CHICOPEE — For years, John Wasowicz traveled from his home in northern Virginia to his job in Washington D.C. and along the way a story formed.

While it took years for him to assemble the narrative elements into a book, Wasowicz did so eventually and “Daingerfield Island” was published late last year.

The reaction has been so positive for the mystery novel that the Chicopee native has two more books in the works.

Booklife, wrote, “Wasowicz's promising legal thriller series launch introduces savvy Washington, D.C., defense attorney Elmo Katz. Elmo is retained by Nate Harding, who the police believe was involved in the drowning of Libby Lewis, the chief of staff for the Senate Intelligence Committee, who was found floating in the Potomac River near Daingerfield Island. But Elmo doesn't know that Harding has been working with a shady CIA operative, Jack Smith, who planned to lure a lone wolf terrorist into a trap on the island with Lewis's help. Lewis was going to pass him a flash drive that ostensibly contained details to facilitate a hit on a 'flamboyant Arabian sheik,' but that daring covert operation went awry. Smith convinces Harding to offer himself up as a temporary murder suspect, to give Smith a chance to cover his tracks and to develop a new plan to catch the terrorist. Elmo must look beyond his new client s questionable representation to learn the truth about the congressional staffer's death. Wasowicz's experience as a trial attorney is put to good use in courtroom scenes, and he”s equally adept with action sequences.”

Wasowicz is a 1970 graduate of Chicopee High School and grew up on Fairview Avenue and attended St. Stanislaus School. He then earned a degree in English from Windham College, a Masters Degree in Journalism from Marquette University, a law degree from Catholic University, and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and began his professional career as an aide to former Massachusetts U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke, He has practiced law in Northern Virginia for over 30 years in positions in both the public and private sectors.

He told Reminder Publications he has always been a writer with an initial interest in journalism and his experience in written and verbal communication proved to be essential in his career as an attorney.

It was the daily commutes over 30 years that allowed him to revisit writing. He explained that as he drove he would imagine pieces of a story, much of it set in the actual locations he passed by.

His hero, Elmo Katz, “plays like a film reel in my head,” Wasowicz said.

In 2013, he decided to “pull it together” and begin assembling his ideas into a books that “revolves around the defense of a man falsely accused of murder who is tangentially involved in an espionage caper to assassinate a foreign diplomat.”
To lend greater believability, Wasowicz wove into his book actual locations in the northern Virginia/greater Washington area.

He was aided in creating the final draft of the book by his publishers BrickHouse Books of Baltimore, MD. The editor here was able to give reader an earlier draft and their comments allowed Wasowicz to fine tune his manuscript. He finished the final version in July of last year.

“I changed scenes and dropped characters,” he explained.

He noticed as he worked on the revisions the book began to write itself, something many writers experience. Wasowicz explained that it seemed to be less his own effort and more the book itself.

“The keys magically typed themselves,” he said.

Starting to promote the book has been “a lot of fun,’ he added. The kick-off party was at a distillery in Washington, whose Green Hat Gin makes an appearance in the book.

He made appearances in Newton and Putney, VT, both places he used to live and would like to bring the book to his hometown of Chicopee.

Wasowicz is now completing his second book, “Jones Point,” and has begun this third “Roche’s Point” – both are locations along the George Washington Parkway.

Speaking of this new aspect of his career, he said, “I love it.”
The book is available from a number of on-line booksellers, including Amazon.