Will Hawkins

I prefer reading stories with mature characters - frankly, I'm a little bit bored with the fifteen-year-old coming out angst. So, I am looking forward to reading this story.

Okay, we now know the paper wad was a receipt from a hardware store, but for what? Maybe Twyla better take a look at it then pass it on to Rush, and where did the dry ice come in. We are told it has something to do with the case, but it is not made clear what effect a bucket of dry ice would have to do with the murder!

That bucket is still banging around in my head, where did it come from and where did it go? And the paper wad as well. I am hanging in there waiting for more clues. Ordinarily, I do not read many murder mysteries, but this one has me hooked!

My comment was not directed at all lawyers. Most of them are intelligent and hardworking professionals, it was meant as humor only and before I made the comment I tried it out on an acquaintance who is a lawyer. He thought it quite humorous and told me to go ahead and use it. If there are any lawyers out there in GA who are upset or insulted, please accept my apologies. Next time I will use car salesmen as examples.

How do you know when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving. 'Wait for groans as the reaction.' I still see a small pile of glass shards near the heater and wonder about the paper in the drawer slide. BUT, if the CO detector were damaged, why didn't the backup system prevent the heater from working? Was the person who knew about disabling the gage familiar enough with the system to know how to disable the backup as well? It may be that the small piece of wire found near that heater was a part of the disabling method, but I believe the fire in the store was a red herring. But was it tossed in by the author or by the murderer to confuse us/the police? "It is a puzzlement."

Another question to add to the pot - what is the meaning of the mysterious handkerchief/flag found at the young gay man's body site?

Something that seems to have been forgotten, I seem to remember bits of broken glass being found near the heater. Was that from a smashed gage face? If so, how did that happen? If the safety mechanism of the heater was damaged, that would take its manufacturer off the hook. The inconsistencies in Twyla's testimony about the door lock also disturb me.

Okay, you have answered my question about the names in parentheses, of course, you have raised a few hundred more. Because I have not yet read Barbed Wire Heart. I guess, if I read that, all my questions would be answered. But I am going to continue to follow this series with the assurance that the author will clarify all the situations...eventually.

Whoa! Jakes death is a sudden twist - he seemed to be doing well with his recovery from alcohol addiction and redeveloping a friendship with a former boyfriend. Winnie's reaction to his death is an expected one -- all she can think of is a sudden income from a court settlement. In the list of survivors, there is some confusion about the name and sex of a sister/brother? But I am sure you will straighten that out, Cole.

I will have to admit, I am intrigued. This seems like a different type of story for GA, and I will have to admit to becoming somewhat bored with the common theme of a confused young man finding sex and love after being thrown out on the street by a non-understanding family. We will just have to see where you lead us, Cole. But at the beginning, I am here!

Yep, I think the Scots boys will have a little acclimatizing to do in getting used to the heat in OZ.

I feel we are about to witness a meeting that will affect Lewis for many years to come. Excellent writing Quokka [Preston]. The history lesson at the end of the last chapter was for the benefit of your American readers who may not remember or be familiar with early Japanese threats against OZ.

As I understand the history of WWII, Australia was in great fear of invasion by the Japanese and, indeed the Imperial Japanese forces did invade New Guinea and make clandestine raids on the Aussie mainland. However recent historical investigation shows that while there was internal argument especially between elements of the Japanese Army and the Japanese Navy, all plans to invade Australia were shelved as early as February 1942 and no serious attack was undertaken after that time, though the small incursions did take place as late as July 1943. However, there were a number of air raids, usually from carriers on Broome and Darwin through November 1944.

I can only echo and reinforce Netvoyager's comments as an embarrassed and disgusted American expatriate for the behavior of POTUS, but even more so for the approx. 30% of the voters in the US who still follow his lead blindly. I believe it was George Santayana who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In the case of POTUS, the expression might better be modified to 'those who do not know'. I had best not make any more comments.

I just finished reading another one of your stories, Q, Indian Ocean Invasion and enjoyed it very much, so I sought out other stories you had written and found this one. I am looking forward to enjoying it as well, but before I start reading it, I wanted to apologize for a stupid error I made in a comment on IOI. In that story near the conclusion, you mentioned Rottenest Island and I spouted off about the Dutchman who had discovered and named the island after the quokkas, who he thought were rats, he found on the island. There was nothing wrong with my comment, but after I had posted it, it occurred to me that I was being dumb to try to tell a person who had been born and lived much of his life anything about a piece of local history upon which he had probably cut his eye teeth! It is much the same as an Aussie expounding on the history and meaning of totem poles to a years-long resident of Washington State in the USA. Like carrying coal to Newcastle. No ill intent, just embarrassment for my stupidity. Will H.

Time to kick some butt indeed and Sir Lewis is just the butt kicker that can do it. These last few chapters are going to be a fun read

Sir Lewis is fortunate in that when he was made a Baron he did not have a gold star pasted on his forehead. It gives him the opportunity to tour the island in mufti. The internet has a picture of a former Governor of Christmas Island in a gleaming white uniform with sword and sash and a huge white feather cockade inspecting his honor guard upon arrival at his post. Not exactly the undercover inspection that Sir Lewis is doing!

Quokka, you should be familiar with Rottnest Island as you use its name as your pen name. Are you a small vegetarian marsupial and nocturnal too? The island was named by a Dutch sea captain, Willem de Vlamingh in 1696, because of its population of quokkas which he thought were rats, hence the name which translates as Rat's Nest. For the benefit of American readers: quokka is the name of a small marsupial that is found in large numbers on the island.

For the benefit of the American readers: Railway sleepers=railroad ties

As an innocent -- what is the hidden meaning to the name Huon. I assume there is a connection to another Quokka story, but I must not have read it yet.

It seems most unusual to me that the Americans have been able to move so fast even though they had plenty of warning. My bureaucracy is normally seriously snail-like. Also, any portion of the archipelago formerly occupied by the Americans is going to need serious garbage disposal.

The Chagos Archipelago group is a real island group consisting of about 80 islands, the largest of which is Diego Garcia. it is Located in the Indian Ocean south-south-west of India. Diego Garcia is an atoll with a large central lagoon that has only one sea entrance on the north end. Interestingly, there are no known native animals other than two feral cats. At one time there were large numbers of feral dogs. but those have been pretty well hunted to extinction. There is a significant bird population and the most numerous residents are two different genera of crabs. Feral cats and dogs are usually pets that have escaped human ownership to breed in the wild.

Appointed Deputy Administrator of Australian Indian Ocean Territories on Diego Garcia -- all you have to do is kick the Americans off and Administrator of the Chagos Archipelago which is primarily a bunch of reefs. It all sounds grand, but the proof of the pudding is in the flavor.

Q, you are a victim of a less polite me - I am no longer making snarky comments as I did when I first started reading in GA, so please accept my apologies.

Very well and my apologies about mentioning editorial errors. As an author, it is not your job to correct small errors, and I will no longer make an issue of them.