When you live in an idyllic New England village on a river just outside of beautiful Boston, Massachusetts, no one expects murder. Never mind a crime that ends the life of a not-so-well-loved professor, whose body was found at the bottom of an old abandoned subway transit stop's staircase-and he was wearing rollerblades. Was he pushed? Proving the obscure motive of sibling rivalry for the professor's demise, and taking on the rich and powerful Stone family alone, overwhelms and threatens Dillon Delaney's own life. Fighting back, he is reluctantly forced into the role of self-appointed sleuth and launches his own investigation, uncovering hidden secrets of the Stone family and the rebellious son's mysterious skate shop. Due to his good fortune of winning the Massachusetts vaccination incentive lottery that ran at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dillon Delaney left his post as a principal and created a nonprofit, action-based service-learning center that commits K-12 age students to projects under the motto of Kindness Matters . Experiencing the trauma of losing his parents and the grandmother that raised him, Dillon battles pistanthrophobia-a deep-seated fear of getting abandoned and hurt that instinctively forces him to guard his heart from intimate relationships to avoid future emotionally painful experiences. Instead, he relies on the support of his chosen family-which he must protect and preserve at all costs-those who live and run the shops in Goodman Village, located on the Sudbury River in Sudbury, just west of the city. Ultimately, Dillon finds his way to shaman-like officer Louise Renaldo, who concocts an unorthodox approach to obtain the proof that unpacks the truth. The journey leads Dillon out of his comfort zone toward finding a surprise chance at learning to love and trust again. As an experienced educator - an elementary classroom teacher, a special educator, a children's hospital pastoral care teacher, and an elementary school principal - I am in my second act as a writer and an artist. I grew up and live in the area just west of Boston, MA and so I know how to take the readers on a journey through the amazing setting. I have a BS from Boston University and a Masters Degree from Harvard University, but it is my love of reading, years of teaching and being a school administrator that prepared me to write my series. A post Covid-19 Pandemic series with characters about whom we care, that partners with a feel good mystery format, invites the readers to consider that "Kindness Matters" is a way of life; and a commitment to solve on behalf of others, may be the cure to overcome the obstacles that keep us all from opening up to the possibilities that trust, friendship and love will always flourish and triumph.