I was born in 1940--served in the United States Army-- married my wife Sandy in 1966---my wife and I have three children, Michelle, Jill, and Mark. We have eight grandchildren, Jeremy, Brittany, Mark, Samantha, Dalton, Hannah, Christopher, and Abbey, with one on the way. I was a cinamatographer while in the army, wrote for our weekly paper for a short time,was a professional photographer for 23 years closing in 1988, and retired form Ford Motor Co. in 2000. Now I write short stories and carve wood. Mystery of the Hats is my first published work, but hopefully not my last. I wrote my first short story when I was 19 and in the Army. It was titled "A slight case of fear." I sent it to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery's and promptly recieved a rejection letter. I immediately wrote another and sent it to the Grand Master of suspense, again "REJECTED" appeared in my mail box. Discouraged I put away my pen and went on with life. That is untill my wife and I took our first grandson, Jeremy,who was five years old at the time, to French Lick, Indiana. They have a train museum with a working train. During the train ride some of the local citizens came out of the woods on horse back and shooting at the train. The conductor said it was Black Bart's gang; we outran them and were safe. This spawned the story, "Jeremy and the Great Train Robbery." The main charicture in each subsequent story has been named after a grandchild.