HUMP DAY HUNK: Sandi Wallace

Posted on May 13, 2015 by ausromtoday in Hump Day Hunk // 0 Comments

Hump Day Hunk with Sandi Wallace

Motorcycle leathers, blue police uniform or well-worn Levis with a simple black T-shirt, Senior Constable John Franklin looks good in them all…or nothing. He lives and works in Daylesford, a pretty country town in Victoria’s spa region, popular with tourists and arty types. Outside of work, he rides a sexy blue-over-white Kawasaki Ninja, when not behind the wheel of his older model SS Commodore.

Franklin is the hero of my recent release Tell Me Why book one in my new Rural Crime Files series. I have a crush on my leading man and I’m not alone, several readers have asked for his home address, and when he’s on shift at the Daylesford station! And the other burning question readers have is whether Franklin will return in the sequel Black Saturday due out around spring this year. That’s a definite yes; he’ll be back, as will Georgie Harvey and other cast members from book one.

At the start of Tell Me Why, Franklin is at a crossroad in his life.

…Because he was the single parent of a hormonal teenager with attitude and because after sixteen years in the same country town he still wore a uniform. He chatted to lonely folk, changed light globes, chopped wood and mowed lawns for elderly widows, pointed the radar for hours on end and sorted out the same drunks, the same domestics. Those were the good days. One of his blackest days had seen him as pallbearer at the funeral of a road victim who was also a mate from the footy club. All a far cry from where he’d planned to be by his mid-thirties.

He’s in a desperate struggle with fear of change and the need for it, while somehow surviving his daughter’s teens.

Be careful what you wish for, Franklin, because both your professional and love life are about to become a whole lot more complicated.

He lands a case that’s a step-up from Daylesford’s usual soft crime, involving a poison-pen stalker targeting single mothers. He’ll work the investigation his way and on the quiet, getting a taste for being the detective he aspires to, but circumstances have stymied. While this case spirals towards bloodshed, Franklin also becomes involved in the search for a missing person that relates to an earlier unsolved crime.

Franklin clashes with Melbourne writer, Georgie Harvey, from the moment she reports local woman Susan Pentecoste missing. His heavy-handed approach stems partly from his protective attitude towards his town and a general wariness of tourists and most particularly, writers.

But sparks are flying between the two main characters for another reason.

One of his best mates, Scott Hart, joins Franklin at the window as he watches Georgie leave the cop shop and climb into her swanky, classic convertible. Harty comments that she’s a bit of a stunner and Franklin reckons she’s not his type of woman. His mate slaps him on the shoulder and says, ‘Sure there?’

Watch out, Franklin; Georgie’s already under your skin, you just don’t know it yet.

Tell Me Why
Sandi Wallace

Picturesque Daylesford has a darker side.

Melbourne writer Georgie Harvey heads to the mineral springs region of central Victoria to look for a missing farmer. There she uncovers links between the woman’s disappearance and her dangerous preoccupation with the unsolved mystery surrounding her husband.

Maverick cop and solo dad John Franklin is working a case that’s a step up from Daylesford’s usual soft crime; a poison-pen writer whose targets are single mothers.

Georgie’s investigation stirs up long buried secrets and she attracts enemies. When she reports the missing person to local cops, sparks fly between her and Franklin. Has he dismissed the writer too quickly?

A country cop, city writer, retired farmer and poison-pen stalker all want answers.

What will they risk to get them?

What will be the ultimate cost?