HARD HEADED WOMAN
by Howard Gimple
February 2 - 27, 2026 Virtual Book Tour
Synopsis:
No one but Hannah Johansson believes her father was murdered. Not even her mother. The doctors say he had a stroke, but Hannah knows he was poisoned. She just doesn’t know who did it or why. One thing she does know is that the answers can be found at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a pristine 9,000 acre nature preserve where her father was superintendent.
When she goes back to the Refuge, instead of answers, all she finds are more questions. Ominous questions. Where are all the birds? Why is there a heavily armed guard at the gate? What’s in the mysterious bundles being dropped off there in the middle of the night? When the police won’t investigate, Hannah is determined to find the answers herself, and she won’t quit until she learns the truth. Not even after she is shot at, thrown in jail, and beaten up by a 300-pound lesbian biker.
Praise for Hard Headed Woman:
"A gamesome detective story, dramatically absorbing and intelligently wrought."
~ Kirkus Reviews
"Hard Headed Woman is a refreshingly original story, free of many of the tropes often associated with mystery novels. That alone makes it deliciously difficult for the reader to guess who did what, and that makes this story one of the better mysteries we’ve read recently."
~ The Mystery Review Crew
"The writing was exquisite, with vivid descriptions of all the events. It was a gripping read, especially with all the changes happening in the wildlife refuge. I found the story thoroughly enjoyable and was engrossed until the final page. The conclusion was a major surprise, and I did not expect it at all."
~ Readers’ Favorite
Book Details:
Genre: Mystromedy (a mystery comedy)
Published by: MYSTROMEDY BOOKS
Publication Date: June 22, 2024
Number of Pages: 416
ISBN: 979-8990761513
Book Links: Amazon | KindleUnlimited | Goodreads | BookBub
Read an excerpt:
Hannah Johansson stood at the lectern in front of 300 people staring at her, waiting for her to say something heartfelt and meaningful. She looked around the room. A room that was unfamiliar to her even though she’d been in it thousands of times. But that was when it was the multipurpose room at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. She played in the large barn-like structure as a child with her dolls and toys and electric trains. She practiced her jumpshot here when her father put up a hoop after she made her junior high team. And when she was a little older, it was where she came when she needed to be alone with her thoughts and her guitar.
But the room that Hannah knew was gone. It was now the Axel Johansson Memorial Auditorium, renamed to honor her father’s memory.
Every seat was filled. The first two rows were reserved for relatives and VIPs. Hannah’s aunt Gilda and cousins Catherine and Phillip were sitting in the middle of the front row, flanked by officials from the Mayor’s Office, the New York City Parks Department, the National Parks Service and local assemblymen and state senators. The second row held representatives from a half-dozen environmental organizations including the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund.
The rest of the packed hall was crammed with children from neighborhood schools, birdwatching enthusiasts from all over the city and beyond, and men and women of all ages and ethnicities who loved the beauty and tranquility of the Refuge and wanted to show their appreciation and gratitude for the man who created and nurtured it.
Michael Leigh, the president of the east coast chapter of the National Environmental Conservancy and the organizer of the event, had just finished the last of a dozen tributes to her father, the man who transformed a rat infested, garbage strewn swamp into one of New York City’s environmental treasures.
Before Leigh left the stage he said, “Our final speaker, Superintendent Johansson’s daughter Hannah, would like to say a few words.”
On one side of the podium an easel held a portrait of her father in his khaki superintendent’s uniform, surrounded by a snowy egret, a great blue heron and a glossy ibis, painted by the celebrated wildlife artist Arthur Singer. On the other side was a wrought iron plant stand, but in place of a plant it held a hand-enameled aluminum urn containing her father’s ashes.
Tiny pearls of sweat formed on Hannah’s forehead. She gripped the lectern for support.
“Thank you all for coming,” she said, fighting to maintain composure. “I know my father meant a lot to you. He meant everything to me. He was my hero. My mentor. My best friend. I loved him more than I could ever possibly say.”
Her face contorted. Her eyes welled up.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I killed him,” she wailed.
***
Excerpt from Hard Headed Woman by Howard Gimple. Copyright 2024 by Howard Gimple. Reproduced with permission from Howard Gimple. All rights reserved.
Review:
4 stars!
Mystery, suspense, and murder at a Long Island nature
preserve.
Hard Headed Woman by Howard Gimple is a suspenseful,
original murder mystery set in New York and centered on a Long Island nature
preserve called Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. When Hannah Johansson’s marriage crumbled,
she’d come home to her parents’ home in Rocky Point, New York, to rest,
recover, and reflect on her future. Instead, she discovered her father, the former
Superintendent Emeritus of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a birders’ paradise
he’d singlehandedly built from its swampy ground up, in dreadful condition,
weak, and almost at death’s door.
Hannah herself was struggling with an unknown illness that
would randomly strike, making her lose control of her legs and collapse. While
suffering one of her spells of weakness, as she called it, she accidentally
knocked her father down some stairs, causing him to experience a fatal stroke. On
top of everything else going on in her life, Hannah now believes she’s killed
her own father. However, her cousin, a physician experienced with stroke
patients, is skeptical of the diagnosis and decides to look further into her
father’s death. And Hannah, while spreading her father’s ashes at his beloved
wildlife refuge, observes some very shady goings-on, and when she asks questions,
she quickly discovers someone is willing to kill to keep the truth of what’s
happening there a secret.
While Hannah is a vulnerable and sympathetic character because
of all she’s gone through, her love for her father helps her get her act
together to seek the answers she craves about his death and the suspected
shenanigans at the wildlife refuge. She starts out so scattered and filled with
pain and anger, it is easy to root for her healing and gradual transformation into
a stronger person.
The plot moves quickly, with the heroine encountering
unusual stumbling blocks in her investigation. The author does a wonderful job
crafting exciting, shocking, and unexpected scenarios and consequences for
Hannah’s snooping. I couldn’t stop reading until I understood what all was
going on and was surprised by who was behind her father’s death. I really
enjoyed the New York and Long Island settings, and the mentions of street and
road names, the businesses, and vivid descriptions made these locations come
alive for me. I liked “meeting” Hannah’s family and friends, especially her
bestie, Bette, who was going through some major life changes of her own.
I recommend HARD HEADED WOMAN (a perfect title, by the way)
to readers who enjoy mysteries and thrillers with interesting female protagonists.
Author Bio:
Howard Gimple was a writer at Newsday, the editor of a newsletter for the New York Giants football team, and a copywriter and creative director for several New York ad agencies. He has written English dialogue for the American releases of Japanese anime cartoons, reviewed books for the Long Island History Journal, and written movie scripts for a pay-per-view television network.
Howard was Chief Creative Officer at TajMania Entertainment, a film and TV production company dedicated to creating socially conscious programming. He wrote the award-winning documentary, 'The Garbageman,' about a waste management executive who helped save the lives of more than 50,000 children with congenital heart disease. He was a writer and sports editor for the Stony Brook University alumni magazine. He also taught two seminars at the university, 'Rock & Relevance,' about the political influence of 60's rock & roll and 'Filthy Shakespeare, ' exploring the dramatic use of sexual puns and innuendos in the Bard's plays and poems.
He grew up in Brooklyn, lived in Manhattan and Long Island, and now lives in Glendora, California, with his wife and goldendoodle.
Catch Up With Howard Gimple:
howardgimple.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub - @howardgimple
Facebook - @authorhowardgimple
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Giveaway: Murder, Mayhem, and a Hard Headed Heroine
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HARD HEADED WOMAN by Howard Gimple | Book & Gift Card
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