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​Kevin G. Chapman is an attorney specializing in labor and employment law. In 2021, Kevin finished the first five books in the Mike Stoneman Thriller series: Righteous Assassin (Kindle Book Award semi-finalist), Deadly Enterprise (Kindle Book Award semi-finalist), Lethal Voyage, (Winner of the 2021 Kindle Book Award, CLUE finalist, RONE finalist), Fatal Infraction (Best Police Procedural of the year – CLUE Award), and Perilous Gambit. In late 2022, Kevin published a stand-alone mystery/thriller titled Dead Winner (CLUE Award – Best Suspense/Thriller of the year). Then, in 2024 came The Other Murder, winner of the CLUE Award Grand Prize (best suspense/thriller of the year) and finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award. Now, in 2025, Mike Stoneman is back in book #6, Double Takedown. Kevin is a resident of Central New Jersey and is a graduate of Columbia College and Boston University School of Law. Readers can contact Kevin via his website at www.KevinGChapman.com.
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​Interview with Kevin G. Chapman The Mike Stoneman Thriller Series and book #6 – Double Takedown

How did you get started writing this crime-thriller series?

            A long time ago, in the mid-90s, I wrote my first novel, which was a mystery starring a New York Private Investigator named Rick LaBlonde. It was fun and a good try at a first novel. But it was before Amazon and before self-publishing was really a thing. I put it aside in about 1996 when I couldn’t get any interest from a publisher. Then, in 2002, my wife told me that for our 20th wedding anniversary, she was going to pay to have the book published by a new company that had come into existence called Xlibris, which was a division of a big publishing house and which was an early “vanity publisher” that would essentially allow you to self-publish a book. In those days, you had to order a minimum number of copies for printing. It was a lovely present, and I still have a few copies of that first book left on my basement shelves.
            But by then I had a new job and three kids and I didn’t do any more real writing for many years. Then in the mid-2000s (the aughts?) as my kids were getting older, I got the itch again and I started working on my version of The Great American Novel. It was very, very loosely based on some autobiographical events in my life, but was mostly pure fiction. It’s about a conservative Senator who has to confront his past and make hard decisions about his future. It’s about morality and politics and self-determination and identity. It’s a very serious book, but with some interesting characters and, I think, a compelling story line. It’s called A Legacy of One. It got some great reviews and some book award recognition, but didn’t sell. Part of that was my own lack of understanding about how marketing a self-published book, but it’s also because the subject matter isn’t particularly popular unless you’re already a well-known author or celebrity.
            I spent 10 years off and on working on that and finally published it in 2016. When the dust cleared from that project, I decided I still wanted to write, but I needed to get into something more fun, less serious, and hopefully something more marketable. Along the way, in 2012, I had written a short story for a writing contest where the subject had to be crime or law. I had created a character named Mike Stoneman, an NYPD homicide detective. The short story, called Fool Me Twice won first prize in the contest. So, in 2016, I decided to take that character from the short story and work him up into a full-blown crime fiction novel. The short story is now available for free on Amazon and other sales platforms, and I included it as an extra feature at the end of the first book in the novel series, Righteous Assassin.

Can you describe your main characters?
Mike Stoneman is a veteran homicide detective in the New York Police Department.  In addition to being the senior detective on his team, he also teaches classes at the police academy and separate night classes for cops studying for the detectives exam.  His classes are on things like evidence handling, crime scene protocol, witness interrogation, and how to testify in court.  He typically gets assigned the new detectives so he can show them the ropes.  He likes that work – teaching the younger cops and passing down his wisdom.  He loves it when other cops come to him for his opinion on a tough case.

            He’s also a Mets fan and likes classic rock music.  He wears plain slacks and sports jacket combos with non-descript ties and comfortable (old) shoes.  He’s not flashy – he’s not trying to impress anyone.  He’s just turned 50 and is a little overweight, but trying to work out more and get into better shape, especially since he has become romantically involved with Michelle McNeill, the county medical examiner.  But, he likes his pasta. He also appreciates a fine single-malt scotch.

            Mike’s partner, Jason Dickson, is an African-American detective with a military background.  He’s young and smooth and confident – but a little too cocky sometimes for Mike’s liking.  There is some tension between them in book #1 (Righteous Assassin), but by book #2 (Deadly Enterprise) the partners fully have each other’s backs. In book #3 (Lethal Voyage), Jason takes more of the spotlight along with his girlfriend, Rachel Robinson. Their romance, which was briefly mentioned in book #2, becomes the emotional core of book #3. Then, in book #4 (Fatal Infraction), Jason decides to propose. In book #5 (Perilous Gambit), Jason and Rachel travel to Las Vegas to get married, with Mike and Michelle along as their friends and witnesses.

The dynamics between Mike and Jason and their relationship, as well as the relationship between Mike and Michelle and between Jason and Rachel, are the heart of the stories.

What makes them original?
Mike and Jason are both complex and “real” people.  Neither is a super hero who takes on multiple attackers barehanded or outthinks an evil mastermind, or smoothly seduces the female spy.  They are vulnerable and awkward and emotional.  Their comrades in the precinct are similarly “normal” people who banter and argue and yell.  They are very much New York-based people and I try to give an authentic feel to their surroundings and stories.  Mike’s status as the mentor and senior detective give him a unique persona and perspective.
            The relationship between the middle-aged couple, Mike and Michelle, starts out slow and then settles into a very comfortable ongoing romance, but they deal with their own issues. Jason and Rachel are younger and the discussion about whether to get engaged is a big topic, along with what it means to be married to a cop – and what it means for Jason to be a cop and also a husband and father. They are murder mystery stories, but the characters draw the reader into a real world, not a big-budget movie fantasy.

What makes them tick?
Mike is a very by-the-book guy for the most part, but we learn in all the stories that he’s willing to bend the rules when he feels that it’s necessary or justified.  He also is concerned about his relationship with Michelle and how to keep that going, without putting her in danger.  He’s also (surprisingly) concerned about Jason and his future and well-being.  So, he’s both a crusty jaded cop and a sensitive, concerned person.  He’s also now concerned about his own mortality and his own future to a degree that’s new to him, after 24 years on the force.
Jason has a chip on his shoulder about being a Black detective. He demands respect, although he comes to understand that he has to earn it. He’s also facing a cross-roads in his life where he must decide if he wants to be a career cop. He’s not sure he wants to be like Mike at age 50 – single. But, if he and Rachel get married, will he want to continue his rather dangerous occupation. And what if they have kids? Those questions are central to his story.

What is their biggest fear?
Now, Mike’s biggest fear is that something bad will happen to Michelle because of one of his investigations.  It nearly happened in “Righteous Assassin,” and it became an issue between them in “Deadly Enterprise.”  Unfortunately for Mike, there is more peril ahead for Michelle.

Is there a consistent bad guy in the books?
No. Each book has its own villains and challenges. Not every situation is clear-cut, which makes it fun. There is no super-villain who keeps coming back to terrorize the City. Each story is very unique. There is an organized crime family in New York – the Gallata family – that shows up a few times. And in Las Vegas there is a different organized crime boss named Freddy Costanzo, who has a link back to the Gallatas, but they are not consistent villains.

Can the books be read in any order?
Yes. Each book is a fully stand-alone story. I’ve had many readers pick up the series at each point and nobody has had any problems enjoying the books separately without having read the earlier ones. But, there is some development of the characters going on, and there are references in each book to events that happened in the earlier books. Some are necessary for later readers, and some are Easter eggs for readers who will get the “inside” jokes. There’s not much of that, but enough to make my audience happy. But they definitely can be read in any sequence. I would not recommend reading book #5 (Perilous Gambit) before reading the first four, since there will be some spoilers about what is going to happen to the man subplots.

What is Double Takedown about?
 Two investigations that test the detectives’ sense of justice. In the spring of 2022, at their first big public event in the post-COVID times, Mike, Jason, Michelle, and Rachel attend a charity ballet gala at Lincoln Center. The ballet is more exciting than anyone wanted when a Broadway actor collapses and dies, despite Rachel’s EMT efforts to save him. It turns out that the actor was murdered. Mike and Jason investigate and quickly identify the director of the actor’s show (Godfather: The Musical) as a suspect. When they find incriminating evidence on the deleted files on the director’s laptop computer, the case wraps up quickly. The director is arrested and indicted for first degree murder.
            More than a year later, the detectives are prepping with the prosecutor for their testimony at the murder trial. When an ex-cop PI tells Jason that the director is innocent, that the evidence was planted, and that the real killer got away with the perfect crime, nobody wants to hear about it. Least of all Mike and Jason. But the more they think about the PI’s information and the way the investigation played out, the more they worry that they might have developed tunnel vision and arrested the only suspect they ever truly looked at. When other evidence comes to light, they need to figure out how to find the real killer without violating ever rule in the cop book.
            Meanwhile, a new body in a swanky apartment seems like a simple drug overdose, but the beautiful internet influencer might have been murdered. And there may be a connection between the new case and the Ballet Murder.
            See what happens and how Mike and Jason walk a very thin line between duty and justice, in book #6 – Double Takedown.

If you and your character met in real life, do you think you’d get on?
Oh yes!  I have given Mike many character traits from my own backstory. We would definitely go to a Mets game together and then share a high-end single malt.  Mike’s a little younger than I, but we are both Boomers and share a lot of common experience.  I’m not a cop, but that wouldn’t stop us from being friends.

Who would you like to see play them if your books were made into a film or TV show?
In the movie version of Righteous Assassin, if it were made soon, Michael B. Jordan would play Jason.  For Mike, I think John C. Riley would be perfect.  Maybe Brad Pitt.  The casting director would have fun with the rest of the characters. I personally want Annaleigh Ashford to play Mrs. DiVito.

How many books do you have in the series so far?
Books 1-6 are now published and available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook editions. I narrated the audiobooks myself.  That makes it a 6-book series plus two stand-alone mysteries (Dead Winner and The Other Murder) in just about six years. Not bad for somebody with a day job.

What’s in store for them next?
After a two-year lull in the story. Double Takedown picks up our characters in the spring of 2022, then jumps to the fall of 2023. Book #7 (tentatively titled Treacherous Hack) will follow-on immediately after the time setting of Double Takedown. Mike and Jason investigate a murder that draws them into an international data hacking ring, while Rachel branches out in her television news career, which creates some conflicts of interest. Book #7 should be out by the end of 2025.

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