Writing From the Heart and Home

Detroit native and now Capitol Hill resident, author Cheryl Head, on June 29, 2021, published a “Warn Me When It’s Time”, a mystery novel set in Dearborn Michigan.

Head, is a published author, producer, broadcasting executive, and filmmaker. After writing her debut novel “Long Way Home: A World War II Novel” she went on to write three more successful novels, including the previously mentioned “Warn Me When It’s Time”.

The book follows an investigation led by Charlie Mack and her team after a hate group struck a local mosque in Dearborn killing a respected imam. This group was also known for arson all around Detroit, setting many other religious temples, and churches ablaze. The winding mystery novel leads the reader through the book as detective Mack solves clues that led her and her team to reluctantly realize that there is corruption within the official system going all the way up to the national level. With this, an FBI agent James Saleh teams up with the Mack Agency to take down the hate group and ultimately ignites a race war in America creating a parallel between the arson and the race war.

Head began her professional writing career first with historical fiction. She did mention that this was because as a young author she felt the need to use her voice and clear up misconceptions about what life was like for young African Americans during the 1940’s.

Soon after this, however, she transitioned into writing mystery, her true passion. Growing up, Head always found reading and writing mystery to be interesting and relaxing for her so it makes complete sense that in her career she has now written a total of 6 mystery novels all centering around the adventures of Charlie Mack as an African American, queer detective.

As previously mentioned, her most recent novel involves detective Mack solving a case after being hired by a Muslim family whose father died in what they suspect was a hate crime. This novel was inspired by when Head told the story of how she heard about the national news of Michigan’s governor, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, almost getting kidnapped on Oct. 8, 2020, while she was in Washington D.C.

However, not only is this book full of mystery and suspense but it is also full of relatable characters that Head said she channeled certain parts of herself into and it relates to the main character Charlie the most.

“[I relate to] her curiosity about human nature, her desire to help the underdog, her innate belief in the power of women to solve problems. On a lighter note: her love of Broadway musicals and White Castle burgers,” Head said.

This book does address issues in American politics and underlying white supremacy. In fact, Head successfully went undercover in online white supremacy to get a better idea of how to illustrate the issue and humanize the perpetrators as much as possible in the book.

But despite these issues being addressed, Head said she still considers herself a patriot. She has traveled to many places throughout her life and said she came to the conclusion that in the end there is no place like America. Head has traveled to Israel; Granada, Spain; Capetown, South Africa; and a variety of southern states.

“Each location has a complicated story of race relations and a rich history of the courage of freedom fighters,” Head said.

For mystery fans out there you can check out Head’s work on normal purchasing platforms like Amazon, Audible, Barnes and Noble, and GooglePlay.

“I have a stand-alone crime fiction novel out in 2023 from Dutton Press based on a true story in my family. My grandfather was killed by police in Birmingham, Alabama in 1929. My family has only ever had sketchy information about the incident, but I recently found proof of the homicide, and more details about the circumstances. In my story, a young Detroit Free Press reporter covering the Black Lives Matter beat in 2019, who is also the great-granddaughter of the murdered man, goes to Birmingham to learn the details of his killing. The book is called Time’s Undoing,” Head said.