ASK THE AUTHOR: Wil Mara
LATEST PROJECT: Frame 232: A Jason Hammond Novel (9781414359519, $13.99, July).
PUBLISHER: Tyndale House Publishers.

What is the main  “What if?” question in Frame 232 related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy?

“What if new evidence concerning the Kennedy assassination—something with conclusive proof that Oswald did not act alone—was discovered by an ordinary person, and a few very powerful people who had taken part in the conspiracy and were still alive wanted to make certain that evidence never saw the light of day?”

What inspired you to explore this possible scenario in fiction form?

As I was watching one of the countless documentaries on [the assassination], I was introduced to a little-known figure called the Babushka Lady—a woman who had been standing in Dealey Plaza wearing a headscarf (aka a babushka) and was apparently holding a camera of some kind. I’d like to point out here that this was a real person, not the product of my or anyone else’s imagination, and that her identity remains unknown to this day. Anyhow, seeing her sparked an idea—what if she’d had a film camera, what if she captured something that no one else noticed and what if, out of concern for herself and her family, she decided to keep her film a secret for half a century? 

What is the significance of the title?

The key image in the Babushka film—the one that opens the door to everything else for Hammond and Sheila—just happens to be frame 232.

Would you give us a short summary?

The daughter and only child of the aforementioned Babushka Lady—the name I gave in the story is Sheila Baker—discovers the film after her mother’s death and contacts Jason Hammond, our wonderful Christian hero, for help. Hammond is the son of a wealthy industrialist who, along with Hammond’s mother and only sibling, died tragically in a plane crash years earlier. As a result, Hammond has been struggling with his faith and has been escaping the pain by throwing his energies and resources into solving the most high-profile mysteries of 20th century. In the case of the Babushka film, he knows he’s onto something huge. 

Jason struggles with the loss of his family. What is his crisis of faith?

Like so many people, his crisis was born from suffering through a massive loss, and that suffering continues unabated. He goes to bed with it, wakes up with it, feels it with every breath. His family were good people, so he cannot make peace with the magnitude of the tragedy in relation to his belief in the Lord. What’s interesting, though—and this is where the agonizing tension is most taut—is that he’s still a believer. Think about it—if he weren’t, there wouldn’t be any conflict at all. And this unresolved issue provides a giant story arc that will span many books. Hammond’s bruised and battered faith is the real story in this series. 

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