Books in the The Machination Trilogy series

The greatest friend he ever had. The devastating summer that changed it all…Brooklyn, 1945. Jewish teen Isaac Sawicki and his best buddy Billy are the perfect troublemaking pair. For three years, Isaac and his German-American pal defy a broken social order with mischief and mayhem. But it tears asunder his heart when Billy is murdered, and Isaac attracts accusations that will torment him for decades…Now an adult and seeking closure, Isaac relives his friend's fateful last days, ending with a bloody encounter in the woods and his grief-stricken attempt to drown it out the only way he knows how. From baseball and war games to sexual awakenings and shared secrets, Isaac rediscovers the loyal friendship that leaves an indelible imprint on his being.Will his journey through the past offer the healing and redemption he craves?My Friend Billy is the first book in The Machination Trilogy of thought-provoking literary fiction. If you like deep character insights, teenage rebellion, and wry humor, then you'll love Gary S. Brayshaw's profound tale.Read My Friend Billy to explore the depths of connection between young people who are not quite adults but no longer children..

When NYPD forensic specialist, Isaac Sawicki, hears of President Reginal Courtenay Bealdric's death, he suspects foul play. Isaac remembers meeting a Jill Norse and an Effie Cummings while vacationing, a supposedly chance meeting that turned out to be a setup to establish themselves as a threat to President Bealdric without saying anything against the law. Isaac now finds their actual names are Maggie Wayne and Sue Wotten, recent founders of a murderous offshoot of the National Organization for Women, calling themselves Level Playing Field (LPF), a group determined to give women the jobs and the pay they deserve, now.LPF informs the Deputy Director of the CIA, Alexandra Locke, that thirteen of her male department heads will be assassinated in the coming week and every week thereafter, until the CIA replaces every second male department head with a qualified female of their choosing. Each week the CIA loses thirteen more of their department heads and Locke receives another letter. To confirm their resolve and effectiveness, they also claim to have poisoned President Bealdric, and refer Locke to NYPD forensic specialist, Isaac Sawicki, for confirmation.Meanwhile, Isaac and his friend Juda Levy, a Virginia police lieutenant; along with Secret Service Agent, Audrey Cabot, have circuitously tested the contents of Bealdric's stomach, Isaac finding the presence of a virtually undetectable poison. They then discover that a waitress at The Krebs in Skaneateles, NY, a Linda Reynolds, left shortly after Bealdric ate his last meal there.Stymied by the limits of their secret investigation, Juda calls a friend in the CIA for help in tracking down Reynolds and is startled to find that the CIA is searching for Isaac. At a subsequent meeting with Locke, Isaac shares having detected potassium cyanide in Bealdric's stomach. Locke suggests they join forces.The intercalary chapters of this novel are Isaac's notes supporting his personal belief that the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a coup d' e'tat. These chapters develop the story's theme of political murder as The Consummate Fix, the irony being that the power elite responsible for the murder of JFK are now the targets, having themselves always looked out for their own interests, maintaining their power of advantage extending back to the days of the robber barons.

Five years after he left, vowing never to go back, Abe Weir returns to the family farm in the spring of 1967. Abe's mom, Abby, has asked him to help her get the crops off the field, his father, Isaac, being deathly ill. Abe agrees, despite hating farming, and his father.Abe returns intent on keeping to himself his tour in Vietnam as a decorated Marine Captain. Abby has a secret of her own: Ruth Cummings, the owner of the neighboring farm, is now running their farm as well, placing Abe under the thumb of the girl he ran out on five years ago. Abe visits his father's bedside, giving Isaac a chance to utter to his son how sorry he is for bringing into Abe's childhood the very cruelty his hardness was trying to protect him against. When Abe's father dies, Abe finds Ruth kinder than she has been since his return, a courtesy he misconstrues, encouraging him to dare asking her out. The lioness-like ferocity with which Ruth responds to this, paralyzes Abe, as she lambasts him with the ruin he caused when he left, still incredulous that he saw as some kind of betrayal her decision to take over her dad's farm. Abe subsequently spends the night walking the tractor paths among the farm's pastures and runs into Ruth who is doing some walking of her own. Abe decides Ruth deserves to know where he has been, imploring her to keep it to herself. Once he does, he leaves her side, apologizing for the extreme pain he now knows he so thoughtlessly caused her. That fall, Abe is hired as a high school English teacher. One particular underachiever, Tommy Armstrong, responds to Abe's challenges and his coaching, and by spring is writing "A" essays. Then Tommy tells him his dad, Del, wants him to quit school and fight in Vietnam. Now Abe knows, if he is to save Tommy from Vietnam, he has to tell Del that he has been there, ultimately exposing himself to unwarranted adulation, arousing memories he fears could still destroy him.