There are five books in the Rick Podowski and The Hefty Trio series. Three of the books explore moral issues--good people doing bad things, loyalty to our country and falsely accusing another person. This post will focus on these concepts. The two books concerning adoption and foster care will be presented next week. Each book contains seven ethnic (Polish, Italian, Irish, Mexican) recipes and seven wineries are presented. A wine is then paired with the recipe. A reader who completes the series will have learned about thirty-five boutique wineries and have thirty-five recipes paired with the appropriate wine.
Rick Podowski and the Hefty Trio a group of four middle-aged overweight high school English teachers fight to save their friend accused of murdering the school principal. The story begins when Rick arrives at Central High School and sees the administration building engulfed in flames. Later, the police discover the charred body of the principal and as the police start to gather evidence to frame the acting principal, Rick and the Hefty Trio start their own inquiry. They discover that their friend and the principal are both involved in illegal activities with a former South Vietnamese Colonel who runs a language school on the campus every Sunday. The community loves the Colonel and is unaware that he owns a house of prostitution in the neighborhood and employs a local Mexican gang for security. A rival gang wants part of the action. The excitement continues as Rick and The Hefty Trio work to solve the mystery. Purchase at Smashwords. Purchase at Amazon.
Loyalty and betrayal quickly become conflicts in this novel set in the Silicon Valley of California where many of the titans of the computer world have research and development operations and manufacturing facilities. Educators, under the control of Chinese agents are using students from the Mission Community College’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Program to obtain a top-secret computer chip being manufactured by Intel for use in the United States Military's anti-ballistic missile system. Rick has to reconcile his loyalty to his students with loyalty to his country as he works with his friend from the FBI to recover the stolen component.
Also telling the story is George Yuan, a nineteen-year-old alienated Chinese-American. Through the help of a beautiful female spy, George discovers his love and loyalty to China. He agrees to help steal the computer chip. In the process of recovering the stolen computer chip, the FBI captures the members of the spying ring, and two others are murdered. Purchase at Smashwords. Purchase at Amazon.
Also telling the story is George Yuan, a nineteen-year-old alienated Chinese-American. Through the help of a beautiful female spy, George discovers his love and loyalty to China. He agrees to help steal the computer chip. In the process of recovering the stolen computer chip, the FBI captures the members of the spying ring, and two others are murdered. Purchase at Smashwords. Purchase at Amazon.
This book explores a tragedy resulting from a teacher being falsely accused. Rick Podowski, the head grievance representative for the teacher’s union enters the science lab and finds the body of the teacher hanging by a braided rope from the metal frame of the overhead fluorescent light fixture.
As Rick and his friends investigate, they find Dan Longreen's secret. He has been charged with sexual misconduct concerning three young girls in his Las Vegas classroom. Even though proven innocent, a small group of parents forced his resignation. He accepts a job in San Jose, California, and is creating a new life. Suddenly, he starts to receive threatening emails and there are questions about his death.
Did someone stage the suicide? Was the principal putting extreme pressure on Dan to resign to protect his forthcoming promotion or was the suicide related to Longreen's fiancée? Purchase at Smashwords. Purchase at Amazon