This is. . .an interview? Has it started? Oh. Let me guess. You want to know how it is to be the first gay police chief in Connecticut, right? That’s what everyone wants to know. I’ll tell you. It’s annoying. Everyone asks that question, over and over. They don’t ask who you root for in baseball, but I’ll tell you it’s the Yankees. I grew up in New York. They don’t ask what my favorite ice cream flavor is, which is coffee. Nope, everyone cares that I’m gay. Now that they know. They didn’t always, and I confess I played it straight because it made life easier until it muddied the water of Cecilia North’s murder investigation. I regret that.

Speaking of crime, some people, like the mayor, insinuate that my arrival in Idyll in January 1997 made crime increase. I admit, the North murder took me and all the town’s residents by surprise. And then there was that missing kid, Cody Forrand, the very next winter, which ended up involving the FBI. But that’s not my fault. I’m not the Pied Piper of Crime, criminals trailing me to Idyll, Connecticut. And that body we discovered in the woods recently. . .well, that’s been there since the 1970s, decades before I came to town. Ask my detective, Michael Finnegan, he’ll tell you. He’s a talker so you’ll want to clear your calendar before you ask.

How do I like small town living? Where to begin? Let’s start with lawns. Lawns are wonderful, right? Wrong. Lawns require watering and mowing and weeding. They’re work, lots of it, and at the end of the day what do you have? A tidy plot of grass? Hardly seems worth it. What else? Oh, all the neighbors are up in each other’s business, constantly. Sometimes it makes my job easier, because keeping secrets here is hard, but often it’s a pain in the. . .although back to my detective, Finnegan. He managed to keep a secret for over two decades from the cops here, and I’ll admit, most of ‘em aren’t exactly Mensa material, but still, it’s no mean feat. As it turns out, though, our other detective, Lewis Wright, he knew Finnegan’s secret, as does our secretary, Mrs. Dunsmore. Finnegan thinks only she and I know, and Lewis is helping me investigate the secret, and it’s getting tricky to recall who knows what and what I’m allowed to say. Makes my hiding the fact I was gay look like child’s play.

I shouldn’t say much more about it. It’s Finny’s secret, not mine, although I suspect it won’t be a secret much longer, not if we can find her. Twenty-seven years she’s been missing, and, damn it. I won’t say any more. Really. Don’t ask. What else do you want to know? My love life? Of course you do. Matt Cisco? How do you know about him? You know what? I think we’re done here.

Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a print copy of Idyll Hands. U.S. entries only, please. The giveaway ends September 9, 2018. Good luck everyone!

Want to learn more about Thomas? Then check out the latest Idyll mystery, Idyll Hands, the third book in the “Thomas Lynch” mystery series. The first book in the series is Idyll Threats

In the small, sleepy town of Idyll, Connecticut, Police Chief Thomas Lynch assists police officer Michael Finnegan to uncover clues to his sister’s disappearance two decades ago.

Charleston, Massachusetts, 1972: Rookie cop Michael Finnegan gets a call from his mother. His youngest sister, Susan, has disappeared, the same sister who ran away two years earlier. Anxious not to waste police resources, Finnegan advises his family to wait and search on their own. But a week turns into two decades, and Susan is never found.

Idyll, Connecticut, 1999: In the woods outside of town, a young woman’s corpse is discovered, and Detective Finnegan seems unusually disturbed by the case. When Police Chief Thomas Lynch learns about Finnegan’s past, he makes a bargain with his officer: He will allow Finnegan to investigate the body found in the woods–if Finnegan lets the bored Lynch secretly look into the disappearance of his sister.

Both cases reveal old secrets–about the murder, and about the men inside the Idyll Police Station and what they’ve been hiding from each other their whole careers.

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Meet the author
Stephanie Gayle is the author of the Idyll mystery series: Idyll Threats, Idyll Fears, and Idyll Hands. Publisher’s Weekly gave Idyll Hands a starred review, writing, “This series keeps getting better with each book.” Stephanie’s short fiction has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Arlington, MA and works at the MIT Media Lab. She is the proud owner of the world’s best bunny, Bao Pinkergayle. You can follow Stephanie on Twitter at @stephoflegends or follow her on Facebook.

All comments are welcomed.