Know Weapon: A Stand Your Ground Mystery

by Kevin Morgan

60 plus year old African-American Faye Becker is a widow with poor eyesight, bad knees and a surprisingly quick temper in the small southern town of Rawleysville, SC. If she had her preferences, she would spend the rest of her years spoiling the grandchildren her now grown daughter and son have yet to give her. In the meantime, she's done her best to stay on the sidelines of the current challenges being covered in the news media. As the widow of a local civil rights hero, she's had her share of fighting for the rights of her fellow African-Americans. As a mother, she has empathized with the seemingly countless numbers of Black mothers who have had to mourn the tragic deaths of their unarmed sons.

Increasingly, Faye has had to face the reality that she could no longer stay on the sidelines in the perpetual quest for justice. Because of her now deceased husband's activist ways, she knows firsthand that circumstances often draw unwilling combatants in to battles they prefer to sit out. Through no fault of her own, she was threatened and later attacked by the town's resident White thug. In a tragic twist of irony, the brute who verbally and physically assaulted her was not just a random criminal. To her dismay, her attacker was the son of the man who was suspected but never charged in her husband's death.

A single gunshot outside her bedroom window placed this wannabe grandmother squarely in the middle of a stand your ground controversy. The same White trouble-maker who attacked her was now the shooter of an unarmed Black male in her back yard. Complicating things for Faye was the realization that the facts of this case were not as they seemed. While most people assumed the White shooter was finally going to face justice because of this incident, Faye knew things were not so black and white.

Should she tell the truth of what she witnessed outside her bedroom window, knowing that could exonerate her would-be killer and break the hearts of people in her community? Or should she lie to help get revenge against the family who has bought her so much grief? By shading the truth, will she be able to live with herself as she attempts to keep the respect and admiration of her Black family and friends?

130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2015

About the author

Kevin Morgan is an Australian author and researcher renowned for his investigative work into historical legal injustices. His notable book, "Gun Alley: Murder, Lies and Failure of Justice," delves into the 1921 wrongful conviction and execution of Colin Campbell Ross for the murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke in Melbourne. Morgan's meticulous research played a pivotal role in posthumously pardoning Ross in 2008, marking Australia's first pardon of a judicially executed individual.
Beyond "Gun Alley," Morgan has authored several other works, including a biography of Ramsay MacDonald, reflecting his diverse interests and commitment to uncovering historical truths.