My Latest Life of Crime

Several times a year, I put aside my writing to become a “criminal”—not really committing crimes but becoming a role player to help train new police officers. A number of years ago I attended a citizens’ police academy, and I’m now a member of an alumni group that meets monthly but also volunteers to assist with police training.

Yesterday, my role was to be an aggressive panhandler. I learned that our city ordinance allows panhandling under the following circumstances: the panhandler can stand in a safe public place with a sign and can ask someone for money once. If the panhandler asks more than once, follows a person or touches a person, it’s considered aggressive panhandling and can lead to a police citation. I was an aggressive and obnoxious panhandler and received five citations for violating section 5-3-7 of the municipal code, which could lead to a bond of $250.

Would You Eat A Dead Lady’s Food?

Join me today for a post from author CJ West. Enjoy!

Lorado Martin, star of my new novel Dinner At Deadman’s, loves to rummage around estates of the newly-deceased and prepare them for sale. He’s attracted to all sorts of collectibles, antiques, about anything lying around someone’s house that proves interesting.

The title Dinner At Deadman’s comes from a night Lorado is working in a woman’s home and decides to eat some cereal from her kitchen. I have been surprised by how revolting people find the idea of eating something from a dead lady’s home, so I thought I’d explore that idea with you a bit today.

One of my most surprising food finds was a can of peaches at the bottom of a set of cellar stairs. The can had rusted through. The peaches had seeped out and all that remained of them was a dark-colored spot on the wooden shelf underneath the can. The can must have been sitting there for several years and I wonder if anyone considered eating those peaches in the few years before I found them.

I think we can all agree we wouldn’t eat peaches from a rusty old can, but what about a can of soup in the pantry that was shiny and new? Could there really be anything wrong with soup that’s been lying around a while? If it was free, would you take it home? Would you check the expiration date first?

For me it would be an easy call. If it was canned food that I would buy anyway, I’d take any can that was in good condition. I’m not sure exactly what makes eating food from a dead person’s house weird. Is it the idea that whatever killed them might be infectious? Or is it a superstition that the food could be haunted? Or maybe the ghost of the previous owner would torment you for taking it home?

Let’s go to the kitchen next.

I remember eating cereal at my grandmother’s house. It was always stale. And she always filled bowls by hand, reaching in, grabbing a handful, and dropping it in a bowl like an excavator. That always seemed a little gross to me as a kid. The idea of a strange old lady’s hand on my cereal is enough for me to forgo an open box.

How about you? If you found an unopened box of your favorite cereal would you take it?

It’s a slippery slope once you get started. You open the freezer and see frozen steaks. The food starts to have value and in these tough economic times I think a lot of us would be tempted to take some of that free food home, especially if it was in a sealed container.

Whether this sounds like a great idea or a crazy one, I hope you’ll check out Dinner At Deadman’s and explore a sweet little old lady’s kitchen alongside Lorado.

  

---

C.J. West is the author of seven suspense novels including The End of Marking Time and Sin and Vengeance, which was optioned into development for film by Beantown Productions, LLC (screenplay by Marla Cukor). C.J. blogs at www.cjwestkills.wordpress.com. You can also find him at www.22wb.com or at www.facebook.com/cjwestfans

Walking for Inspiration

Most days I take a walk after my morning writing. Other days I play platform tennis or take longer hikes. For me, the exercise helps both mentally and physically. I also use walking to brainstorm—to come up with ideas for my current writing project. I’ve also used walks to practice for presentations I give.

Yesterday, I went on a seven hour hike. I got some writing done first thing in the morning and then spent the rest of the day hiking. It was a ranger led hike through the burn area of the Flagstaff Fire that occurred last summer on the slope of Bear Peak west of Boulder, Colorado. In addition to a lot of exercise, I learned about fighting wild fires from the ranger who led the hike. If lower branches are cut away and pine trees aren’t too dense, they can survive a fire. The problem is that too many of our forests have become too dense. Below are pictures of the area we hiked through.

Men of Mystery

One of my favorite mystery conferences is Men of Mystery, which was held Saturday, November 17, in Irvine, California. Joan Hansen puts on a wonderful day-long conference with fifty male mystery writers and over 400 fans. The morning keynote speaker, Joseph Finder, described the opportunity he’s found to get “people to say indiscreet things and then write novels about it.” He mentioned with Hollywood options on novels, “You can die of encouragement.” His novel High Crimes was made into a movie, and he had a chance to play an extra in the film. At Men of Mystery, Joan carried a microphone around, and each of us had one minute to give a pitch to the attendees. After a late morning break to sign books, we reconvened at tables to have lunch and speak with the fans sitting with each of us. Three high school writers were honored (see picture with Joseph Finder) and the afternoon keynotes were given by John Lescroart and James Rollins. All in all and enjoyable day.

I also had a chance to visit my kids and grandkids who live in the Los Angeles area. Here's my granddaughter wearing my Geezer-lit Mysteries hat.

A Day in Pompeii

Yesterday we went to see an exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with artifacts from Pompeii that were recovered when the city was excavated centuries after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. It was fascinating to see the artwork, kitchen containers and Roman plumbing of that era. I also learned there was adequate warning with earthquakes and smoke coming out of Vesuvius before the city was inundated by a pyroclastic surge. The vast majority of citizens escaped but approximately 1000 stayed and were buried in ash. Much like tsunami and hurricane warnings today, not everyone evacuates when there is a pending disaster. Some don’t want to make the effort, and others think, “It won’t happen to me.”

Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America

Last night I attended the monthly meeting of the Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America at the Denver Press Club. Our speaker was retired Judge Steve Phillips who filled us in on the view from the bench. We learned that there are five acts that can be considered first degree murder:

·         Intentionally causing death

·         Killing with universal malice, e.g., throwing a bomb into a crowd

·         Causing the death of a child by one in a position of trust

·         Causing the execution of another by perjured testimony (never been prosecuted in Colorado)

·         Causing the death of another in the course of a felony

Second degree murder is killing another person knowingly or willfully such as a bar fight where the accused is the aggressor.

Manslaughter is killing someone by reckless disregard.

Negligent homicide is causing death by failing to perceive a substantial or unjustifiable risk such as a car accident by speeding.

Penalties in Colorado are as follows:

·         First degree murder – life in prison or death

·         Second degree murder – 16 to 48 years

·         Manslaughter – 2 to 6 years, or 4 to 12 years if a deadly weapon is used

·         Negligent homicide – 1 to 3 years.

Nothing Like a Beautiful Sunrise

Being a morning person, I do my writing first thing and try to get out for a walk mid-day unless I have early events scheduled. Yesterday, I had to alter my schedule because I was participating in an aging conference from 8:30-4, so I took my walk at sunrise. The benefit--I saw a beautiful sunrise. Here’s what greeted me: