No Good Deed follows a man going through a nasty divorce and caring for his mother and his teenage daughter who helps a young Korean woman get to the bus station, putting him in the crosshairs of the Korean mob. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The original inspiration was a news story here in Nashville several years ago about an Asian Spa raided by law enforcement and shut down for promoting prostitution. I watched the story unfold on TV and in the local newspaper. The women were trafficked from China, and some didn’t speak English and could not identify the city they were in. As the details were revealed, my first response was horror and sadness for their situation, but eventually, my imagination began to develop a backstory for one of these victims. As a story arc formed in my mind, Kim came to life.

Christopher Jones is just trying to pull his life together when he does a good deed of offering a young Korean woman a ride to the bus station, and his life transforms quickly from here. What were the driving ideals behind the character’s development throughout the story?

I wanted the lead character, Christopher, to be an average person who encounters Kim, a young woman needing help. Out of sympathy and a desire to do the right thing, his seemingly small deed leads to more involvement than he intends, but his moral compass won’t allow him to walk away from her situation. As I thought about his motivation, I kept returning to ‘this was how he was raised.’

Did you do a lot of research to maintain the accuracy of the subject?

It’s incredible the amount of information available about human trafficking. My research led me into some dark places, and occasionally, I needed to take a break from reading the tragic stories of how young women are coerced into the sex trade. As I immersed myself in writing this story, my emotional attachment to Kim, the young Korean woman, brought her fictional character to life. I identified with Christopher. Characters become real to writers.

Will this novel be the start of a series or are you working on a different story?

I love the characters in this book: Christopher, Bert, and Gloria. I’ve written a second novel with them and hope to publish it in late 2024. This time the story is set in the mountains of North Carolina, a place I know well and love.

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