Author R&R with Thomas Roehlk

Thomas Roehlk is a retired corporate attorney from St. Charles, Illinois, who served more than 20 years as general counsel and chief compliance officer for major international corporations, including the defense sector, consumer products, transportation equipment, and financial services. A lifelong endurance athlete, he's completed over 100 marathons and ten Ironman triathlons, including marathons in every U.S. state and Canadian province. After 46 years in the Chicago metropolitan area, he and his wife now split their time between Florida and New York. 

Roehlk published his debut novel, Red Deuce, in January 2024, introducing twin sisters, Mandy Doucette, a by-the-book corporate lawyer whose work includes vetting acquisitions, and Reggie Doucette, an FBI pathologist. In the sequel, Fire Feud, construction crews uncover a skeleton at a Chicago jobsite, and attorney Mandy Doucette is called in to manage the fallout. What looks like an ancient mystery soon explodes into a modern nightmare: DNA links the remains to her own company—and to the family of her boyfriend.

Her twin sister Reggie, an FBI forensic pathologist, uncovers evidence connecting the body to a crime dating back to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. What began as routine compliance work now threatens to expose a 140-year-old feud between two powerful families—one that has already claimed lives and is willing to claim more. As the sisters dig deeper, they find themselves pulled into a web of betrayal, fraud, and violence. Powerful men will kill to protect their legacies. The closer Mandy and Reggie come to the truth, the more dangerous their pursuit becomes.

Thomas Roehlk stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about his writing and research:

 

My books are fiction, with stories set in places I am familiar with or can gather sufficient information about to be credible. Fortunately, my career in international corporate law enabled me to reach many interesting locations. Having a mental image of the chosen site because of having been there, and then supplemented by studies (usually electronic), is a great way to set up scenes. 

In my second book, Fire Feud, critical scenes are points in the Chicago water system. The “Deep Tunnel” of Chicago, officially the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, is thoroughly depicted by its governmental source—the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. It conducts digital tours on a regular basis and visits to sites in person are offered. Another book feature is scenes along the Chicago River. 

A set of helpful historical books were indispensable for the pollutants and clean up of that river, including the famous reversal of the course of the river in the late 19th century. River boat tours are plentiful to give the writer insights. Murders and attempted murders in my stories on the waterways of Chicago required numerous trips. Along the North Branch of the Chicago River in my first book, Red Deuce, a murder attempt grew out of kayaking along that stretch of water. In Fire Feud, a death from falling off a balcony was set from a personal visit to such a space in Marina City. 

Finally, for the Fire Feud scenes involving the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Chicago History Museum’s feature is very helpful, as are the many books on the subject. Most memorable is the museum depiction of the famous scene of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking over a kerosene lantern and igniting the huge inferno—incorrect as it is, inasmuch as there was an official exoneration of the poor woman. That leads me to plot ideas and how to research them.

The ideas for the books grow out of historical or current situations that have been encountered. In Red Deuce, a final plot element crew directly out of the capture and prosecution of a former FBI official, Charles McGonigal, who pleaded guilty recently of spying for the Russians. The story in the New York Times of his conviction let me complete my plot and enabled me to tie in a connection to the also true life Aldridge Ames espionage case in the mid-1990s. Much had been written (and filmed) about that, so the research offerings were robust.

Also in that book was the initial corporate bribery element for which a vast treasure trove of historical examples is available through the general and business press, as well as the Justice Department’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act publicly-available resources to general statistics, individual enforcement cases and legal bases. Included amongst that public information are lists of whistleblower rewards made, the largest one of which was just under $300 million. 

Finally, in a current writing project, I was able to incorporate an impressive science-based project centering among U.S. federal atomic particle accelerators or related facilities in Chicago and other locations (South Dakota, New York, and Antarctica). Each of those facilities conveniently provides extensive public information for the voracious appetite of my plot and scene sites.

The balancing necessary to make a story work and not be overtaken by non-plot information is tricky. You need, in my opinion, to have enough description and narrative content to make the story credible, without turning it into a textbook on some subject. I must constantly resist the urge to go down the rabbit hole of personal favoritism on certain subjects. Just because I may have steeped myself in the details of some obscure object doesn’t mean I have to drag my readers through it. When there is a fine balance of background information to enable or embellish a story and not impede it or eclipse it, I declare victory.

 

You can learn more about Thomas Roehlk via his website. Fire Feud is now available via most major booksellers.