The Story Behind The Decoys by Jeffrey Mechling

By Jeffrey Mechling

I will come right out and say it. I love the City of San Francisco! I have visited the city many times over the years and have even considered moving there. I have always wanted the city as a backdrop to one of my stories and my new novel, The Decoys, gave me the opportunity.

Now that Tim and Mary Ann are married, they were hoping that their lives would settle down to something that resembled “normal”. Fat chance that would happen. After the two find out that a “contract” has been taken out on their lives (by mistake). The two are sent to the city by the bay in order “lay low.” Tim’s manager also asks the two, as a favor, to interview an old colleague of Tim’s during his days in Central America. Just routine but as the readers of my first two novels The Adults in the Room and The Safe House can attest, nothing with Tim and Mary Ann Hall is just routine.

That is all I really want to say about the plot but I will say that one of the undercurrents of The Decoys is the adiposity between the CIA and FBI which has existed since World War Two (when the CIA was then known as the OSS). Tim and Mary Ann are constantly at loggerheads over which department has jurisdiction over domestic cases. Although it does appear that the easy answer would be The FBI, Mary Ann finds that there are some disturbing connections that cannot be overlooked. She may have to make a choice between her loyalty to the FBI or her marriage to her husband Tim.

One more thing that I would like to mention. If you find yourself visiting San Francisco, it is worth staying at the Fairmount Hotel on Mason Street. It is a grand hotel located on the cable car line. You may even find that you could lose your heart there.

Jeffrey Mechling is the author of the new book The Decoys.

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