The prime suspect is apprehended hours later while apparently attempting to flee the state.
With over a dozen eyewitnesses collaborating the incident, little was left in the puzzle for the military investigators to piece together; especially once it was determined the two victims were in fact the perpetrator's wife and the man with whom she was having an ongoing affair.
Transporting the reader into the supersonic fighter jet world of naval aviation, the novel includes aircraft carrier scenes to bring the reader close to the egos and confidence of those commanders that fly our warplanes.
Combined with a steamy undercurrent of lust, love, sexual fulfillment, jealousy and primordial desires of the protagonist, the human condition of married life versus the structure and demands of military careers are juxtaposed against the strength and will of personal upbringing and ethical behavior of the characters.
Offering the reader a page-turner of excitement, legal intrigue, psychologically thrilling moments, steamy sex and military honor - and a surprise that is brilliantly foreshadowed so that even the most seasoned reader will raise an eyebrow at the end.
Review of Murder on the Naval Base by Grady Harp
There is something to be said about the combination of a writer who also is an actor that somehow makes tension scenes more credible. At least that is the case with author Behcet Kaya who is also known by the Hollywood stage name Ben Kaya.
The story is a disturbing one - the kind that glues you to the page without realizing the anticipation of the author's ability to seduce the reader with vivid characters and action.
From page one, during naturla disaster Hurricane Lori, we are faced with the cold-blooded murder of Bevin Belguzar, the wife of Lt. Anderson Garrett Belguzar, and Charles McPhearson, her lover, a former friend of her husband.
The dining room of the Murat Officer's Club contains many eyewitnesses and Lt. Anderson Belguzar is quickly arrested as the prime suspect for the double homicide because the two victims were the perpetrator's wife and her male lover.
Having jolted the reader with such a scene, author Behcet Kaya goes back in time, unfolding the events that led up to double murder.
At the same time the author intricately describes the military lifestyle and the schisms between the choice of commitment to naval flight training with accompanying sidebars of legal manipulation, the palpable tension during flight training, the crises of ethical values in a world that fosters illicit behaviors, and affairs in contrast to the innate ethical behavior of the cast of characters.
The result is a meticulous character study - suitable for screenplay adaptation - within a setting of the duplicitous nature of military life.
A fascinating novel, Murder on the Naval Base by Behcet Kaya is right up there with the best military thrillers in literary history.