via Snow Angel by Jackie Taylor Zortman
Just click on the above link and it will take you to P. J. Nunn’s Book Browsing site where I am a guest author today – July 21, 2018. Hope you’ll leave a comment either there or here to let us know you stopped by.
We are half-way through July and where I live in the southwestern mountains of Colorado, it is uncharacteristically HOT and it is unusually DRY. We have numerous wildfires burning all around us and one is close enough to occasionally bring a lot of unpleasant smoke to hang low just under the peaks that surround the little tourist town in which we live. However, as of last night, I heard that fire – the #416 Fire in Durango – is no longer a threat. We happily welcome our normally clear, blue skies back.
The meteorologists keep teasing us with hints that our normal monsoon flow rains will begin most any day, but the rain we do have is torrential with horrendous wind and periods of hail falling hard and fast. The wind pounds the rain against the entire south side of the house where it literally flows down the side. Since our house is mostly large windows on the scenic south side, this results in leaking windows and misery. The river will rise to the brink of its banks, then almost immediately lower back down to wading across status as soon as the rain stops.
Yesterday afternoon during the storm, my daughter-in-law witnessed a weeping willow tree just as it was struck by lightning that blew the bark off it. We heard it hit, of course, with my husband remarking, “That was close!” My iPhone said it was .3 mile from our house and now that I know what tree it was, it was right. Thankfully, it didn’t set the tree on fire.
My best friend of thirty years, Hawaii born/half native and just tip-toeing into her 70s, actually went out and bought herself a child’s swimming pool in which she cools off regularly. She lives at a lower altitude than we do, so it’s even hotter down there. We shop in the town in which she lives and can’t wait to get back home where it is usually quite a lot cooler. Since we are almost forty years acclimated to the high altitude, added humidity and heavier air do not bode well for us.
The whole state is under a strict fire ban and we had no fireworks on July 4th, though we did have the traditional water fights and parade, then topped the evening off with a 4WD vehicle flare parade down the mountain switchbacks after dark. No burning flares are permitted anymore, just glow sticks on each side of the front bumper and lots of little LED lights the participants choose to use. Some get quite elaborate.
Here in the mountains, little clouds will get up close to the trees and the sides of the mountains, usually up pretty high. The other day, that’s exactly what happened right after that awful storm. Someone saw it and called the fire department to respond to a National Forest campground, absolutely certain an area we call the Amphitheatre was on fire. Nope. Just clouds. But it does often look like smoke, so we can’t fault them for fearing the worst.
Yes, it’s been very different this year. Our sizzling summer followed a very mild winter with little snow and therein lies the problem. We enjoyed the mostly clear roads all winter, but are already praying for lots of snow this year. I even have a Ulr medal hanging in my car now in hopes the Norse god of snow will also do what he can to help that along.
Detective Max Richards Book 2
Meantime, my personal suggestion is to relax in the heat by reading my new novel SNOW ANGEL. I will take you into the Colorado mountains and surround you with cool, white powdery snow. You can find it at http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781938436444 . Okay, I admit that was a bit sneaky, but the opportunity presented itself and I took it. Take a look at it on either link and see what you think. Should you buy it and read it, if you’d write a review of it for me, that would be great.
If that doesn’t do it for you, check out my Detective Max Richards Book 1 called FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST. The Kindle version is at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DD1Y2F8 . The paperback can only be bought from me until my publisher has time to get the second edition of it back out on Amazon. But that will be soon.
Meantime, stay cool and stay safe.
In this second Detective Max Richards book, he and his sister inherit their mother’s estate and find an ornate old wooden box on a shelf in her bedroom closet. The amount of dust on it indicates it has long been forgotten. The contents reveal a carefully hidden secret about her and connects her heirs to an old abandoned Victorian house in a Colorado town where Max already owns a remote cabin.
Detective Max Richards Book 2
Max and his wife, Sami, and sister, Willow, fly out to investigate their new abode over the Christmas holidays. Following their tire tracks in the snow, the newly appointed local chief of police introduces himself and quickly becomes an important part of their circle of close friends.
Unexpected twists and turns changes their lives in unexpected ways and leads them to make decisions they never dreamed possible.
Find out at: http://amazon.com/dp/193843644X
NOTE: If you’ve already read the book, it would be wonderful if you’d write a review on amazon.com. Go to the link above, scroll down to Customer Reviews and click on “write a customer review”. Authors need your opinions and appreciate each one, even if it only says, “I liked it.” It helps us sell our books and prompts other venues to promote it, as well.
Formidible homicide detective, Max Richards, is back on Amazon.com in the original book FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST, but only in the Kindle version, so far. This is the second edition of my book and it’s sporting a spiffy new cover. It will soon also be available as a trade paperback. Meantime, you can get the Kindle version at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DD1Y2F8 .
FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST (Detective Max Richards Book 1)
Second Edition
My new novel SNOW ANGEL is Detective Max Richards Book 2 and you can get both the trade paperback and Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/193843644X .
Detective Max Richards Book 2
Both books are Public Safety Writers Association Writing Competition Award Winners.
For Memorial Day, I am posting an article written by my dear friend and fellow author, Keith Bettinger. This article appears in the book “I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE-Stories of Valor, Heroism and Patriotism Written by the Wednesday Warrior Writers” and it is used with the written permission of the author.
Amongst the Shadows and the Stones
Keith Bettinger
I don’t know if my feelings and priorities about Memorial Day were different that year because the holiday fell on May 31, as it used to in the past. Maybe, it was the impending calendar change to the new millennium. It might have been that my own 50th birthday was approaching, arriving right after the millennium change. That could have made me more reflective as I approached my own half century. It also could have been that during the previous year, I saw the movie Saving Private Ryan. When I walked out of the theater, I was emotionally exhausted. I came away saying, “Every politician should have to watch this film, before he can vote to send someone else’s child off to war.” Maybe my observations were distorted when I looked at Viet Nam veterans. I thought to myself how old they appeared to be, and suddenly, I realized these are the American heroes of my generation. I do know that my father and my uncle are both veterans. They entered the service near the end of World War II, and my uncle is now in his 80s; my father recently passed away at 80. The other veterans from World War II are older and it just seems that all the sacrifices of their generation are being forgotten as time passes all of us by.
My wife and I talked before that holiday weekend. We decided we would make that Memorial Day like the ones we remembered when we were children, the holiday when veterans weren’t so old, they marched in parades and honored all of those who served. The Memorial Days we remembered had stores that closed on that special holiday. We decided we wanted an old-fashioned Memorial Day. We would honor and remember our veterans.
To celebrate that Memorial Day, I decided to do a number of things that would be different. I organized members of one of the police organizations to which I belong. We placed flags at the graves of our veterans and their families at Long Island National Cemetery. We did it on Saturday, May 29. We walked amongst the gravestones. Each one had a name. They all cast shadows. The stones cast the shadows now, as the people they represent did, when they walked amongst us.
As we walked amongst the gravestones, we read names, we read dates, and sometimes we had our hearts broken. We saw the names of veterans laid to rest after they had fought in World War I, the Great War; the war that was supposed to end all wars. We saw stones for veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, and even the Spanish American War. We saw the names of spouses of veterans. Sometimes they were alone. Sometimes husbands and wives were joined together for eternity. Our hearts were broken as we read “Child of -” or simply “infant”. We saw aging veterans remembering their friends. They bowed their heads in a moment of silent prayer and reflection, and then they placed an American Flag at a special gravestone. There were Cub Scouts and Brownies running amongst the stones, placing flags at each one – the next generation of Americans was showing their thanks.
It was nice to be able to reflect on all that was done for this country by the heroes with whom we spent time. There was a special feeling amongst those that decorated the graves. It brought out such strong emotions. They would be back again the following year, walking amongst the shadows, placing a flag at each stone.
On Memorial Day, my wife and I went to visit Long Island National Cemetery, because our family and friends are there. Along the way, we stopped and purchased fresh flowers. It was time for us to pay our respects to some special individuals.
The first stop was my wife’s parents grave. They are together. My wife’s father fought in World War II. He served in North Africa and Europe. I never had the opportunity to meet him, he was gone before my wife and I met. I did enjoy knowing my mother-in-law and I do miss her. We always visit their grave on holidays and birthdays. However, that day we stopped to say thank you for what my wife’s father did when it meant so much. We also had to thank her mother, for all she sacrificed while he was overseas for years. If not for them and the others like them, we would not be as blessed as we are today.
The next stop was the grave of the parents of a retired police officer from California. His father died when he was a small child. His father was serving in North Africa at the time, and died in combat. Eventually he was brought home and interred on Long Island. The retired police officer never knew his father. He was left with the stories his mother shared with the family for the rest of her life. She moved her children from New York to California, to make a better life. Her husband sacrificed his life for his country. His wife sacrificed to raise a wonderful family. She never forgot him. She never remarried. In 1994, after she died, she returned to Long Island and was interred with her husband. I sometimes wonder if maybe, somewhere, while fighting in the deserts of North Africa, my wife’s father and this police officer’s father might have met.
The final stop was to see my friend Bill. We met the day we were sworn into the police department. Bill was a Viet Nam veteran who died of leukemia. Until that Memorial Day, I never knew his middle name was Walter. I didn’t know he was born in 1947, almost three years older than me. I know he had a beautiful wife and a wonderful daughter and son. They made his eyes light up whenever he spoke about them. I know they miss him; there were flowers from a previous visit, at his grave. I know he was taken from us too soon, in 1988, when he was only 41. It seems like such a short time ago, that I was standing in a police honor guard, saying good-bye to my friend. I know he was a gentle soul and a good friend. He was there for me when I needed his friendship. He was also there for an elderly couple in his patrol sector. They were destitute, and Christmas was rapidly approaching. The old couple had a nice Christmas because Bill filled their home oil tank with heating oil. He bought them food, a Christmas tree and presents to make their holiday special. He was a kind hearted and fun loving soul.
He was a person I am glad I knew. I know you would have liked him, he was special. When he was 26, I saw him being teased by his brother. His father was listening and gave him one of those fatherly looks with raised eyebrows. Bill just looked at him and said, “Oh Daddy!” You have to like a man who fought in a war, worked the streets as a cop, and could still call his father Daddy. I wish my wife had met Bill, but it never happened. I am glad she went with me on Memorial Day. She made the visit easier, with that special look she gave me as she held my hand. It let me know she understood.
History has many sad commentaries. In the early 1960s, General Macarthur went back to the Philippines where was greeted by cheering crowds. A young high school girl presented him with a bouquet of flowers, and welcomed him to the Philippines. She then asked a question that was filled with irony, “Have you been here before?” With all that he and his troops had done, he was forgotten by the generation he fought so hard to keep safe.
I am glad my wife and I decided to spend part of our day the way we did. Our veterans, alive or dead, are heroes to be thanked for all that they have done. They cannot be forgotten. I am glad I got to spend part of my weekend with some of them, amongst the shadows and the stones.
Author KEITH BETTINGER
Keith Bettinger is a retired Suffolk County, NY Police Officer. He’s been writing for law enforcement publications for over 25 years and has received 19 awards for his articles, stories, poems and books. Keith has a monthly column in the on-line magazine PoliceOne.com titled Musings of a Retired Cop. He has a Master’s Degree in Human Relations with a major in Clinical Counseling. During his career he received the department’s Bravery Medal, Silver Shield Award, Meritorious Police Service Award, Special Service Award, Professionalization Award, Department Recognition Award, Police Act Award, five Headquarters commendations and six Precinct commendations and the Police Act Award from the Suffolk County Police Conference. He also was a field training officer, Crime Prevention Officer and an instructor on Post Shooting Trauma and Critical Incidents. He was instrumental in the development of a Peer Counseling Program for Officers Involved in Critical Incidents. He also did debriefings of police officers who were at “Ground Zero” following the tragedies of September 11, 2001.
Keith has written three books, Fighting Crime with “Some” Day and Lenny, End of Watch and Murder in McHenry. He has also contributed stories to the following anthologies; Cop Tales 2000, Charity, True Blue To Protect and Serve, Dad’s Bow Tie and I Pledge Allegiance. Keith has over 100 articles published in various publications in the United States, Canada and Europe. He shares credit for the screenplay The Master Cheat with his friend and fellow writer Jack Miller.
If you’d like to read more stories like this one, you can find the book at 
http://amazon.com/dp/1936759136
Books by Jackie Taylor Zortman
When I wrote my second book, but first novel, “Footprints in the Frost”, almost immediately someone wrote to tell me she knew that my secondary main character was absolutely me. She based her conclusion on the fact that my character bore the same surname as my maternal grandmother’s maiden name. She died when my mother was just fourteen years old, so I never had the pleasure of knowing her. But those of you who are authors know that we writers quite often will use family names for our characters, never dreaming it might lead certain readers to suspect we are being somewhat biographical. Therefore, when I wrote the sequel “Snow Angel” I was determined there would be absolutely nothing in the book that anyone could possibly confuse with reality. I’m here to tell you that failed miserably.
Right away, someone else wrote to inform me that when she read a completely innocuous sentence on page 13 of “Snow Angel”, which she quoted for me, she knew who I was “really” talking about. I just sat there dumb struck. Nothing could be farther from the truth. What makes this happen?
Being an avid reader, when I sit down to read a fictional book (and they are all clearly marked as such on the copyright page) I do so for relaxation and to get lost in the story. Reading is a great stress buster, at least for me. Never would it ever enter my mind to suspect that the author is secretly talking about their personal life or that of someone they know. I am aware of how much time and hard work writing a book takes, so I just let the story lead me wherever it is going to take me, relax and enjoy it.
My first book “We Are Different Now” is non-fiction and is completely about everyone and everything I mention in that book and right out there for the world to see in words written right from my heart. So, if I have something real to say, I write it via non-fiction. Trust me, though that particular book has a lot of tears on its manuscript, most non-fiction is a lot easier to write than fiction.
Now tell me, do you other authors run into this same quandary or is it just me? And if you are a reader, do you look for things in books that might be subtle disguises for some reality in the author’s world or do you just assume they created the whole ball of wax? I’d really like to know because now I am really curious. My suspicion is this only happens with someone who knows you, but not well enough to have all the facts needed to tie situations together correctly. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just life.
Share your thoughts in the comment section, write me an e-mail or find me on Facebook, but do let me know.
The thing I love most about being an author is not the long hours we have to spend at the computer writing/rewriting/editing. It isn’t the marketing we must do constantly or the months it takes from the time a publisher accepts our manuscripts until that book is finally in a form you can actually hold in your hand. What I love are the other authors we become friends with and the fact that authors do not compete with one another. They will post your book covers, host you on their blogs, retweet your marketing posts and share them wherever they can and do anything else that is possible to help you sell your latest book. It’s unusual to be in such a large group who knows no jealousy and never attempts to rain on your personal parade. They also read your books and write reviews on Amazon.com.
My new novel SNOW ANGEL (DetectiveMax Richards Book 2) was recently released and right away, John M. Wills, a former Chicago police officer and retired FBI agent with numerous wonderful books of his own on the market, volunteered to post my book’s info on his website. He is an award-winning author/free-lance writer. Then he put it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well. How neat is that?
Another author friend, Nancy LiPetri, has posted my cover everywhere possible and this gal is active on a lot of sites. She is the author of “The Wooded Path” and “Across the Lake”. She also wrote the blurb on my book’s back cover. I didn’t ask either one of these people to do this, but they both did it out of the goodness of their hearts and to give a fellow author more exposure.
Then prolific author, Marilyn Meredith, volunteered to post an article I wrote about my new book for the June PSWA Newsletter on her blog after I sent her the information. She writes two series of books, the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series and as F. M. Meredith she writes the Rocky Bluff PD series. This woman is an icon who has well over 40 books on the market and reminds me of the Energizer Bunny with her constant ability to keep busy (she has a huge family) and still have time to write.
I cannot forget Caleb and Linda Pirtle who happily publicize my books as often as possible. They have a long established website with over 60,000 views a month. Caleb has over 70 books on the market that are absolutely fantastic and Linda has several cozy mystery books selling, as well. Both of them are award winning authors.
And then there’s my husband. He gave me a pen for Christmas that says it’s for signing 
autographs. But he intends for me to sign books with it and that’s exactly what I am now doing. What a wonderful and thoughtful gift that is. He’s so patient with me when I have to be writing or marketing for entire days. He doesn’t cook at all, but is always happy to run to one of our restaurants and buy and bring dinner home, so I don’t have to.
So that’s my story. I hope you’ll leave a message to let me know you stopped by. And don’t forget to check out my new book SNOW ANGEL (Detective Max Richards Book 2) both as a paperback and Kindle at http://amazon.com/dp/193843644x and as a paperback at Barnes and Noble at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781938436444 . You can only buy FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST (Detective Max Richards Book 1) directly from me at the present time. It will soon be released by my publisher as a Kindle on Amazon.com. When my time comes up in the Aakenbaaken & Kent pipeline, it will also be available as a second edition trade paperback.
SNOW ANGEL (Detective Max Richards Book 2) has arrived!
With my new award-winning novel SNOW ANGEL (Detective Max Richards Book 2) new on the market, you might be curious about Detective Max Richards Book 1. The title of that book is FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST.
My new publisher has a lot of books ahead of my two books, FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST (Detective Max Richards Book 1) and my non-fiction book WE ARE DIFFERENT NOW. Therefore, if you want a paperback copy of either book, you will only be able to buy them from me until such time as A & K has them back up on Amazon.com. You can find me here or on Facebook at Jackie Taylor Zortman’s Author Page.
However, my publisher has graciously offered to put the Kindle version of FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST up on Amazon, so it will be available to buy in that format temporarily. Hope this is helpful to those of you who, having read SNOW ANGEL (Detective Max Richards Book 2), and are now curious about Book 1.Meantime, it’s available as a Nook ebook at http://www.Barnesandnoble.com .
Meantime, SNOW ANGEL is now available as both a trade paperback and Kindle on http://amazon.com/dp/193843644x and it’s on Barnes and Noble at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/snow-angel-jackie-taylor-zortman/1128502555?ean=9781938436444 You can also buy it directly from me.
Detective Max Richards Book 2
Detective Max Richards Book 1
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My new novel SNOW ANGEL (Detective Max Richards Book 2) is presently featured as The Book of the Moment on Caleb Pirtle III’s website. You can read about it here: https://calebandlindapirtle.com/botm/snow-angel-jackie-taylor-zortman/
Christy Murphy Campbell says: “Opening with a funeral, proceeding to a mysterious ornate box discovered among a dead woman’s belongings and then to a nearly-forgotten, statuesque house in a remote Colorado town, the author skillfully leads her readers through one intriguing sequence after another, all culminating in discoveries at once wonderful, poignant and bittersweet.”
Caleb provides a direct link to the book on Amazon.com where you can read more or buy and enjoy it. Hope you’ll take a peek into the lives of those of us who live inside the Thin Blue Line and see what kind of person it takes to Protect and Serve. Read how it affects those who love the ones born to wear the badge above their hearts.
Author Jackie Taylor Zortman
BREAKING NEWS
My newest novel SNOW ANGEL is now available as a paperback on Amazon.com at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/193843644X. The Kindle version is found at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CMGWQXL
“Gritty police action alternates with a cozy civilian-style home life, giving readers appreciation for how peace officers and their loved ones struggle to find balance and normalcy in their extraordinary lives. We rejoin handsome homicide detective Max, sweet wife, Sami, and his sister, Willow, in beautiful Colorado for a story that’s heartwarming and enlightening, sometimes humorous, sometimes harrowing, and often emotional.” – NANCY LI PETRI, author of “The Wooded Path”.
“Max Richards is a tough homicide detective whose life is structured and orderly. However, when his mother dies and an old wooden box surfaces among her belongings, it changes everything. What secrets was Mom hiding from the family and why? When the truth is finally revealed, Max finds an uncertain future ahead of him and his family members.” – JOHN M. WILLS, Award-winning Author/Freelance Writer.
