Richard V. Rupp

January 26, 2022

Good Wednesday morning. I'm author Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California. Welcome to RUPP'S NOTES/FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMANN SERIES posts.

 

Based on the numerous sports news articles and twits I have seen, I was not the only one that enjoyed the NFL Playoff games this past weekend. Thank you, NFL, for taking our minds off all the recent bad news in this world of ours.

 

I was relaxed as I sipped my beer while alternating between enjoying my shrimp cocktail, tortilla chips dipped in que Bueno dip, and fresh carrots and celery slices. Finally, my Rams had gained an early lead in a game and were holding it. Then suddenly, things went downhill. The food in my stomach started churning, as did the game. The texts between my sons, grandson, and I heated up. They included - "Omg so bad." "Rams giving game away." What is Stafford doing?" "Omg what a…I don't know what that was." "Geeesh! Yeah. What a game!" My final text was – "Going for a relaxing walk."

 

The "Goat" awakened late in the game, and the Rams' 24 point lead suddenly evaporated. Tom Brady did his thing and overcame a 27-3 deficit to tie the game with 42 seconds left. Well, he didn't have to do it all. As usual this season, the Rams contributed through a series of miscues and poor possessions. Finally, there was a Hollywood ending for my Rams. Matt Gay's 30-yard field goal, set up by Matt Stafford's 44-yard strike to Cooper Kupp with under 20 seconds left, set the Rams up for the victory. The Rams overcame their calamity of errors to win.

 

During the turnaround in the game, the Rams coach McVay is quoted as saying, "I thought, this has got to be a dream." I disagree somewhat with his quote. Sitting on my couch, "I thought, this has got to be a nightmare."

 

I loved the Monday morning L.A. TIMES sports page headline - GOAT BUSTERS.

 

If you are an NFL fan, you had to enjoy this weekend of playoff games. Every game was exciting. To me, there were a lot of wrong and time-consuming calls by the refs, a lot of field goals kicked, and a lot of I can't believe they did that calls or plays. This made all of the games exciting.

 

My Rams' next opponent and long-time rivals, the 49ers, beat the top ceded Green Bay Packers despite having no offensive touchdowns in the game. The Pack contributed several times to their own loss. The worst was having 10 men on the field on a possible game-winning field goal. I have watched my Rams losing to Green Bay in their "Ice" stadium too often. For this reason, I rooted for the Niners.

 

Hopefully, your favorite team won. I'm looking forward to next Sunday, with my fingers crossed for my Rams. My oldest son and grandson will be joining me to watch this game.

 

Staying on sports for just one more second, last night I watched a great college basketball game between UCLA (ranked 6th) and Arizona (ranked 3rd). The UCLA grad and great basketball player Bill Walton the ESPN commentator, drives me nuts with his constant crazy comments. But be that as it may, the game was up to the NFL weekend games as far as watching goes. It was a fast pasted game, with few fouls called, but rough play. UCLA won 75 to 59.

 

I noted several new followers of my posts. Thanks for following, and for you, here is some background on my FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMANN SERIES. Hopefully, you will have an interest in reading my work.

 

In my first novel in the series DEATH & TAXES, I introduce Dick Hartmann, a seasoned FBI agent who heads up San Francisco's FBI Violent Crime Squad. When he and his elite squad are assigned to investigate a suspicious death at the IRS Service "Center in Fresno, California, they're soon led into the bowels of the city's largest street gang – the Bulldogs. As the case grabs the attention of POTUS, the squad travels to Los Angeles and then to Mexico, where they must infiltrate a drug cartel to take down a gang member with the power to ruin the lives of millions of American taxpayers.

 

Next, there was DEATH ON THE HIGH SEAS. In this one, Hartmann is invited to enjoy a free vacation on a cruise ship by one of his San Francisco Le Central drinking buddies (a frequent haunt of mine). His buddy extends the invitation to include Hartmann's beautiful fellow agent Coleen Ryan to join him. Separate cabins, of course. But, they are adjacent. They board the "Pacific Wonder" without knowing that they are about to become immersed in a brutal murder. They find that all of the ship's passengers are linked, and one of them is an attractive head of a Mexican drug cartel whose path crossed with them in a previous case. The investigation moves from the ship to San Francisco, New York, the Cayman Islands, Europe, and India. Hartmann's team finds there is much more to the case than a brutal murder, including international money laundering and lust.

 

I'm currently working on several manuscripts for the series. It's probably not the best way to write, as it slows the process down, but it seems to be working. The next book to be published is titled SKYWARD. It's actually the final Harmann book in the series, but current world events were on my mind, and I wanted to address them. Hartmann's last FBI assignment is establishing an FBI Office on the Moon. Why an FBI Office on the Moon, you ask. Because the United States decided it must compete with the Chinese in the colonization of space. If you have a colony of people, you need some form of law enforcement. For several logical reasons, the FBI and specifically Hartmann were selected.

 

Once SKYWARD is published, I will go back and fill in the rest of Hartmann's career. My novels are available on Amazon. Here's the link - https://www.amazon.com/Richard-V.-Rupp/e/B001KJ5XB6?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000

 

Have a great week. I recommend watching sports to get your mind off what's happening in the world around us.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright©2022 by Richard V. Rupp