the saga of ARRESTED RESTRAINT

[retropolis]

ARRESTED RESTRAINT
written by C. M. GUARDE

What is it?: Arrested Restraint is a romance novel trilogy Nelson had ended up writing after attempting to write a memoir, but getting too frustrated and depressed chronicling his actual life he instead took major liberties with the story. It became a work of fiction (though inspired by his life) that he continued to work on whenever he's bored or inspired. Satisfied enough with the finished piece and inspired by other enterprising self-published works he'd seen around, it was self-published on a whim mainly for the sake of earning a little (a lot) extra cash, but using a pen name for very obvious reasons. He fancied it a crime series. It's not smut.

NOTE: The following information is relevant to capeandcowl continuity, but neither the book series nor its legacy has carried over to maskormenace save for a single copy of the trilogy in glowsferatu's possession.

Plot summary: Nora Gold is a policewoman living in Chicago in the early 1940s. She soon gets embroiled in trying to solve a series of murders and, in the process, somehow finds herself involved in a passionate love affair with one of the suspects: a large and brutal German expatriate (but he's got a big heart. And a big--) known only as Kristof. The question is, can she uncover his innocence before an arrest is made, or is this seduction designed to blind her to his true nature?

Writing notes:

• Arrested Restraint (as in, "seized" or "stopped") was launched originally as a crime novel, although much more significance is paid to the romantic "subplot" than the criminal elements (detailed as they are). Despite the semi-grittiness of the series, as it progresses this only becomes more pronounced and thus the series is presently marketed not as crime, but as romance.
  
  
• It is 1st-person POV, descriptively written, focused primarily around a secretive, emotionally charged BDSM relationship between the protagonist and her love interest with a crime-thriller backdrop. Although it is kinky and certainly toes the line of erotica, it is not quite explicit or sensual enough to accurately be considered porn. (And Nelson will offended and upset that anyone might consider it smut. Very offended.) The covers all focus primarily on the love interest as opposed to the protagonist; the most of her that is ever shown is a hand (first book), a leg (second book), and a neck and shoulder (final book).
  
  
• Aside from Nora and Kristof, the other semi-major characters in the novels include: Dolly Jones, a sassy flirt who handles the CPD dispatch; Harry Epstein, Dolly's accountant husband; Howard Moore, Nora's noble but sometimes unfriendly partner; Evan Drake, a former CPD officer who was fired from the force for assaulting a co-worker and has bad blood with Kristof. There are several other more minor policeman characters as well as other suspects in the serial murders.
  
  
• It will be semi-frequently mistaken as a gay romance due to the ambiguous nature of the protagonist's identity (and gender) at times; Nora's name and sex are rarely directly mentioned/referenced, and there is an overall lack of accurate "[specifically] feminine" details present in the prose. For example, there is little-to-no attention paid to female genitalia (or breasts, or orgasms, etc.) in anything beyond the vaguest degree, nor much paid to specific experiences, thoughts, or rituals one might anticipate from a female narrator considering the novel's setting. Likewise, the gender of the author will be often a subject of discussion and debate among fans and critics.
  
  
• Period-wise, however, it is very accurate, as are the portrayals of crime procedure where they occur. It appears extremely well-researched on a technical level, if not actually written from personal experience. Love scenes are written with a slight level of disconnect, more description paid to sensation and emotional reflection than the sexual acts themselves.
  
  
• Although the trilogy will be well-received -- perhaps surprisingly so -- and Nelson will more than make back the money spent self-publishing, the ending of the final book will be extremely unpopular with most (but not all) of his reader-base and critics, much to his extreme distress. The sort of unpopular that if the book ever gets adapted into another media (movie or otherwise) there will be debate about whether or not to change it.

Book one: Arrested Restraint
The stage is set; Chicago 1946. Nora Gold is an idealistic and innocent young woman who wants do her part to help save the world. She has big dreams yet is still somewhat unsatisfied with her life; something is missing. While investigating a murder with the help of her partner, Howard, she encounters a mysterious man named Kristof who speaks almost no English. It isn't long before she is captivated by his passion and intrigue, seduced into an emotionally and physically intense love affair after briefly questioning him about the case. She has to adjust to balancing her work life with her secret love, unable to keep herself from being distracted by his roguish charms. The final chapters reveal a second, similar murder has occurred, and among the suspects connected to the victims is Nora's new paramour. (Publishing date: April 15, 2013)

Book two: Loose Ends
Nora fears that Kristof may be behind the series of murders that she and her fellow CPD officers have been preoccupied with. Not wanting to believe him guilty, she pursues alternative scenarios and other suspects tirelessly while getting deeper and deeper wrapped up in her dangerous liaison. She looks for anything that might prove both to her coworkers and herself that Kristof is innocent, too afraid to simply ask (and convinced he may not understand her anyway). Meanwhile, things between them get more and more intense as Kristof's sadism makes itself more known and Nora herself develops a taste for his roughness. He has also proven himself to be a very warm-hearted and caring man who seems to want a future with Nora, something that she wants too, but she is still troubled by his mysterious past that he can't, because of his poor English, communicate to her. In the final chapter she returns home to a phone call from Howard, wherein he tells her that he knows about her affair and if she doesn't lead him to Kristof, he will out the affair and also turn her in for complicity and impeding the case. (Publishing date: May 30, 2013)

Book three: At the End of My Rope (cw: suicide)
Nora begs Kristof to tell her about his past, about who he is and if he is the serial killer she and her partners have been pursuing. Instead of answering her questions, he leaves abruptly, vanishing from Nora's life as quickly as he'd arrived. Nora, distressed, has to tell Howard she doesn't know where Kristof is but he doesn't believe her, and says that he'll find him himself and expose the both of them. Kristof finally returns to Nora in the middle of the night and after a passionate reunion, tells Nora he wants them to leave the city together and start a new life elsewhere. Nora reluctantly agrees. He tells her that he's innocent but the real murderer, an ex-CPD cop with whom Kristof had a troubling history, was determined to have Kristof be arrested for his crimes. Kristof tells her he had to kill the ex-cop in order to protect himself and Nora, and that's why they needed to leave as soon as possible. They agree to meet the next night, but are confronted by Howard when the time finally comes. Nora tries to convince Howard of Kristof's innocence while Howard, meanwhile, says that Kristof is a murderer, that he's got Nora fooled, and that if they don't come with him, Howard is going to shoot. Kristof steps forward to defend Nora's honor and he and Howard struggle briefly; he manages to snap Howard's neck but Howard gets a lethal gunshot in before dying. Nora throws herself over Kristof's body in her grief and Kristof, not yet dead, professes his love and apologizes to her in his last few moments. They share a final kiss and then Nora, after attending to both bodies, returns home and hangs herself. (Publishing date: July 16, 2013)

Comments

EXCERPTS: Loose Ends

[retropolis]

(The friend):

"Dolly had a way about her that was both distinctly feminine and distinctly crude. She was always smoking or flirting with our colleagues, who undoubtedly flirted back due to her pinup-brand beauty, but beneath the glamor she had a keen wit that usually kept her as useful, if not more so, than the boys. Through her I kept myself informed on any department gossip or information that might otherwise be kept from me due to my position in the force.

Everyone thought Kristof was our man. I didn't like it, but there was nothing I could find in any of the case files or in my own memory that could exonerate him. The knowledge I may be sleeping with a murderer clung to my bones and was one thing I could not share with Dolly, no matter how deep my fear ran. Maybe only a man twisted enough to kill so callously could derive pleasure from causing pain the way Kristof always did, driving me to the brink of consciousness and leaving me unable to think, speak, or walk straight. Was I destined to be a victim of such a torrid deception? Such thoughts plagued me, because I loved him even now."

(The dilemma):

"Questions collected in my throat and on my tongue, all ones I dared not ask. As when I had first met Kristof in that dark alleyway I felt fear; my whole body prickled with the possibility that I was holding the flesh of a killer in my hand, that it was a murderer's sweat and seed that stuck against my thighs, but if he suspected anything was amiss then I imagined I'd be in far greater danger than I was presently. I parted my lips to pleasure him, finding him as enormous and warm as always so that my throat muscles clicked and tightened. I was thorough as ever, knowing every inch with my tongue the way he knew the curve of my back and the jut of my hipbones, and what below my neck and above my skirt's usual hemline could be freely bruised.

I wanted his innocence desperately. I didn't consider my own reputation in that moment, I thought only of our possible future together regardless of what he may have been guilty of. He pulled my hair and whispered to me German phrases I couldn't understand or respond to which I for once felt relieved for -- I couldn't imagine what I'd do if he confessed his sins to me right then while I had his dick in my mouth."

(The confrontation):

"No sooner had I stepped into my apartment did I hear my telephone ring, chiming with an urgency I surely must have been imagining.

"Hello, this is--" I began, but Howard's voice on the other end of the line cut me off.

"I think it's sick, what you're doing with that man," he said, and my blood immediately ran cold. I had no idea how he'd found me out, but I was too filled with revulsion and dread simultaneously to mentally retrace my steps or my discretion. I felt if I spoke I would either give him a piece of my mind or be sick, so I waited for him to continue. Of course, he did. "He's a murderer -- a murderer, for God's sakes, how can you live with yourself knowing the things he's done? You've got to tell me where he is, Nora, or by God I'm going to have to do my job and turn you in. This is complicity. This has to end."

I hung up on him. Bastard. What did he know? It killed me that he could be right, but more than that, his threat continued to reverberate in my ears, poisoning the otherwise empty and silent room with the promise of death. Whose, I didn't yet know."