America Tonight with Kate Delaney: David O. Thomas, “The Gordian Knot”

by ReadersMagnet | August 27, 2025 | radio interview | 0 Comments

Former police officer David O. Thomas recently guested on “America Tonight with Kate Delaney.” He wrote a true-to-life novel dedicated to the struggles of his fellow men and women in uniform. Titled The Gordian Knot, it follows a pair of detectives who couldn’t be more different in their approaches to both their work and their personal lives. In this interview, David talked about his own share of real experiences in the force and how these went into telling this suspenseful tale of meting out justice amidst human failings and systemic flaws.

Getting Into Police Life

When David finally finished university curriculum, it was with a Liberal Arts degree with a major in Russian and a minor in Eastern European history.

Sadly, there was little demand for such credentials in Tucson, Arizona. Things took a fateful turn, however, when he saw an ad for deputy sheriff at the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

This application would then begin his journey through the academy, and then a career that spanned over 20 years. This same career would also see him explore the various types of investigations, including homicide, sex crimes, narcotics, organized crime, and more. This career would send him studying their fields across a number of states, and David was eager to embrace as much knowledge as he could.

Turning the Life Into A Story

Even as he neared the end of his career, David remained ever passionate about detective work. He went on to serve in the Pima County Public Defender’s Office. And at this point, he had rounded out his experience and got to see how this type of work was on the ‘dark’ side as opposed to his previous duties serving prosecutors.

Still, he wasn’t getting any younger, and neither was his wife. When he found himself needing to spend more time at home to take care of her growing health problems, he began refining his writing skills on the side.

Throughout that period, he reflected on the past opportunities he had to share stories about life in the force. One time, he had distributed a short, fairy tale story, which was actually a subtle dig at cuts to his department in favor of higher-ups.

Another time, he collaborated with a talented cartoonist to publish an illustrated, short story collection shared by many of his academy classmates on their twentieth-year anniversary.

Soon enough, the groundwork for The Gordian Knot was being laid out. It was only a matter of time before he finished it.

Sharing the Human Side of the Detective Life

David’s novel follows a pair of detectives whose approaches to the department and lifestyles couldn’t be more different.

On the one hand was senior homicide sleuth Frank Spencer, who was as hardboiled as they could come. He has a history of butting heads with superior officers, suffering the fallout of a divorce, and has developed a drinking problem.

On the other hand is the young and eager Mike Estrada, who now faces the dizzying labyrinth of bureaucracy that comes with the job, as well as making sure it doesn’t affect his family life.

Together, the two are racing against the clock when it comes to both reconciling their differences and the haunting realization that their current case involves a dangerous, calculating serial killer.

David has been quite deliberate in fleshing out the two men as being as close as possible to their many real-world counterparts. Many police officers bear the weight of an enormous responsibility, yet it doesn’t take away their being human (for better or worse). The work was also inspired by David’s own involvement in a serial killer investigation, and probes further into the current working theories of what motivates them.

Remembering That Police Officers Are Still People

Overall, if there was one thing that David would like his story to teach, it is that police officers are still people. And more importantly, they are still imperfect people working with imperfect systems.

Like everyone else, they are just doing their very best at their job.

You can check out the full interview over at the ReadersMagnet YouTube Channel.

“The Gordian Knot” is available on Amazon.Amazon: https://a.co/d/5NLQBar