READ AN EXCERPT FROM “SNOW ANGEL”

CHAPTER 4

Max will be going on duty at six o’clock PM. and won’t get off until six o’clock in the morning.  This routine crops up three times a year when each division has one detective on that shift, making a total of five detectives.  Of course, the regular uniformed officers will be working as usual.  During this time, the detectives don’t just sit in the office with their feet up on the desk, but drive around throughout the neighborhood streets, either doing follow-ups on open cases or tending to whatever happens in their particular department.  In Max’s case, most homicides happen at night, so he is usually busy.

Max’s day passes rather quickly, including about an hour’s nap in the afternoon to accommodate the long hours of the job.  He is soon on his way to City Hall to pick up an unmarked detective’s car at the police garage, leaving his own car there until end of shift.  He enjoys the night detail because that’s where the action is for police and he has always been prone to enjoying his job the most when there’s something going down.

Max starts his usual routine of driving through the streets to observe what is going on, much the same as any patrolman does.  As he turns right into a particularly rugged residential area, he hears two shots ring out and observes two men running through the yard of a nearby house.  A man, no more than forty-five years old, is lying on his face in the street bleeding profusely beside a Yellow Cab.  Max notifies dispatch to send back-up and an ambulance, quickly parks his car at the scene and gets out, running to the injured male.

He kneels down and is feeling for a pulse in the man’s neck when the man opens his eyes, turns his head and weakly speaks to him.

“Hey, man.  I was dispatched to this address for a cab and the minute I pulled up, two guys pulled me out of my car, grabbed all the money and shot me twice.  I’ve never seen either of them before, so don’t know what the hell that’s about.”

“Here, let me help you get more comfortable.”

Carefully, Max helps him sit up and lean back against the front tire of his taxi. Seeing the tremendous amount of blood surrounding the body, Max knows it’s not a good sign and the ambulance is not going to make it in time to save this guy’s life.

“Okay, just relax.  There’s an ambulance on the way and I’ve got officers looking for those guys.  Just hang on. I hear the sirens now.”

“I’m not going to make it, am I?” the victim asks as he weakly gazes into Max’s eyes and has to struggle for breath to speak.  His face has completely drained of its color.

Max cannot bring himself to lie to this poor man at such a time. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Okay, will you stay with me and hold my hand until I’m gone?”

“Of course I will, Buddy.  Just relax.”

Regardless of what the situation may be, cops have a unanimous tendency to tell those in the worst possible situations to “just relax”.  Sami is always amazed at this propensity.

Max sits down on the street beside the man and gently places the man’s head on his shoulder as he tightly holds his hand.

 “I’m right here and I will stay with you. I will get the son-of-a-bitches who did this to you and make them pay.  I promise you!”

“God bless you.”  The man can no longer speak above a soft, weak whisper.

Those were the last words the man ever uttered as he died in Max’s arms. Max doesn’t move until the ambulance with the paramedics arrive on scene. His face shows nothing, but inside his soul is screaming with sadness and anger at the same time.

The chapter continues on from here. How does Sami react to seeing her husband covered in blood? Does Max keep his promise to the dying man or does he fail? Read the book or Kindle and find out.

Detective Max Richards Book 2

Buy SNOW ANGEL here: 

http://amazon.com/dp/193843644X

and

    http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781938436444

NOTE: Amazon is presently selling it for a ridiculously low price.

 

 

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LIFE, YOU GOTTA BE THERE EVERY DAY!

The title today was told to me by my late, great, beloved friend/cousin, Marilyn. We used to talk on the phone up to five times a day, even though she lived in  California and I live in Colorado.  She would fly to our house several times a year and stay for a week and was absolutely the best house guest we’ve ever had. She was one of those rare gems that fall into your life and is there for you no matter where they are, what time of the day or night it might be or who they are with. Unfortunately, she passed away four years ago and I cannot put into words how much I miss that woman. When her granddaughter (and only grandchild) was four years old, she spoke the words of wisdom that are my title to her grandmother who shared them with me.

The reason that quote leaped into my mind today is because, via the USPS, we received both an invitation to our great-granddaughter’s first birthday party and one of the presents we had made for that important occasion. It is difficult to believe she’s been with us one full year already. She is our first and only (so far) great-grandchild, which makes her pretty darned important.  We are blessed that she is beautiful and healthy with a vivacious personality that she reveals through hilarious facial expressions that boggle her mother’s mind. But they are super cute and only show what is yet to come. In other words – we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Now that we are great-grandparents, we find ourselves remembering when we were younger – the good times, the bad ones and everything in between. As the old adage states, with age comes wisdom. It takes awhile before you actually realize the truth of that expression, but now we can clearly see it is right on target. It makes you realize how much time you have spent on things that, in reality, are of no importance. So many things that seemed to be earth shattering a decade ago seem so insignificant now and it’s hard to believe anyone would devote time to them.

With the birth of this wondrous little girl child, we look back at raising our own kids (without a manual!) and the unbelievable joy of grandchildren. What I have now learned is, mixed in with the excitement of watching a great-grandchild grow, there hides a  subtle sadness, just barely detectable. It’s quietly lurking there for all the first things they do. It’s then you truly realize how fast time passes and how important it is to fill each day with something that’s fun and enjoyable. Get out and be among people. Walk through the woods. Listen carefully to silence. Feel the breeze on your body. Catch snowflakes on your tongue. Dance in the rain. Sing in the sunshine. Be grateful for just this day.  Most importantly, try to find something to laugh about and if you have someone to share that laughter with, do it. The three in the picture are some of our grandkids when they were younger, laughing with (possibly at – but that’s another story) me. Shared laughter is never wasted.

Hard lessons to learn. It comes with age. And it’s a gift. It saddens me that the world seems to be filled with nothing but hatred for each other and people hell bent on changing even the most mundane of things, just because if they throw a big enough fit, they can do it.  Yes, in life you gotta be there every day, so why not enjoy it.

(Your comments are always welcome, so don’t hesitate to leave one to let me know you were here.)

Snow Angel was Much Anticipated

Just for fun, I thought I’d share one of the reviews from Amazon.com. Maybe it will inspire you to check out SNOW ANGEL (Detective Max Richard Book 2), too. You will find it as both a Kindle and trade paperback at: http://amazon.com/dp/193843644X . It’s also available from Barnes and Noble as a trade paperback at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781938436444 .

Should you decide to buy and read it, please write a review on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. Reviews are extremely important to authors and can be as little as a couple of words, just one sentence or as much as you care to elaborate.

AMAZON REVIEW WRITTEN BY CHRISTY C:

It was with great anticipation that I sat down to read “Snow Angel,” and it did not disappoint. A follow-up to the author’s “Footprints in the Frost,” it brings the reader back to the idyllic Colorado towns and the immensely likable, sometimes-quirky characters of “Footprints.” Although technically a sequel, it is also a novel that stands on its own merit. The appealingly masculine homicide detective Max Richards, and Sami Murphy, his high-spirited girlfriend, are now married. Other equally engaging characters are introduced, including Max’s sister Willow (how wonderful to read a novel in which a 50+ year old woman is given a romantic storyline!), the enigmatic Colorado police chief Tom Clinton that she finds herself falling for, and Max & Sami’s lively friends Milt and Maile, not to mention the Siamese cat Lotus, who the author manages to imbue with a personality all her own. “Snow Angel” is a collection of anecdotes about these characters and their lives and histories. With each chapter, the reader learns more about what has transpired to make these people the unique individuals they are. Riddles are introduced, and each time one is solved another presents itself, as deeper and deeper layers of the people and their situations are revealed. 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. Reading this novel made me feel like I was sitting in the cozy den of a Colorado cabin in front of a roaring fire, listening to the author tell stories about people she knows. In fact these characters and their narratives became so real to me that I am convinced these people are actually alive out there in the world, and I want to meet them. A wonderful read, highly recommended.

 

 

Life in Wildfire Land

Woke up this morning to the sound of a wood chipper provided by the city to help residents mitigate for wildfires.  I opened the blinds on our bedroom windows and noticed our little tourist town is still thick with smoke from distant fires. Some are not too distant and the smoke is from Colorado fires, those in Utah or New Mexico. At one point, we were told the smoke was coming from those horrendous fires in California, but a Denver meteorologist insists a certain front between will keep that smoke from our state. At least for now. The constant smoke in our normally pristine air make my eyes burn.

It’s been a strange summer with temperatures that are unusually hot for our altitude and the area in which we live. We also are having a serious drought. The river flows past our house and looking at it this morning, I assure you it would be no trick at all to simply wade across to the other side. I’ve never seen this before and I’ve lived here for almost 40 years.

Only a couple of weeks ago, a lightning strike ignited a tree on Mt. Hayden and the smoke was quite visible from our great room while sitting on the couch. The Bureau of Land Management sent two fire fighter crews to watch the fire and named it the Lewis Creek Fire. It smoldered for days, in spite of several bouts of rain. It is so dry  rains do little to douse flame. Fortunately, it was on a rocky outcrop and apparently only involved one tree, so we got lucky in that respect.  The scary part was the enormous amount of fallen timber just to the left of the flames.  Thankfully, it never spread and ignited it. It did inspire me to begin packing a “go bag”, though. My son was a fireman for many years and assured me we have so much rock face here that it is relatively safe because rock stops fire. But my “go bag” still sits, just in case. Our town is entirely inside a national forest and we live just in the edge of the actual woods, so are surrounded by trees that we could never successfully mitigate.

The enormous #416 fire in Durango is approximately 60 miles from where we live, if you go by the winding highway mileage, but I’ll bet it’s closer as the crow flies.  It began on June 1st and is only now 100% contained. They note contained does not mean it is out and add that it is will take a blanket of winter snow to accomplish that feat.

Things are starting to look very much like fall is coming fast. There is an abundance of acorns on the scrub oak trees that are copious on our land and the apple tree also has a bumper crop. The squirrels and birds are busy storing them.  We are reminded that the bears are now eating for their winter hibernation and will continue to do so until they finally go into their winter quarters around Thanksgiving and to remain mindful. Meantime, the  hummingbirds are drinking a gallon of sugar water per day.

They say we are to have an El Nino year, which means we will have lots and lots of snow. We had a very mild winter last year and really enjoyed being able to drive the 80-mile round trip to where we must go to see specialists and shop super markets and department stores. But there is a price for that trade-off, so be careful what you wish for. Clear winter roads mean hot, dry summers and increased wildfire danger. Cooler fall temperatures will be joyfully welcomed this year and the snow will be what the ski areas refer to as “white gold”. In spite of it all, it’s still lush and beautiful where we live and we have more tourists than ever. I still wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Meantime, please pray for those experiencing the devastating fires burning in California and for all  the other states going through this deadly ordeal. God bless the men and women who so tirelessly fight to control and contain these fires. They are having a tremendous challenge this year.

 

WRITING BOOK REVIEWS

Detective Max Richards Book 2

To those of you who have read my novel, SNOW ANGEL (Detective Max Richards Book 2) or the Kindle version of FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST (Detective Max Richards Book 1), thank you! The trade paperback version of FOOTPRINTS IN THE FROST should be available in the near future when my name comes up in the queue at Aakenbaaken & Kent.

It would be great if you’d take a moment and write a review on Amazon.com. Reviews are extremely important to authors and I’d really appreciate it. Some have mentioned they feel intimidated by other reviews already written and just don’t do it.  However, a few words such as “I liked it” or “Good book” works perfectly. Of course, if you wish to elaborate, that’s wonderful as well.

Just go to Amazon and type in the title and author in the search box and it will take you right to a site where you click on it to get to the place to review. Scroll down until you find a box called “Write a customer review” and click on it. It’s that simple.

The importance of reviews does not only apply to me, it applies to the books of all authors. So, if you enjoy a book, let them know by writing a review.

If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so.

Snow Angel by Jackie Taylor Zortman

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.

This Sizzling Summer

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.

 

 

 

 

 

What’s in the old wooden box in SNOW ANGEL?

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.

 

MAX IS BACK!

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.

 

AMONGST THE SHADOWS AND THE STONES by Keith Bettinger

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