Manchester author to launch new book on Facebook Live Thursday

“Suicide Squeeze,” a new book by Manchester resident Steve Hagood, will be released on July 2.

Steve Hagood didn’t start out to be an author, but he’d like to end up being one. With the publication of his third full-length novel featuring protagonist Tyson Chase, a Detroit cop forced into retirement who has been sought out to investigate a murder, he could be well on his way to achieving that goal.

In this book, “Suicide Squeeze,” the Manchester writer ventures into a twist in the genre by using an old friend as a major character.

“I got the idea from (comedian) Richard Belzer, who wrote a book in 2008 titled, “I Am Not a Cop!” using himself as the title character,” he explains. “Since Chase is sort of my own alter-ego, I chose my old buddy, Tom Helmer, as Chase’s high-school friend who calls him in to help clear him of murder charges.

“I had a great time writing this book–it was probably one of the easiest I’ve done. I could play around with the plot twists, ask my friend for ideas, and ask him about how he’d spend a typical day in Vegas (the primary setting for the story).”

While the story itself is totally fictional, Helmer’s character bears many resemblances to the real person. In the book, Helmer is a sports broadcaster and the real Helmer does, indeed, call football games on WEMU and formerly did basketball commentary on ESPN Plus. While both the fictional and the real Helmer live in Colorado, he calls the Detroit area home. Tom and Steve both grew up in Saline, which is also the setting of one of Hagood’s earlier books, “Chasing the Woodstock Baby.”

In the story, Helmer, who’s been assigned to follow a rookie baseball player’s meteoric rise, has a flight cancelled and with the team, is forced to take a bus from Las Vegas to El Paso. Arriving in Texas, Helmer finds his bag a bit heavier than he expected–and learns that it’s because there’s a woman’s body inside. When the woman, who turns out to be a down-on-her-luck Vegas showgirl, also happens to be wearing one of Helmer’s t-shirts, it’s not looking too good for Tom. The small-town cops in the town where the discovery was made would like nothing better than to wrap this case up pronto. It’s time to call in his buddy Tyson Chase to help him investigate what actually happened.

With more plot twists and turns than the River Raisin, this fast-paced read should satisfy both the casual reader as well as those who enjoy a more involved story of investigation and intrigue.

Hagood and his wife Jennifer have lived in Manchester for just about two years. By day, he works in the Customs Department of a Tier 1 automotive supplier. He and Jennifer enjoy the small town pace of life in Manchester, saying that it’s a lot more like the Saline he grew up in than the Saline is now.

“I’d love writing to be my day job eventually, but it’s still a sideline and a hobby. I haven’t reached that level yet,” he says. “Right now I don’t have a routine; I’m not cranking books out on an annual basis … I write what comes to me when it comes.”

“Suicide Squeeze” will be released on July 2, and Steve is planning a Facebook Live “launch party” at 7 pm. With the COVID-19 crisis and a recent recovery from surgery, he decided this would be the best way to give his new novel a good send-off. “I’ll be reading from the book and answering questions,” he announced on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/steve.hagood).

The book is available in paperback for $17.95 on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, and at the publisher’s website.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.