In retirement, former Wyoming Valley resident Michael Angley has looked back to his roots, using his career experiences and childhood home to create a trilogy of mystery/thriller novels, "The Child Finder Trilogy."

A 1977 graduate of Wyoming Valley West High School, and a 1981 King's College alumnus, Mr. Angley has prominently featured the Wyoming Valley in his plot. The first novel of the trilogy, "Child Finder," features the region most heavily, but the second novel, "Child Finder: Revelation," "also has Wyoming Valley elements embedded within it," according to a statement by the author.

Life as fiction

The trilogy follows protagonist Maj. Patrick O'Donnell, an Air Force special agent. Mr. Angley was inspired to create O'Donnell's world through his own experience as an Air Force colonel and special agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. During his career, Mr. Angley held 13 different assignments throughout the world, among which were several deployments to the Middle East to conduct dangerous yet successful counterterrorism operations.

Born in Newark, N.J., Mr. Angley moved to Kingston at age 13. Nine months later, the flood of 1972 forced his family to move to Courtdale, where Mr. Angley's mother and sisters still reside.

After graduating from Wyoming Valley West, Mr. Angley went through ROTC training and earned a degree in criminal justice from King's College, hoping to have a career with the FBI. When he realized the FBI required three years of investigative experience, Mr. Angley's older brother, Jim, a veteran of the Air Force during the Vietnam War, suggested Mr. Angley join the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) for experience. "I hadn't ever heard of OSI," Mr. Angley remembered, laughing. "I thought I'd get three years experience there and leave. 25 years later, I was wondering where the time went!"

A different path

However, Mr. Angley certainly doesn't regret his time with the Air Force. "I enjoyed it so much. My work, traveling - it seems I was made to do it." During his 25-year career, Mr. Angley spent about half of his time doing counterterrorism and counterintelligence, commanding all OSI units in the Middle East, having responsibility for 23 countries. In addition to working undercover criminal cases including fraud and narcotics, Mr. Angley also worked child-crime cases, which served as inspiration for his suspense trilogy. "Those cases really affected me," explained Mr. Angley. "They broke my heart and stayed with me."

"Child Finder" is a mystery thriller that includes both paranormal and religious twists. The trilogy's publisher, TotalRecall Publications, Inc., describes protagonist O'Donnell "as tough as '24's' Jack Bauer, but with the endearing, family-values heart of '7th Heaven's' Eric Camden." O'Donnell is Irish-Catholic, which is another example of Mr. Angley's roots showing up in the novel. When O'Donnell discovers he has a unique psychic gift, O'Donnell must draw upon his faith and values to guide him in making tough ethical decisions.

The first novel, "Child Finder," was released Tuesday, and is available through Amazon.com and other online retailers, as well as many brick-and-mortar stores. The second and third novels are scheduled for release later this year. More information can be found at www.childfinder.us.