Behcet ‘Ben‘ Kaya, Revered Author, Reflects on Identity and Resilience: Exploring Life Experiences and Crime Fiction, Includes Q&A

 

Behcet ‘Ben‘ Kaya, Revered Author, Reflects on Identity and Resilience: Exploring Life Experiences and Crime Fiction

https://www.einpresswire.com/article/883382303/

https://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2025/12/behcet-kaya-presents-deception-latest.html

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, January, 2026 

Ben Kaya’s life and work are shaped by movement across borders, cultures, and identities. Born in Turkey, educated in England, and ultimately finding home in the United States, his journey to America demanded resilience, reinvention, and the courage to start over. Those lived experiences now fuel his writing, grounding his crime fiction in emotional realism and hard-won perspective.

In this in-depth Q&A, Ben Kaya offers readers a rare look into his remarkable journey as an author and the creative forces driving his work

Question:

You left your home country at a young age and eventually built a literary career in the United States. What did that journey teach you about resilience, identity, and starting over?

Answer:

My identity is layered. My roots and culture are Turkish, my education comes from England, and the United States is where I feel at home. My journey began at ten with the dream of becoming a worldly man, later replaced by the desire to become an American citizen.

Making that dream real was difficult and dangerous. Had I stayed, I would have ended up in a menial job caring for my siblings and likely would not be alive today. I first went to Istanbul, working construction by day and studying English at night, then to London, where I worked as a waiter while finishing high school and college. In England, I was always the foreigner. When my Green Card was approved, and I arrived in America, I felt something new: belonging.

https://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2022/05/body-in-woods-another-great-jack.html

Question:

What was the most difficult adjustment after arriving in the U.S., and how did it shape you as a writer?

Answer:

Everything felt king-sized. In my village, four rooms were shared by extended family. In England, I lived in a single room. In America, my first apartment had two bedrooms, my car was enormous, and even the food came in double portions. That sense of space carried into my writing. I no longer felt confined. I write without worrying about word counts or deadlines, choosing to write only when the urge comes.

https://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2022/05/body-in-woods-another-great-jack.html

Question:

How did your early life experiences influence the stories you feel compelled to tell today?

Answer:

I was a loner with few friends and grew up in a violent household. Reading became my escape. I devoured Mike Hammer novels translated into Turkish and the works of Yaşar Kemal. Fiction became my first real connection to the world and a means of survival.

https://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2022/05/exclusive-jack-ludefance-is-back-in.html

Question:

Why is crime fiction such a powerful genre for exploring truth and human behavior?

Answer:

Readers have always loved crime stories, from Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie to Dostoyevsky, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Shakespeare. We love puzzles, we are fascinated by human behavior, and we crave resolution. Crime fiction allows us to explore darkness while still holding onto hope that good can triumph.

Question:
The Jack Ludefance series has gained a loyal following. How is Jack connected to your own life?

Answer:

Jack Ludefance is partly me. He is the poor boy from the Louisiana bayous, just as I was the poor boy from a village in Eastern Turkey. His pursuit of education mirrors my own, and his vulnerability reflects experiences I understand well.

https://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2024/02/exclusive-from-book-readers-heaven.html

Question:
How has Jack evolved alongside you as a writer?

Answer:
I began Treacherous Estate while having dinner with my wife overlooking the Santa Rosa Sound. Jack was created as a character full of contradictions: strength and vulnerability, clarity and doubt, past trauma colliding with present fears. With each novel, those contradictions deepen. Jack becomes more self-aware, and so do I.

Question:

Your latest novel, Deception, moves the series into moral gray areas. What inspired it?

gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2015/09/author-of-voice-of-conscience-behcet.html

Answer:

The Jack Ludefance series became the perfect vehicle for exploring my research into the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the virus’s origins, government complicity, public deception, mishandled responses, medical pressure, lockdowns, mandates, and the fast-tracking of a vaccine pushed onto an exhausted population. These issues demanded examination through fiction.

https://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2015/09/behcet-kaya-moves-to-mystery-and.html

Question:

What questions does Deception ask readers?

Answer:

After COVID, how much do you trust the government? And what will you do when the next pandemic arrives?

Question:

What does crime fiction offer readers right now?

Answer:

Escape, and the possibility that truth can still be uncovered.

Question:

What lesson from America continues to guide your writing and worldview?

Answer:

America remains a land of freedom and opportunity, but freedom requires respect for the law, and opportunity demands hard work and self-belief.

Question:

What’s next for you creatively?

Answer:

The next Jack Ludefance novel is Murder at Tutley Brewery. After a year of self-imposed retirement, Jack is drawn back into investigation when a young woman is found murdered inside a brewery fermentation tank.

Conclusion: From displacement to belonging, from survival to storytelling, Ben Kaya’s life journey mirrors the moral questions at the heart of his work. His crime fiction challenges readers to confront power, deception, and truth while holding onto the belief that justice is still possible. As the Jack Ludefance series continues, Kaya remains a fearless voice in contemporary crime fiction shaped by experience, conviction, and an unrelenting search for truth.

To learn more about Kaya and his thrilling work, click here: https://bit.ly/4jGsigg

To purchase copies of Jack Ludefance PI Series, follow this link: https://bit.ly/4qjwC7L

Thanks Ben for Visiting! You are Always Welcome

Gabby

Author of Voice of Conscience, Behcet Kaya, Presents Sequel Road to Siran!

I was privileged to have the opportunity to read Behcet Kaya's first novel, Voice of Conscience, many years ago and then lost track of him. Recently he changed his FB Page to his name and I was happy to reconnect and learn that he had since written two more novels, one of which is the sequel to Voice of Conscience. Road to Siran: Erin's Story, is a much softer and more contemporary novel where Erin travels back to her father's homelands, to meet family and to better understand why--why her father had committed suicide...

On her travels, she both travels through Siran, Turkey, and learns how the town has played a part of her ancestral past... a loving family but also...danger...

"Oh, Erin. All I know is that your father's parents died when he was a boy. I've never even seen a picture of them."
"I heard they were murdered."
My mother looked over at me in such a weird way.
"Who told you that?"
"Ogden told me. When Dad was at Hatfield Pol Tech and staying with her family, he used to have nightmares. She said that her parents thought he must have seen his parents and sister being murdered."
"But you were just a little girl when Ogden was your nanny. How do you even remember something like that?"
"I may have been young, but it's something that's pretty hard to forget, Mom."
"Murdered...I just don't understand. Your dad and I don't keep secrets. He should have told me."
"Mom, I want to go to the village where Dad was born. I want to find out about him, his family, where he went to school, all of it."
"We'll see, Erin, we'll see."
That was, and still remains my mom's stock answer to just about everything.

~~~

Road to Siran:

Erin's Story

By Behcet Kaya

"O Turkish Youth!

Your first and foremost duty

is to defend and protect the

Turkish independence

and the Turkish Republic

for all eternity.

All the mighty strength 

that you will need exists

in the noble blood flowing

in your veins!"

--Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Founder and First President of the Turkish Republic

Even before her father's death, Erin had wanted to travel to Atamkoy, Turkey, her father's birthplace. Ramzi Ozcomert, Jr., had named Erin after his sister, who had died before he came to America. Now she was old enough to decide and travel, alone, for her long-desired trip. Freedom! As her mind swirled with emotions, she suddenly decided that there was no reason to go directly to Atamkoy, instantly deciding to stop first and stay at the Hilton ParkSA, which "offered breathtaking views of the Bosporus...

Don't look for Love, Look for the one looking for Love. --Mevlana

Erin had made it to Istanbul and almost immediately saw one of her former professors, Dr. Ratcliff...and ran to meet him, although he had not recognized her... Ok, yes, they meet and become involved but you'll have to read all about that! There is too much more to share about this wonderful book! Especially seeing more of Turkey, right? Dr. Ratcliff had first recommended....

My taxi slipped through the chaotic traffic with experienced precision, and soon I was standing in the middle of Taksim Square. According to my guidebook, the square is considered the heart of modern Istanbul. It is also the location of the Monument of the Republic, commemorating the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923.

I found myself walking shoulder to shoulder with a multitude of people, businessmen, housewives, mothers...Making my way through the crowds, I stood in front of the Monument of the republic and walked slowly around the towering marble and bronze memorial. On one side, Kemal Ataturk wore his military uniform, as the hero of the War of Independence. On the opposite side, Ataturk was dressed in civilian clothes, as the first president of modern Turkey, and surrounding him were figures...

~~~

By the time the professor was taking Erin to the Ottoman Club, she was calling him Harry and they were accepting their mutual attraction. Of course, my main reason for including the dance--because I'm not quite sure it is the same dance mentioned in the book--is because in my much earlier days, I took belly dance lessons and love the fluidity of movement shared...

A drum-beat began to sound as two men walked onto the dance floor carrying a rolled up red carpet on their shouldrs. They slowly lowered the thick rug to the floor and each pulled the rug at one end. The kilim started to unroll, and when the end of the rug was reached, there appeared a dancer dressed in a barely-there, shimmering blue harem outfit.

Harry leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Her particular routine is called raks sharki, the dance of seduction. The valide sultan, the reigning sultan's mother, chose which harem girls would entertain the sultan each night. At the same time she was dancing, she was slowly removing the sultan's clothes with the ultimate dance of making love."

~~~

But soon Erin stopped being a tourist and started visiting places where she could research newspapers...She began to read about murders, in gruesome detail, including a picture. It referred to an unidentified man who had mysteriously disappeared...Erin recognized him, Oh, my God. That's Dad! Her father was a 
murderer...

Atamkoy 5 km.
I pulled the car to the side of the road and turned off
the engine. Less than four miles. My heart was thumping
so hard, I felt as if I couldn't catch my breath. I seriously
considered scrapping the whole trip.
What am I doing here?
I knew what my father had done. Why did I want to
bring this tragedy upon relatives I had never met?
What will happen once the truth is known?
~~~

Erin flew into Erzincan, the closest airport to Atamkoy and then decided to stay overnight at Siran...It was almost dark, but she watched for a little time as a group of men danced in the street to the beat of a davul and zurna. Checking into a small hotel, she was presented with a small paper-bound book, which he explained was the history of the 

town...

Then she started trying to reach some of her relatives in Atamkoy.  Fortunately, Erin was quite fluent in Turkish, but still had to make several calls before somebody referred her to Fatima Ozkoy and gave everybody a scare when she identified herself as Erin Ozcomert, who of course, had been dead for years!

While becominf apprehensive, she was still determined to go on...

And was soon in a loving relationship with her Aunt Fatma and presented with a very special gift on behalf of her father--her grandmother's journal which had been written for her son... and is shared with readers.

Erin became so involved with getting to know more of her family that she read it continuously! And later was the center of a family gathering, all wanting to meet Ramzi's daughter...

But as the word spread, it soon became apparent that Erin could be in trouble...

Such a very intriguing story, set against the ancient customs and traditions, including the seeking of justice for what had happened so long ago... Erin started trying to reach Harry to seek counsel, only to find that her old professor might be part of the danger surrounding her!

This is such an excellent sequel to the drama of Voice of Conscience! The evolution of culture might change but many early customs and traditions can still bring a revival of pain, anger, and the desire for revenge that may have been forgotten, but never forgiven...

I believe this second novel can also stand on its own as there is sufficient historical documentation through the journal that allows readers to enter into the total story, but I would still encourage reading both to get the full impact of these stories set in northeastern Turkey. Highly recommended, especially for those who love to travel around the world, like I do, learning of countries where we will never have the opportunity to visit!

GABixlerReviews

Author Behcet Kaya was born in northeastern Turkey. Growing up in a small village with long held traditions, his rebellious and creative nature emerged at an early age. Leaving home at fourteen, he travelled first to Istanbul and then on to London. His dream was to complete his high school education and then a college degree in engineering. While at Hatfield Polytechnic, Kaya made his first visit to the U.S. as an exchange student with the BUNC. He made the move to the U.S. in 1976 and became a U.S. citizen in 1985. While living in Atlanta, Georgia, he followed his creative yearnings, attending the Alliance Theater School and studying at the SAG Conservatory of Georgia. Kaya and his wife moved to Los Angeles, where he continued his studies at the Roby Theater Company and the Shakespeare, A Noise Within Theater Workshop.

Along with acting, writing became a natural outlet for his creative yearnings. He has published two novels, "Voice of Conscience" and "Murder on the Naval Base" as well as several short stories. The sequel to "Voice of Conscience" titled "Road to Siran - Erin's Story, is now available."

Damascena: The Tale of Roses and Rumi by Holly Lynn Payne - A Fascinating Tale of Love and Forgiveness... Added to Personal Favorites!

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Persian: جلال‌الدین محمد رومی‎), also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى),Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlânâ, Mevlevî (مولوی Mawlawī, "my master"), and more popularly simply as Rūmī (1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Rumi's influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: Iranians, Tajiks, Turkish, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central Asian Muslims, and the Muslims of South Asia have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the "most popular poet" and the "best selling poet" in the United States...--Wikipedia

Morning light poured through the rounded arched galleries of the caravanserai and across its open courtyard, where camels stood like golden statues tethered by long hemp ropes, their drivers against the walls, slumped and drooling, still asleep.

Be silent, he heard,
Spring is here.
The rose is dancing with its thorn
Beauties have come from the invisible
To call you home.
~~~

Rumi followed a group of small boys tending to the men just waking, delivering coffee in small white cups and tea in tulip glasses. The clanging of cups and small nickel saucers, teaspoons and sugar bowls, sounded like music. It was the first time in a decade that he had not come here seeking news of his beloved friend Shams. He missed the energy of the caravanserai and marveled at the distances these men had traveled, transporting sugar from Egypt, silk from Iraq, cinnamon and cumin from India. Stacks of silver candlesticks and chessboards carved from mother-of-pearl glinted in the early light.  A boy in a colorful wool cap carried a copper tray of fresh simet. He stared wide-eyes at Rumi and rushed toward him. "Fresh, fresh, Mevlana...  They stopped talking and parted when Rumi appeared. Grown men, like the boy, immediately prostrated themselves to the old man. Rumi gently tapped them on the shoulders, resisting the urge to sigh. He was not weary of their reverence; he only wished it were for God, not him. "Please stand," he said gesturing for them to get up off the floor. "You will ruin your knees on me."

There was only one man among them who did not get on his knees. A man, his face unshaven, dirt-smeared, stared transfixed at the girl wrapped in black wool. This head was shaved and he wore the threads of what appeared to be a monk's dark brown robe that had been cut and frayed.

Rumi recognized him as a Christian without the arrogance of a crusader. He was moved by the monk's connection to the girl, as if they had known each other for lifetimes and shared the same heart. The monk trembled when Rumi stepped toward him.

"Do you know her?" Rumi asked, looking down at the body in black wool.

The monk lifted his head to the old man. His mouth opened but no words came. Rumi looked into his mouth and saw that his tongue had been partially cut out...

Rumi met the mond with a gentle gaze.

"Did you travel with her?"

The monk nodded.

"Is she your sister?"

The monk looked wide-eyed, stricken.

"She is your Sister," Rumi concluded gently. Aren't we all spiritual siblings, he thought? "She is my Sister too," he said, and studied the girl, doubtful the monk had given her the cloak." The black wood cloak was not part of the order of any monastery, only the Sufi orders, which was why Rumi, of all people, had been called to help with her funeral...

~~~

Damascena:

The Tale of Roses and Rumi

By Holly Lynn Payne

This author presents to her readers a strange, mystical life drama surrounding the poet, Rumi. Many have heard of him and his teachings, but to read a beautiful story and enter into his life...and the young girl who is the main character... brings to us all the opportunity to learn and absorb the love that surrounded this blessed man...

The rose speaks of love silently, in a
language known only to the heart.
--unknown

How Rumi meets the young girl is brought to us in the Prologue, and happened in Konya, Turkey, in 1270, but the girl had been born more than a decade before that. At first, I thought the story was going to be a fairy tale but it soon became apparent it was written so that the literary characters become much more real, as if this was a true story of a young girl, living at that time, albeit in a much more humble, difficult situation than the average... You see, her mother's mother had sent her daughter to a monastery to have and leave her child. She and her daughter were both indentured to the king and there was no use to try to get out of that role, except they could save the child...

Rila Mountains, Bulgaria 1256
The girl was born beneath the shadow of a dance on the sixth day of the sixth month in the year 1256. Hers was the first birth in the monastery and it riled the young friar, Ivan Balev, to have to clean up her mother's blood. He stood inside the chapel door with a mop and bucket, fingers stiff with the chill of dawn, and he could hear, between the woman's screams, the laughter hissed by the monks who had assigned him this duty.
He was eighteen and assumed they wanted to test him, to see if his massive body stiffened when he saw her breasts. He felt nothing more than astonishment and disgust--not at her body, but at what her body could endure. He had known no man, other than Jesus Christ himself, who had suffered more, and he wondered if giving birth was akin to a crucifixion. If it was, he wanted to know why there was only a son of God. He figured there ought to be a daughter of God, too, if she had to go through this...
Ivan Balev had no curative powers, no hands that could heal, no true way of knowing if he could ever bless anyone, and for this he felt like less of a man watching the woman struggle with her baby. He wanted to carry her out of the chapel and into a proper bed, but he could not move. Not because he was terrified of what he had just witnessed, but because the moment the baby entered the chapel, the smell of roses leaked from its walls. He pressed his nose against the door and smelled roses in the wood. He tested the sleeve of his robe, expecting the smell of dirt and sweat, but it, too, smelled like roses...

"Grow cuttings from the seeds and plant them
on the first full moon. If she wants to know
where I am, tell her I will always be in the roses."
~~~

There were many supernatural components to the birth that frightened Ivan, the priest who was assigned to care of Rasa.  As soon as the birth was completed, the mother, Rasa, pulled out a silk sack of rose hips, directing that her name was Damascena...from the rosa damascena...

Ivan accepted the rose hips, but never planted them as he was instructed! That was the first cruel decision he made...

Even though Ivan was upset with having to take care of the child, even praying that an angel would take the child, when her mother later came back to claim her, he would not let her take her! He also refused to pass on her letters to the girl and merely told her that she had been left at birth and her mother had run away...

And then the stork came...and would sit watching, as if making sure the little girl was being taken care of...Soon, she learned to call him, Bird...

"Bird," she cried, her tiny voice
struggling beneath her sobs...
~~~

Ivan grabbed her small chin and slapped
his hand over her mouth. The girl
shrank under his touch. "Bird," he hissed,
regretting the girl's first word and the
pure love with which she spoke of the
stork...
"The bird will not save you and neither
will these!"
!!!

Ivan refused to believe that the stork was any indication that the
Heavenly Father of All Beings heard Ivan Baley's plea. Ivan considered giving up. So what if he never told Damascena about the roses? So what if he told her that her mother was dead? The words sounded smooth in his mouth, about the creamiest of lies he'd ever tasted. No one would ever know. Or care...

And so she continued to live at the monastery serving Ivan and the other monks, working to
clean the monastery, with little to eat or give her happiness, except the stork--until she started becoming the beautiful woman she would become...

It was dark when Damascena opened her eyes. At first she saw the twinkling of stars through the canopy of trees arched over the trail. She could make out the sliver of moon and the silhouette of a stork that flew just then across the night sky.

"Bird," she called out, her voice strained, throat dry.

She pushed herself off the ground and sat up, feeling dizzy and disoriented in the darkness. She closed her eyes, feeling the familiar weight of a hand on her shoulder and froze, taking in the musky, sweet scent. When she opened her eyes, she saw the hooded man standing before her...

"Where are you taking me?"

"Home," he said. His voice was flat and direct, quite different from the lyrical whispers she had heard coming from another man.

"I have no home," she said, unwilling to explain anything to the stranger.

"Everyone has a home, child. I will help you find it."

~~~

The back cover alludes to the Sufi dance that Damascena learned, so I am not giving anything away to share more about that particular mystical experience she ultimately had...

Certainly, Damascena paved the way for women to join this beautiful and spiritual dance...

Payne takes the spirituality of God, the mysticism of Rumi and his blessed words, merges it with a fantasy that could only occur as part of the times in which Rumi lived...and, perhaps, Damascena may indeed have been there with the touch and smell of her roses which, by now had been turned into oil... Surely there was much pain and loss in the life Damascena led, but I can't help but conclude that it is a truly lovely story that I am honored to recommend highly to you.

GABixlerReviews

Holly Lynn Payne is an internationally published novelist in ten countries whose work has been translated into eight languages. Her new novel, DAMASCENA: the tale of roses and Rumi, unravels the mystery surrounding a gifted orphaned girl who meets the great Persian poet and mystic Rumi in the 13th century and discovers the secret of the rose. Dutton/Plume published her first two novels, The Sound of Blue and The Virgin's Knot, her debut novel, selected as a Discover Great New Writers and Border's Original Voices book. Her third book, Kingdom of Simplicity was nominated for a national book award in Belgium and was named to the mandatory reading list in Ghent. It has also published in the Netherlands, Taiwan and soon China, and is the winner of a Marin Arts Council Grant, first place winner of a Benjamin Franklin Award 2010 and won Grand Prize for the Writers Digest Self-Published Book Awards 2011. Payne studied journalism at the University of Richmond, where she received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2010. She earned a MFA from University of Southern California and has taught throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, serving on the faculty at the Academy of Art University, California College of the Arts and Stanford. She lives in Northern California with her young daughter, and serves the literary community as a writing coach, publishing strategist and volunteer producer for Litquake--the West Coast's largest week-long literary festival held each October in San Francisco. When she's not writing or coaching other writers, she enjoys getting dirty on a mountain bike. You can read more about her coaching and retreats here: http://www.hollylynnpayne.com or follow her on Twitter @skywritertribe.

Traveling to Turkey Via Carole P. Roman's Child"s Introduction to Culture Around the World...

Ankara, Capitol of Turkey

If I were fortunate enough to travel to Turkey, my main interest for touring would be the beautiful architectural wonders there. For instance, Turkey's Capitol Building in Ankara. But if you lived their, your parents could be with their children and might decide to visit Istanbul, whose name itself rings with mystery, doesn't it?! This city was named The European Capital of Culture several years ago and there's sure to be much to see!

 

The very first thing you must know is about money! There are many things to do there... Turkey uses the lira and boys may be looking for a new soccer ball, while the girls would love to visit the doll shops and maybe get one... But wait! We need to meet some of the children there! Boys would have names like:

Ruzgar

Suna

Zeki

Damla

And if you are a girl, your name could possibly be:

Ismet....or                                                                             Sema!

After okul, school, either for a snack or dinner, there would be delicious food like borek or Doner Kebab! I don't know about you, but I would love to taste any one of these...or all of them!

Now I want to share the most favorite of the suggested places to visit! Hagia Sophia and its outstanding mosaics. This building has served many purposes since it was built in 390 and truly is an amazing cultural icon...

 

 

 

Check this out! This was an angel's face that was Chirecently uncovered!
Amazing!



Now if we were invited to come visit, most children would ask us to visit during their favorite holiday  which is Children's Day celebrated  on April 23. You would be surprised what happens on that day...but here are a few examples and the kids enjoying the day!

 

 

As with all books in this series, each page is filled with beautifully painted scenes of children going to school, to the store, eating, and so much more. I'm enjoying learning about different countries through this easy to read, comprehensive and overall glimpse into the cultural world and this particular visit to Turkey! If you have started a home library for your children, this is a wonderful series to add to it...don't you think?!


GABixlerReviews

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