Women in the Hickey family novels

Years ago, I was asked to give a talk about writing to a roomful of guys in protective custody at Florence Penitentiary in Arizona. Protective custody translates as snitches and baby rapers. But they're not who I'm writing about.
On the way to the lecture hall or whatever they call such a room in prison, I chatted with a trustee. He asked what I had come for and when I told him, he said, "Hey, you being a writer, I bet you'd like to know why all these guys are here, right?"
I sure did. So he said, "Every one of them's here on account of a woman."
Now, this conclusion seemed in accord with Steven Crane's, in "The Blue Hotel:" Crane speculated, "There are usually somewhere between eleven and forty women involved in every murder . . ."
But Crane was a gifted writer and apparently knew better than to hold that women were to blame for these crimes, as the trustee's comment implied. Blame, Crane's assessment implied, usually needs to be shared between lots of folk. I’ll buy that.
I've observed, usually from a distance, enough crimes, and heard from enough intimate witnesses or perpetrators of crimes, to feel safe in supposing that most crimes occur at least in part because of lust or jealousy, most often inspired by a man's reaction to a woman. Another common motive, greed for wealth or power may actually be manifestations of the desire to control women.
Sure, these comments leave me open for charges that I'm being simplistic or whatever. So be it. I'm not willing to argue about these issues, except maybe in the bar at a writers’ conference. I'm only using them to explain the attitude that's behind the Hickey family stories.
I see the Hickey men as like most of us, only braver, and more sensitive to injustice. And behind most of their decisions I see either a desire for a woman companion and mate or a determination to protect an innocent person. Usually a woman, because women are far more often innocent and preyed upon by men than the other way around.
The Hickey men adore women, respect women, admire the courage, resilience and the depth and vision commonly found in women. If trouble comes to Tom, Clifford, or Alvaro, it's likely a result of their siding with a woman, sometimes the wrong one.