Meet Detective RJ Franklin - The RJ Franklin Mystery Series

Good morning, my name is Robert James Franklin Jr., but everyone calls me RJ. I’m a detective with the Special Crimes division of the St. Joseph Indiana Police Department (SJPD). As a cop, we deal in facts. So, here’s mine. I’m an African-American, male, six-foot three and two hundred pounds with short dark hair and brown eyes. I’m thirty-three-years-old and single, although I’m not available. Not, since my godmother introduced me to her hair stylist, Paris Williams, anyway. I love jazz, working with wood and I really love old cars. I’ve got a 1959 El Dorado that my girlfriend says I love more than her.

I was raised in the Baptist church and my upbringing has shaped who I am today. It’s such a vital component of African American culture, it’s probably why all of the titles in the books about me come from Negro Spirituals. I was brought up to love God, respect my elders and do the right thing. That’s probably what led me to become a police officer. The motto “to serve and protect” is ingrained in who I am. That’s what made it so hard when I couldn’t protect. Over a year ago, I was involved in a car accident. Technically, it wasn’t my fault, but that doesn’t change anything. I failed to protect and I’m haunted by that failure every day and every night.

One of the most important people in my life is my godmother, Mrs. Ella Bethany, Mama B to me and my sister. Mama B was my mom’s best friend and has been a guiding light in my life since I was little. She never attended college, but she’s a wise woman and has a knack of getting people to talk to her; and they do. They talk and they tell her their deepest, darkest secrets. All types of people stop by her house which is in an alley across from an old recreation center in the middle of ‘the hood.’ Everyone, from gang bangers to elected officials sit on Mama B’s front porch, drink sweet tea and spill their guts. They tell her things they’d never tell the police. So, I’ve learned if I want the real dirt. If I want to know what’s really going on, then I stop by my godmother’s house and I get the real scoop. Oh, and a good meal. Mama loves to cook everything from fried corn and black-eyed peas to sweet potato pie. It’s a good life.

by RJ Franklin, from the RJ Franklin Mystery Series by V. M. Burns





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