Tue. Nov.4, 2025 - See Previous Newsletters

Every now and then, a reader will tell me that they're glad I support smart, strong, courageous women in my writing.

I'm always happy to hear that and hope it does some good. But to be honest, that's not the main reason I often feature smart, bold women in my hero roles.

The simple truth is: these are the type of women I was raised by, and surrounded with, my entire life.  

At the age of 19, my mother voluntarily joined WASP  (Women Airforce Service Pilots), which was created in 1942 as the U.S. entered World War II, when military planners were afraid there would be a shortage of male pilots.

The idea was to train experienced civilian women pilots to take over non-combat flying duties inside the U.S., freeing men for overseas military missions.

My mom learned to fly in a Fairchild PT-19 “Cornell,” an open-cockpit aircraft used to prepare all new Air Force pilots. Fortunately, the war soon ended, and she went on to finish college. But the taste of speed and wind in her face must have been addictive, because she loved to drive stick-shift sports cars and convertibles.  Fast.

When I was in high school, she bought a "muscle car": a dark green turbocharged Pontiac Firebird with a Hurst shifter.  Needless to say, there weren't many other kids with mothers who thundered around in a car like that.  But to me, it didn't seem unusual.

My mother was not only bold—she had plenty of brains, too.  She earned a master's degree from Case in Social Work. She eventually became a professor in that field and wrote two well-respected university textbooks that were published by Prentice Hall.  She also penned some novels, but never took fiction writing seriously enough to try to get published.  (Yes, this is where my writing ability must come from, though she could write circles around me.)

It wasn't only my mom, though, who inspired me to write about strong, smart women. 

My late aunt finished medical school in the late 1930s, when less than four percent of doctors were women.  My wife has a Ph.D. from Oxford. 

Also, my sister became a very successful entrepreneur at a young age.

Her favorite hobby? 

Cowboy Mounted Shooting, a dangerous, highly competitive horseback riding sport where you ride as fast as you can around a course and fire a real pistol (loaded with blanks, of course) at balloon targets and try to hit them all.  She's in her sixties now and still does it all the time—something I couldn't begin to do at any age. 

Needless to say, my sister is not someone you want to mess with. 

Anyway, coming from such a background, creating characters like Elaine Brogan and Luna Faye isn't that difficult, nor do they seem so unusual to me.  They're like family.  😃 

Which brings me to the point of this email.  While none of my female family members have ever worked in law enforcement, during the course of researching the Lust, Money & Murder series as well as my other crime-related novels (Passion, Power & Sin, The Drive-By Wife, Renata's Revenge, Forbidden, With Mother's Approval, etc.), I accumulated a massive file of real-world examples of such women who have done truly amazing things.  I'd never heard of most of them.

Last week I thought, Why not publish all of it?  Most people don't know anything about these women either.

That was the birth of the idea for Amazing Women in Law Enforcement, a Facebook page where, each week, I'll write a short profile of one of these awesome ladies in the style of my novels. They are just quick, 3 or 4-minute reads (free, of course). 

The first two profiles are already published.  I hope you'll follow the page and read more of them as they come out.

Of course, this will take very little time, and I'll still be writing a lot more books.

Bye for now,

Mike

Have you read all my novels?  

Lust, Money & Murder

Discounted Trilogy Boxed Sets

Lust, Money & Murder

Stand-Alone Novels

Outback Diamonds (LM&M #16)

Marilyn's Secret Liptstick (LM&M #17)

Mortal Silence (LM&M #18)

IMPORTANT:  This book will be pulled from non-Amazon stores
this Friday (Nov. 7) and put into Kindle Unlimited

More 'Unputdownable' Books by Mike Wells
(Click on the photos for full synopses)

International Crime Thriller - Lust, Money & Murder (Series)
The deeper she goes, the more she risks becoming a criminal herself.

Crime/Psychological Thriller
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Crime Thriller - The Drive-By Wife
Takes "home invasion" to an entirely new level.

Crime Thriller - Renata's Revenge
They. Picked. The. Wrong. Girl.

Crime Thriller/Serial Murders - With Mother's Approval
A mother's love is eternal. For some, it's lethal.

Romantic Suspense - Forbidden (Series)
Temptation has its price.

New Adult Sci-Fi Adventure - Wild Child (Series)
You don't choose the green water...the green water chooses you.

Horror/Black Comedy
Babies always know...and they don't forget.

Technothriller - The Tesla Secret
Unlocking Tesla’s free energy secret could power the world...or end their lives.

Technothriller - Blind Scorpion
He could walk away a hero...but for which country?

YA Sci-Fi Romance - The Mysterious Disappearance of Kurt Kramer 
Lost in between worlds, will his heart lead him home?

Romantic Comedy - Secrets of the Elusive Lover
He plays the field, but she changes the game.

Coming of Age Suspense - The Wrong Side of the Tracks
First love in the teenage hell known as high school.

Book-Related Merchandise

. .