Rich Kitchens wore many hats throughout his 34-year career at PHS, including principal, social studies teacher, athletic director and basketball coach. Since retiring from education, Kitchens has added published author to his resume.
Kitchens is celebrating the release of his second mystery thriller, “Three Man Rule,” with a book launch event at the Kingfish Pub & Café on Friday, April 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. Patrons can bring a copy of the book, available for purchase on Amazon, for Kitchens to sign.
His debut novel, “Hawk River,” introduced readers to protagonist Phil Gibson, a young teacher and coach in Northern California. In Kitchens’s newest book, published in March, Gibson starts a job at a high school in Caldecott, a seemingly quiet, fictional town in the East Bay hills. He quickly gets into trouble with a violent militia involved in kidnapping, extortion and murder plots. Gibson finds both support in his students and comfort at his favorite pub, the Kingfish.
While the storyline and characters are fictional, Kitchens writes about a profession (education) and region (Northern California) he knows and loves. Elements of the series loosely draw on his experiences and memories as an educator. He took some stories that “really did happen in one way or another” and “expanded or retracted them,” he said.
“[Gibson] is running around Northern California looking for a teaching and coaching job,” Kitchens said. “That sounds a lot like what I did way back, 40 years ago. They say ‘write what you teach, write what you know,’ and so that’s what I did.”
Kitchens began his writing journey in the classroom, working on everything from student recommendation letters to a high school textbook, “Constitutional Law.” He began writing mystery novels in retirement.
“At the back of my mind, I always thought I could write,” Kitchens said. Kitchens believes the book will deeply resonate with teachers. Kitchens said that several educators shared that they have experienced challenges just like those described in the first book.
“Here’s this young teacher looking for work and struggling to make a career out of this,” Kitchens said. “And [teachers] see themselves in the issues that he gets involved in.”
Kitchens has encountered his own set of challenges with writing novels. He lost most of his eyesight seven years ago, but that has not stopped him. He now works in 72-point bold type, writing daily from 9 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m., with his computer reading the text back to him. With his wife as his first reader and his sister serving as editor, Kitchens is already working hard on the third and fourth Phil Gibson mystery series.
“It’s just something I always wanted to do,” Kitchens said. “I love reading mysteries and thrillers. They’re intellectually challenging, and I love the way writers can effectively create a story and lay some hints here and there, and then have a conclusion that everybody goes, ‘Oh, wow.’”