Killingworth Author Joseph Bradley: The Lyme Conspiracy

By Kathy Brown.

Joseph Bradley has lived in Killingworth for 15 years with his wife and three children. After high school, he joined the Army. When he got out of the Army in 1979, he opened a martial arts school, and was rated #1 in fighting in New England by Karate Illustrated Magazine. He eventually ran eight martial arts schools. In 1986, Joe became a police officer where he was part of a Gang Unit in Springfield, Mass. for 6 years. He was a police officer for 12 years, and has a Masters degree in Criminal Justice. After he left the force, he started writing murder mystery/thriller novels. “The Lyme Conspiracy” is his fourth novel, which he started 12 years ago after he contracted Lyme disease.

He became very sick from contracting Lyme disease, as many do, especially if they don’t get diagnosed right away. Lab tests are notoriously inaccurate, unfortunately, so many people go undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed, for months, or even years. “The main reason I wrote this book was because I wanted to make people aware that [Lyme disease] is a wide-spread chronic disease and it can be fatal,” said Joe. “I provide these details in dialog in the story.” In the novel, Taylor Marshall, a female homicide detective with the Major Crimes Unit of the State of Connecticut, teams up with a reporter from the New Haven Register to investigate the murders of two retired scientists who worked on Plum Island, situated between Connecticut and Long Island. They work to find a connection between the murders and a government coverup.

In the novel, when Detective Marshall is talking to Gary Mitchell, the reporter, many facts about Lyme disease are shared. Gary Mitchell says, “Most people don’t know it, but Lyme disease does kill people. It mimics other diseases including multiple sclerosis, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s, and even Alzheimer’s and rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and acid reflux.” Detective Marshall gets an education about Lyme disease during the course of the book, and so does the reader.

“My background and what I have been through in my life has a profound impact on my stories and my characters,” said Joe.

Joe has previously published The Alpha, Ticket to Paradise, and Bottle Park, all of which can be found on Amazon.com. Lions and Men will be published in January. He is currently working on his sixth novel, The Twelve Step Killer, which will feature Detective Marshall again.

The ideas often come to Joe “in dreams, or during my solitary time.” Typically, he writes an outline, which he follows while he writes. His routine is to write every morning for 2-3 hours, then again at night if he still has the energy. It takes him about three years to write each book, often going through four drafts during the process. “The first draft is written from the heart; the second from the brain,” says Joe. For people who want to write a book, he advises, “If you write one page every day, you’ll have a story in one year!”

He writes the type of books he likes to read. “To me, novels have to be page turners, or I get tired. Nothing worse than spending a month reading a book to have an anti-climactic ending,” said Joe. “All my stories have twists and turns with surprise endings.” The Lyme Conspiracy has quite the surprise ending! Joe did a lot of research on Lyme disease after contracting it, and “learned about Plum Island and the experiments conducted there with the inoculations of ticks for biological warfare purposes.”

When asked about the publishing process, Joe said, “It’s a crazy and different world. It doesn’t matter how good your stories are — it’s all about money.” He has a literary agent, but it is difficult to get a deal with any of the major publishers unless you have “a brand large enough to guarantee them millions.” The publishers make most of the money. He said that he had a small publisher publish two of his books. “They gave me $2 a hard cover and they took the other $25.” When he self publishes, he gets to keep more of the money, and “I have control.” Though it isn’t all about money for him. “I write for myself, not money or fame. It’s my passion and it’s what I’m good at, and it’s what I love to do.”

If you’re interested in reading more about Joe Bradley, check out his website, and for those interested in Lyme disease, check out thelymeconspiracy.net.