I’ve got a new book coming out, my first novel. It’s a mystery called An Ideal Way to Die, and it’s pretty entertaining, if I do say so myself. People have asked me how I took up writing. Well, I retired early and soon started looking for something to do. I started writing a column for our local Historical Society’s newsletter first.I have always been kind of a storyteller, so once I got started with writing, I thought I would try writing a murder mystery. I sat down and started writing. The story just started unfolding. I don’t really know what is going to happen next when I’m writing these mysteries, but I find when I am writing I amuse myself. I often laugh out loud at something I have written.
All my mysteries—I have now written four of them, but only one has been published so far—they all take place during World War II, with the central location in each of them being the Ideal Cafe in Price Hill. My father owned the cafe and I remember a lot of weird characters that hung out there. They are all in my books, and it makes for a wacky cast of characters. I never know what they are going to do next.
My protagonist has ventured into other locales, including a fancy country club in North Carolina that is being used as a concentration camp for high ranking Axis prisoners, a little church on the Outer Banks, and a semi-professional theater company in the same area. He chases spies through the midwest, from Champaign, Illinois to Terre Haute, Louisville, Lexington. But he always winds up back in Price Hill.
In between these mysteries I have written an historical novel about how Cincinnati and Price Hill came to be. But that is another story. If you’d like to find out more about my books, I’ve got a website, or so I am told. Take a look and see what you think. If you just want to take my word for it that it’s a great book, you can order it from the Price Hill Historical Society’s online bookstore.
