Memorial Day Salute: To Our Military Medic

On this Memorial Day, I'd like to pay a special tribute to those troops who serve as Combat Medics, Corpsmen and Doctors. These men and women do something extraordinary. They run towards danger to provide help to our fallen wounded when saner folk would run the other way. Many of them serve as conscientious objectors. Desmond Doss was one of them.

He served in the Pacific during World War II. Refusing to carry a weapon because of his religious beliefs, an officer once tried to have him discharged based on mental unfitness, and fellow soldiers harrassed him in training. During a battle on Okinawa, dozens of soldiers were wounded, and Desmond risked enemy fire to retrieve all of them and carry them to safety unaided. A few weeks later he was wounded and treated his own injuries rather than call for assistance and risk another man's life. During his rescue by fellow medics five hours later, they came across another badly wounded soldier. Desmond moved off his litter and ordered the medics to attend to the other man first. He was wounded again by a Japanese sniper bullet which shattered his arm. He fashioned a splint from a rifle stock and crawled 300 yards to an aid station and safety.

Two things struck me after reading about this man. He was a genuine hero, and he was as tough as nails. A lot of his fellow troops thought so too. Desmond Doss was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first medic so honored, and one of three who have won the award.

You can read more about Desmond Doss and other courageous men and women in a book by Mark Littleton and Charles Wright entitled Doc: Heroic Stories of Medics,Corpsmen,and Surgeons in Combat

Their courage and self-sacrifice is an inspiration to all of us. We wouldn't be a free nation without them.

Get Ready For Season 2 of Longmire

Season 2 of Longmire, Wyoming's greatest fictional sheriff, based on the novels by Craig Johnson, has arrived. Get the popcorn ready, or better yet, fire up the grill. If you can't watch it in person, use the DVR. Season 2 starts Monday, May 27 at 10 PM Eastern / 9 Central on A & E. Until then, check out the trailer. You can even catch up with full episodes of Season 1 on A & E's website:





Then read the books, starting with The Cold Dish. I met Craig Johnson at a writer's conference early in his career when this first book had just been released. He struck me even then as a promising writer with a good future. Nine books later, he's more than proven his talent to his fans.

MYSTERY WEEKEND ROUNDUP

As we get ready to roll into the holday weekend, here's a few news items of interest, including a video on How To Keep The FBI From Reading Your Email...Cause They Don't Need A Warrant:


Poe's Deadly Daughters Celebrate May Mystery Month
Thanks to Julia Buckley, I now know that lots of great writers have birthdays in May. Check out her entertaining post by clicking on May Mystery Month.

Mystery Novels Set In Africa
Three new mysteries are coming our way from the dark continent, compliments of the Seattle Times, Out Of Africa.

The June 1st deadline is fast approaching for the Claymore Award submissions. Unpublished crime manuscripts by new authors could get you a book advance and publication, maybe an agent as well. Click here for details: Claymore Award

The Guardian has a collection of reviews this weekend featuring women's mystery fiction including Paula Daly's debut novel about a lost child in Just What Kind of Mother Are You?

And finally, a teen discusses the mysterious power that mirrors hold over her in Quiet Obsessions.

Could Dolphins Play Hide and Seek With A Nuclear Bomb?

I read a story in the paper this past weekend about a dolphin finding a very old piece of military hardware off the coast of California. Seems the sleek mammal, trained by the U. S. Navy to find underwater mines, uncovered a torpedo from the 19th century! A dolphin named Ten found a Howell torpedo, which was produced sometime between 1870 and 1889. The weapon was presumably lost during testing more than 120 years ago. According to the Navy, dolphins possess the most highly attuned sonar senses on the planet, even exceeding the best designs of our billion dollar ships. Which is why we're still using them to hunt for underwater mines, protect our navy bases and look for enemy frogmen who might try to scuba dive into one of our ports for a terrorist mission. The animals were even deployed during the Iraq war in 2003.

All this got me to thinking. If dolphins could find a 528 pound torpedo buried at the bottom of the sea after 120 + years, could they be used to find a 7,600 pound thermonuclear bomb buried in a few dozen feet of water? Heck, I'd think they could. If we had any missing atomic bombs lying around.

Well, turns out, we do.

Several, in fact.

Nuclear bombs, that is. Lying off the Atlantic coast...with enriched uranium cores.

But hey, don't worry! The government says they're intact and pose no threat to our way of life, or the millions of people living on the Eastern Seaboard. They were lost during training missions in 1957 (Delaware) and 1958 (Georgia).

I'm sure the residents of Tybee Island, Georgia and Cape May, New Jersey will be glad to hear that. After all, when was the last time our government lied to us?

The Navy has been thinking about retiring their dolphins over the next several years. Maybe we should be thinking about using them for a new mission. Have they considered using these natural sonar wonders to search for missing bombs? Might be a waste of time, but I wonder if anyone has even done a study to see if recovering these weapons is possible using trained dolphins with the best sonar senses on the planet? Might be worth a few dollars. After all, a few hundred pounds of highly enriched uranium would be awfully valuable to our enemies, if they could find these weapons. Shouldn't we find them first?

And even if this turns out to be a dead-end, as far as the Navy goes, wouldn't this be a great idea for a thriller novel? I'm too busy for something like this, but maybe there's a writer out there who could make a story out of it.

Hey, Karen Dionne! Clive Cussler! Whatcha working on?

MK 15 Nuclear Bomb



101 Things To Do Before You Die (For Crime Writers)

The list I posted in November is finished. Click here to see the whole thing, and thanks for stopping by:

 

101 Things To Do Before You Die (For Crime Writers)

TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET Is One Heck of A Good Read

I was a little hesitant to pick up this book, because I don't ski, and I thought it wouldn't keep my interest. I should have know better because Beth Groundwater, an Agatha Award finalist, is an excellent mystery writer, and she proves it again in this novel. 

The second in the Claire Hanover series finds her on the ski slopes with her family. Whats starts as a nice domestic vacation turns dark when a family friend is killed while skiing in an apparent accident. But Claire has some serious doubts, and even after a witness is killed right after talking to Claire, the police seem reluctant to tie the deaths together. By the time they finally begin to connect the dots, Claire's entire family is in danger, particularly her daughter, whose boyfriend may be linked to an international criminal gang. Can Claire solve the secret behind these killings, or will she join the growing list of victims?

This story will keep you on the edge of your ski lift until the end. The skiing scenes are done well, (even I could follow them), the characters are well developed and you can even get a lesson in basket design if you need a fresh gift idea.

Beth Groundwater also writes the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventures mystery series, where she puts her knowledge of the great outdoors to good use. You can read more about her at her BLOG.

Can Ending a Popular Fiction Series Unhinge Your Fans?

The Wall Street Journal has a video about the decision by Charlaine Harris to end the Sookie Stackhouse series. Aparently, a fan has leaked the latest novel in this series and some are upset that this could be the end of the popular fictional character. One deranged reader has reportedly even threatened suicide over the outcome. Is this for real?

As an author, I admit that my characters sometimes seem more life-like to me than a non-writer would understand, but when people makes threats against an author, they need to back off and check into rehab to deal with their withdrawl symptoms.

I've read a few fiction series that ended and I wished they could continue (Tolkien fans would understand this, among others). But life goes on. The Sookie Stackhouse series lasted for 13 novels, which is a lot longer than most do. We can celebrate that we have 13 to enjoy.

Unfortunately Ms. Harris isn't the first to discover that fans can be demanding. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle discovered this when he killed off Sherlock Holmes and then brought him back after fans howled their disappointment.

Check out the video here: Goodbye To Sookie Stackhouse?


Fictional Moms With Murder on Their Minds

Before Mother's Day fades into memory (until next year, that is) you might want to check out this list of fictional murderous moms, compliments of the Library Journal.

Among the new offerings, Kneading To Die by Liz Mugavero. Like Harry Truman said, if you can't stand the killers, stay out of the kitchen.