Haying in the Moonlight

Haying in the Moonlight features Louise Hammel who returns to the USA as a professor at the University of Northern Colorado. Her Psychology Department shares the building with Sports and Exercise Science where she meets a like-minded colleague, Brad Mc Daniels. When Brad's brother commits suicide in the small town of Boulder, Montana, the incident creates a research opportunity for Louise to interview survivors of suicide in the local community. The contemporary issue of suicide is explored through stories of farmers, the elderly, business people, high school students, and Indian reservation youth suicide pacts. The stories are complex, and yet, end with a hopeful outcome. This knowledge leaves Louise vulnerable, and wondering what she will do next in her life. The Louise Hammel Series Carol Fortino explores serious contemporary issues in her four novels including: hubris, drug cartels, human trafficking, political intrigue, cultural differences, religion, adultery, child separation, suicide, and karma. The character of Louise Hammel, an American academic, takes readers on globe-trotting trips from New Mexico, to Australia, on to the Philippines and back to Montana. The Rings of Hubris explores the character trait of hubris through issues such as missing persons, murder, drug cartels and human trafficking. The story takes place at Mountain State College in Highlands, NM, when Louise Hammel was a young academic. Although Louise is not featured in the novel, it is her academic advisor, Professor Josh Blagslade, who murders two wives, a lover and a young boy. In Driving Forces, Louise Hammel left a teaching position in Colorado and moved to Brisbane, Australia. After earning her Ph.D., she takes an important job in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. However, she is not the main character, as the novel centers around her driver, Rico Bernales, who through love with a Muslim widow, is drawn into the dangerous vortex of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The story intertwines complex issues of Filipino society: human relations, religion, education, culture and politics. In Wineglass on the Veranda, Louise Hammel plays a more pivotal role. She is introduced as a semi-retired professor from the USA housesitting for friends on Berundji Island near Brisbane. From a photograph taken from her veranda, she helps police uncover the life of Alex Crabbe, a man who suffered the consequences of child separation and, as a compromised adult, commits murder.