepting millions of dollars in bribes for an energy vote in Ohio, misinformed protestors
looting and beating up cops defending the US Capitol, the faceless scammers bilking unsuspecting seniors out of what

little money they have, the deluded Tennessee racist murdering black worshippers in church, or podcasts about psychopaths who victimize and murder unsuspecting victims or even the successful South Carolina lawyer who killed his wife and son after embezzling millions of dollars from his clients. The list of real life wickedness goes on and on. Either there is more real wickedness today or it is splayed more in our faces today, which amounts to the same effect.

Real life wickedness is inescapable.

            When readers open the pages of their favorite books—or turn on their e-reader—they are certainly looking for a hero or heroine to root for, for the good guys to win.  But I believe most
readers are also seeking fictional wicked characters who can be vanquished. The scheming real estate mogul who murdered his competition, the serial killer who gets off on the thrill of watching others die, the monster, vampire, werewolf who preys on the

helpless, the desperate murderer who kills his wife/partner/friend to keep his secret from getting out—all of these fictional antagonists who embody wickedness also draw readers into our books. Of course, without antagonists, there would be no conflict and without conflict there would be little story. But I believe it is more than that.  A great many readers find reassurance in the stories where the wicked get their just reward, where justice prevails with more predictability and regularity than in the real world.

I’m one of them.

            In my Haunted Shores Mysteries series, I take as great a care selecting and crafting my antagonists, those embodying wickedness as I do with my heroes. For some of these villains, their wickedness is obvious, for others it is hidden, much like in the real world.  In Scarlet at Crystal River, the murder under investigation is particularly heinous—the execution of two helpless, immigrant children. So for this tale, I chose my antagonists with extreme caution. And, most important, readers are satisfied when the bad guys in my narrative end up behind bars where they deserve. 

“The characters are well drawn. Darrell and Erin make an attractive pair. The bad guys are very bad indeed and the plot is engrossing. It’s an enjoyable read with protagonists who are easy to root for and it ends in a very satisfying way. Highly recommended”.—Amazon Reviewer 

But, with each of the entries in my series I try to go one step further. My protagonist Darrell does manage to bring the fictional wicked bad guys to justice but he also learns that the murder of these two young Latino children is tied to a much larger and very real evil he never dreamt of. The murdering of the five- and six-year-olds turn out to be only a small indication of the broader abuse and victimization of immigrant migrant workers by the entire system. My hope is that readers will get what they seek—an escape into a world where good triumphs and evil is vanquished—but they also can see the connection of the fictional evil to the very real wickedness spoiling into the real world. I hope readers’ escape into the suspense of my books provides them with an awareness and unexpected insight into one corner of real world wickedness. And, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (and others) said, “All it takes for wickedness to prosper is for good men to do nothing.” My hope is that my novels, in addition to being engaging reads, make it a little harder for good men and women to do nothing about evil.

Dr. Randy Overbeck is a best-selling author of the award-winning series, The Haunted Shores Mysteries, each a cold case murder mystery wrapped in ghost story served with a side romance, set in a beautiful resort location. He is the host of a new podcast, “Great Stories about Great Storytellers,” which reveals the unusual backstories of famous authors, directors and poets. He is also a speaker in much demand, sharing his multi-media presentations, “Thanks Still Go Bump in the Night” and “A Few Favorite Haunts” with audiences all over the country. More info about his novels, programs and podcast can be found at his website www.authorrandyoverbeck.com . 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorrandyoverbeck

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OverbeckRandy/media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorrandyoverbeck/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/randy-overbeck 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Randy-Overbeck/e/B07QQHW7DM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1658371317&sr=8-1 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4825632.Randy_Overbeck 

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1924616/10983135 

Purchase/Book Links

AMAZON

BARNES AND NOBLE 

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57841458-scarlet-at-crystal-river?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RTpsYLU6mO&rank=3 

BOOKBUB: https://www.bookbub.com/books/scarlet-at-crystal-river-by-randy-overbeck 

 

All Kinds of Wickedness by Randy Overbeck #coldcase #MurderMystery

WICKED WEDNESDAY

Hey, Readers, I'm honored to have Randy back as our Wicked Wednesday guest blogger. He's a rare kind of author, lending a lesson to his fiction. You'll enjoy today's post. 

“Tolerating evil only leads to more evil. When good people stand by and do nothing while wickedness reigns, their communities will be consumed.”—Bob Riley 

            There are all kinds of wickedness. Without wicked villains, there would be no heroes. Without a worthy antagonist, our story would be without drama and our protagonists would have no one to battle. Like other writers, the tales I create are full of real, wicked villains—corrupt cops, greedy businessmen, even powerful owners who don’t believe the rules apply to them. My narratives—and those of all other writers—would be bland without them. Readers need to hate Count Dracula or Professor Moriarty to cheer for their heroes. They are the ying to the yang.

            But when I “put pen to paper,” I’m striving to do more than create credible, compelling characters readers would recognize as well as love and hate. I wanted my writing to expose examples of much broader wickedness infecting the human race. One the one hand, there are villains who steal the life of one loved person; then there are the truly wicked villains who steal the lives, hopes and dreams of scores, hundreds, even thousands of tortured souls. These are those who embody true wickedness. In my novels, I point my pen—well, okay, my computer—at such as these. 

            In each entry of my Haunted Shores Mysteries series, when my protagonist Darrell Henshaw—teacher, coach and paranormal sensitive—tries to unravel a cold-case whodunit, he finds the murder tied to a far greater crime, one of considerable wickedness.

 
               In the first novel, BLOOD ON THE CHESAPEAKE, Darrell investigates the mysterious death of a black teen and discovers his murder, decades earlier, was the instrument of ugly discrimination and racial injustice, which still festers in the small idyllic town, the wickedness simmering just below the surface. In the

second in the series, CRIMSON AT CAPE MAY, Darrell is haunted by the ghost of a bride who died on her wedding night, a few years earlier. When Darrell digs into the story, he find himself face-to-face with perhaps the most wicked crime of all, human trafficking. He is compelled to solve the mystery of the bride’s death and rescue young girls caught in the web of this ugly network. In the third and

recent release, SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER, Darrell and his new bride Erin travel to the Gulf coast of Florida for a relaxing honeymoon. Instead, he encounters the ghost of two young children who keep urging him to help them find justice. When he finally concedes and follows the clues, they lead to an unspeakable murder and an even more wicked crime. The two were children of migrant families working the produce fields in Florida. In pursuing answers to questions about the children, Darrell and Erin learn firsthand about another wickedness,  the exploitation and abuse of these immigrants. 

            The three entries have much in common. One reviewer described them each as “a cold-case murder mystery wrapped in ghost story, served with a side of romance, set a beautiful resort location.” Readers of my novels will definitely get their fill of good guys and bad guys, heroes and villains, more than enough personal wickedness to go around. But, when they close the last page of each installment, I hope readers will be a little more informed, a little more alerted and a little more educated about real human wickedness. And maybe empowered to do something about it.

           

You can check out all three novels at my website http://www.authorrandyoverbeck.com Or reach me at randyoverbeck@authorrandyoverbeck.com or @OverbeckRandy. I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

“All that is necessary for wickedness to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.”—with slight apologies to Edmund Burke