Hockessin man pens 'Brainwend Kill,' a new murder mystery novel set in Wilmington

A blind boy's world has grown darker now that his best friend is a murder suspect.

This is the ominous backdrop in Hockessin author Harley Stein's new murder mystery "Brainwend Kill," published by Knight Time Publishing — available on multiple websites such as Amazon, Knight Time Publishing and Acorn Books. The 380-page novel is also available on hardback and e-book.

Blind witness

Set on an early spring day in Wilmington during the early 1990s, 11-year-old Rydal Keene sits in the Grainger school library wondering why he's hearing his best friend Garth and other schoolmates in the ravine — just off the school campus in Brandywine Park — playing Marco Polo without him. Keene knows it wouldn't be a good idea for him, a blind kid, to play in the ravine. But it still doesn't change that he wants to feel included; or so he thought.

Less than an hour later, school psychologist Dr. Nell Walker finds Kyle, a 13-year-old Grainger student, dead in the ravine — floating face down with a gash on the back of his head from a rock. The next day at school, Keene's world is turned upside down when he learns of Kyle's death. And the evidence points to Garth. Eventually, an epiphany will surface in Keene's heart: "He doesn't realize it yet, but he's heard the murder," said Stein, 56.

Local inspiration

In addition to Brandywine Park playing a key role in "Brainwend Kill," there were a number of other elements inspired by Wilmington that made its way into the story. For instance, Rydal's character was shaped by the many times Stein has driven past the Delaware Association for the Blind (an organization offering educational, counseling and recreational programs to the visually impaired) located on Newport Gap Pike.

"Rydal was the first character that came to me for this [story]; and I started thinking how interesting it would be to be a young blind boy and what that would be like," said Stein, who earned a bachelor degree in creative writing at the University of California, San Diego. "He was the first character who sort of started talking to me and he was the impetus for the whole entire book."

Instead of penning the esteemed DuPont family into the story, Stein created the fictitious and powerful Sheffield family, of which main character Detective Jason Sheffield is a member.

"The DuPonts have been a political force [in Delaware], but mainly they've been an economic force here. I've made the Sheffields a political force: [they've had] governors in their past."

The Grainger school, a K-12 institution, is loosely modeled after The Tatnall School, its location and the area surrounding it. Stein's rendition of Brandywine Park includes a ravine since he wanted a watery location to help inject melancholy into the story.

Then there's the title of the book, "Brainwend Kill," which actually has strong ties to northern Delaware.

"As someone who writes about [Wilmington], I made sure I was always reading about this area and learning about it. And at some point in my reading about this area, I learned when the Dutch first settled this area, particularity the Brandywine, it was originally known as Brainwend Kill," Stein said. "And as a mystery writer, that was a phrase that captured my attention."

Moving forward

"Brainwend Kill" marks Stein's first published novel, a tale he's been penning on and off for more than 20 years. His previous books "Little Pleasures" (a science fiction story) and Pens and Pigeons, Clicks, Pops and Bangs" (a comedic read) were published in the 1980s.

It's taken him years to get "Brainwend Kill" off the ground since he became a bit discouraged during the 1990s when publishers rejected his manuscript for the story. Then in 2002 Stein became a partner with Tenzing-Consulting, a job he still has, working as a consultant providing strategy and proposal expertise to companies bidding for contracts from state and federal government agencies. Tenzing quickly began to eat up most of his time; and it still does.

But it wasn't until 2011 when Stein was working with Tenzing client Mike Lamke, who's also the founder of Knight Time Publishing, that Lamke learned about Brainwend Kill" and encouraged him to finish scribing it. With his flame for writing rekindled, Stein began etching out about an hour a day, usually during the evening time, to complete the story. By August of this year, the novel was finally published.

When asked what lies ahead for Stein, he said he's got three other mystery novel ideas he's considering for his next book. He didn't mention any timetable of when his next novel would be released.

Stein is pretty grateful for his day job with Tenzing. However, he's not ruling out the possibly that penning mystery novels could become his main stock and trade.

"I like balancing the two. I think if you said to me, Harley, you're going to be a full-time writer in two, three, four or five years — I'd be thrilled."