Guest Post: Defending Wellton

Mystery - Detective 

Date Published:  5/9/2013

Wellton, Arizona. Population 2,864… and falling. Something - or someone - is killing the kids in town, and the Wellton Police Department is called in to investigate the untimely deaths.

Officer Trent Buckley has lived in Wellton since the day he was born, and he’s been trying to get out of the small, dead-end town ever since.  Just when he has a shot at a transfer to Tucson, a disturbing case lands in his lap, one that has him working with Yuma Sun reporter – and ex-lover – Sarah Goodwin.  Trent is forced to push aside his resentment for Wellton and settle his own personal demons to focus on keeping more kids from dying in his town.

Chief John Walker has lived in Wellton for over thirty years.  When kids start getting sick and dying, it takes all his courage to face his own past and solve the case.  With the help of his best cop, Officer Buckley, Walker is determined to stop the deaths in his town, and keep them both alive in the process.

As the pair discovers what, or who, is behind the mysterious deaths, will two small-town cops be able to stay alive long enough to put a stop to it before any more kids have to die?

10 Things Readers Would be Surprised to Know About You

Kelli Kretzschmar

1. I love all types of music. Opera, classical, rock, indie, pop, punk, rap, folk, even some country. My favorite, however, is rock. Give me some whiny electric guitar solos and a raspy screaming male, and I’m happy.

2. I can play acoustic guitar. Not very well, I might add, but I know a few chords and can hold a rhythm. When I was growing up, my dad played a lot, and he bought me my own guitar when I was 16. We used to play and sing along together. Those are some of my best memories.

3. I can crochet a blanket. I only know one stitch, but I’ve made a few blankets using it. If you asked me to use another stitch or create a sweater or something, I would have no idea. But a one-stitch blanket, I can do.

4. I have completed a half-marathon. I ran a half marathon with Team in Training in 2006. Team in Training is an amazing organization that trains runners in exchange for raising funds for their organization to research leukemia and lymphoma. My stepmother nearly lost her life battling leukemia but has been in remission for over ten years now. I ran on her behalf.

5. My grandfather was a tomato farmer for Hunts brand ketchup. Believe it or not, southern California used to be farmland. My maternal grandparents were some of the original residents of Orange County, and my grandfather farmed tomatoes and sold them to Hunts ketchup. My mom will still only buy Hunts to this day.

6. I am related to Alexander Hamilton. My paternal grandmother’s family were Hamiltons from in Elmira, New York. I’ve never done the ancestry tree, but rumor has it, the famous lawyer is my distant relative.

7. My uncle was schizophrenic. I believe my relationship with my uncle was part of the reason I went to college to become a psychologist. After receiving my BA in psychology, however, I realized I would always be too involved and concerned with my patients for me to live a healthy life. Therefore, I didn’t continue to pursue it as a career.

8. I have four sisters and one brother. I have a big family – two older stepsisters, one full-blood sister, and two half-siblings. There are twenty years between the youngest and the oldest, and we are all very close.

9. I was a vegetarian for five years. When I was 17, I saw a documentary about animal cruelty in farming and slaughterhouses, and it totally freaked me out. Although I started eating meat again five years later, I will never again eat a fast-food hamburger.

10. I practice the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga. It makes me feel like a badass. I leave class with bruises every time, but I deliver them too. I started practicing so I could fend off an attacker if the occasion ever arose. Thankfully, it hasn’t yet. But if it does, I’ll be ready.