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James “Jim” Paavola is a retired psychologist. For over forty years his primary focus had been children, adolescents, families, and the education system. While employed with the Memphis City Schools, he worked with law enforcement to develop procedures for addressing youth substance abuse, youth violence, child sexual abuse, and youth gangs. Jim began writing in his retirement years, choosing themes of injustice as the focal point for murder mysteries set in the Memphis area.
Described by some as soft-boiled, his mysteries involve issues of the day such as the recent economic crash, the stock market, school bullying, sexual activity in retirement communities, military veterans, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the scandalous side of America’s for profit health insurance industry, Mexican cartels, individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome, money laundering, Ponzi schemes, and challenges facing the LGBT community. Murder In Memphis: A six-book series follows Memphis police Lieutenant Julia Todd and her homicide team: The Chartreuse Envelope, They Gotta Sleep Sometime, Which One Dies Today?, Blood Money, Cast the First Stone, & The Unspeakable (a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award finalist). Sonny and Brianne Mysteries: An upper middle-grade series follows two eighth-graders who communicate with ghosts and read minds. Their ghost friends help them cope with bullies and solve mysteries: Jack and the Beanpole & Call Me Firefly. A third book in the series, Astrobia, is expected to be released in summer 2020. Jim has a Short Story appearing in each of the first four Malice in Memphis mystery anthologies: The Silver Star, The Adventures of Sonny Elliott, Down in the Furnace Room, & A Cry From the Ashes. A fifth short story, Murder and Other Heinous Crimes, is expected in late 2020. Paperback and eBook versions are available on Amazon. Jim’s books are also available locally at Novel bookstore, South Main Book Juggler, and the Trolley Stop Market. eBook versions of the novels are available at Smashwords and the usual dot-coms.         |
