Ken Pierce/ 1949-2008

My best friend for eighteen years was a guy named Ken Pierce.

For eight of those years, Kenny P. and I worked together. He was a lieutenant and then a captain on the sheriff's office (and later retired as Major). I was a deputy. We also lived in the same apartment complex where he found us each poolside accomodations for providing security.

On the street, we served the occasional felony warrant together, with him stepping in once to prevent me from arresting the wrong guy (note to self, written at the time, "remember to look at the age stated on the warrant face. Don't arrest the father by mistake. Especially when father is campaign contributor. Sheriff gets really pissed.")

We also got into a brawl or two. I remember Kenny had a downstairs neighbor who spun records on the overnight shift for a local radio station. The problem was, "Soulful Sunny, Yo' Midnight Honey" liked to pump up the volume of his tunes while at home as well. One evening, while Kenny and I were entertaining female company, "Soulful" must have broken off the volume knob. Kenny and I went downstairs, I thought, to politely ask Soulful to turn the music down.

We knocked on the door.

Soulful answered.

Kenny broke his nose.

Soon after, Soulful developed a love of Robert Goulet and Henry Mancini and Frank Sinatra.

In our early years on the sheriff's office, Kenny worked a second job at a local Pizza Hut. I was hanging out with him one night (though I could never get a freebie out of him) when a very drunk fellow decided he wasn't going to pay for his order. When Kenny insisted, the man muttered he was going to go home and get his gun and come back. At which time, my good friend produced his own pistol, a classic .357 Colt Python, from under the counter and offered it to the guy.

"Here, use mine. It'll save you some time and I'll be able to beat you to death with it when I take it away from you."

Bill paid without further argument.

Dean Forster, who was closer to Ken than any of his brothers, eulogized Ken by telling the story of how, when he was fifteen, he was already interested in law enforcement. He ran a protection racket in high school, charging fifty cents each to walk the weaker, younger kids home and protect them from the bullies. Of course, if a girl wanted him to walk her home, his "business" would be temporarily suspended.

Kenny was the kind of guy who would say anything or do anything he pleased and usually get a laugh. He's the only guy I know who could be caught in a gambling raid and talk his way out of it, all while munching on the chicken leg he told the agents was his sole reason for being in the joint in the first place.

He was my mentor in many ways. As a young guy, I never used the best judgment in the clothing I chose to wear. After six months of being referred to as "Koko the Clown," I agreed to let Kenny offer me some fashion advice.

"You can never go wrong with earth tones," he said. "And for god's sake, always line your tie up with your belt buckle." Advice I follow to this day.

I can think of more than one occasion when something he taught me, either in training class or on the street, probably kept me from getting hurt.

"Never give up your cover!" was one of his mantras. Not bad advice for day to day living, either, when you think about it.

He also taught me to laugh at some of the most inappropriate things and at some of the darkest moments. One of them was during an especially gruesome autopsy when he pretended to drop a piece of gum he was chewing into the cadaver, only to "retrieve" it and go on chewing.

Ken suffered from diabetes. In recent years, doctors amputated two of his fingers and part of his left leg (leading him to tell people afterward that he was planning to work for Long John Silver's restaurant as a pirate). He underwent heart surgery and required kidney dialysis three times a week ("Gives me more time to read," he told me).

Ken wasn't a great man by any means. His womanizing was legend and probably led more than one furious husband or boyfriend to claim Ken wasn't a particularly good man either. Although, for more than twenty years, he always returned to one woman. Deb Nordt was the "love of his life." I put that in quotes because he never said as much to me but he not only used the phrase in both of their obituaries but had it printed on their tombstone as well.

Debbie was as much a fighter as Ken was, in fact. For more than twenty years, she battled half a dozen forms of cancer until it finally took her down in 2006. If Kenny ever had a single regret in his life, I think it was that he never married her.

But Kenny Pierce was his own man in every way. In fact, a lifelong Sinatra fan, one of his favorite pieces was "My Way."

I was surprised no one thought to play it at his funeral. Then again, Ken chose his own music for the service. How long has it been since any of you heard, "Rock of Ages" or "The Old Rugged Cross" sung in church? Yep, that's what Kenny wanted. He also requested our friend, Joe Zima, to be sure and loosen his tie in the casket before the funeral so he wouldn't go through the afterlife choking. True story! And in the quiet, after the visitation, Joe complied.

At the graveside, I was again surprised to see just a simple tombstone. Ken always told me he wanted, "Pardon me for not standing" engraved there! I wasn't surprised, though, when, after the bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" and the bugler got through "Taps," that one of his fellow officers cranked up the University of Kansas fight song. Kenny was a huge fan of KU football and basketball.

I haven't shed any tears for my friend and I probably won't. Waste of time. He enjoyed just about every moment of his life and now, with Deb at his side once again, I'm sure he's having one heck of a time in death.

Go with God's Hand on your shoulder my old friend. St. Peter never had a better ass-kicker to help him keep things in order up there. And you've got the best seats ever for KU games!

The Limo Driver Who Did The Right Thing

So, as the story in the Chicago Tribune this morning goes, a bunch of Highland Park kids headed out to Homecoming hired an SUV limo driven by this guy named Lionel of the AnyTime Limo service in Addison. One of the kids asked to stop at his house on the way to the event, and got back into the car with a bag full of booze. When the driver found out, he tried to call the parents who were not available and, finally, after the kids' attempts to bribe him failed, Lionel the Driver called the cops.
And created quite a stir.
Let's see now. We have the "let's lower the drinking age" folks weighing in. We have parents saying, "Oh, come on it's homecoming." We have parents calling the owner of the company and threatening to sue.
So I called the owner of the company to offer him a pat on the back.
Turns out he's getting a lot of calls from people like me. Mixed in amongst them, of course, are the ones from the mouth-breathers and gutter slime who insult his and Lionel the Driver's Hispanic heritage.
It also turns out that Lionel the Driver is a former cop in Mexico City. Talk about a tough beat. For him to come here, take a job driving a limo, and then be the subject of outrage for following not only the rules set by his company but state law, jeez, that's got to feel like a real stick in the eye.
Except some people who call are offering him money because he did the right thing. Some people, like me, will now use Anytime Limo in Addison any time they need limo transportation.
Some people respect him for standing up for whats right and being a good example, not only to the kids he turned in, but anyone else who needs a role model.
Interestingly enough, this story hits at the same time as another college fraternity house death is being blamed on booze.
What's to say Lionel the Driver didn't prevent one of those by making his phone call?
Here's the bottom line as far as I'm concerned.
Parents who don't like what Lionel the Driver did can do the driving themselves next time. Why not? Most of them own SUVs just a little smaller than the ones provided by most limo services. Pile your kids and their friends into the back, give them whatever booze they want (hey, a couple in Deerfield only got a slap on the wrist for providing booze to minors last year and two kids died in that case) and you try to concentrate on getting where you're going.
Oops, sorry. That might mean you'd have to miss a cocktail party of your own. We wouldn't want that, would we?
Oh yes, don't let me forget one last point. Some folks argue that at least the kids decided to call a limo service instead of drinking and then driving themselves. Yep, a good choice and I can't fault 'em for it. And in this case the lesson they might learn, if they take a moment to think about it, is that the person they asked to take responsibility for them did so.
It's a shame we can't say as much for their parents.

What We Have Here...is An Incredible Career

I always wanted to meet Paul Newman. Of all the actors of my generation, he was my favorite. But it wasn't until just now, when I sat down to write this, that I realized I owe him one.

He's indirectly responsible for my love of reading, and writing, crime fiction.

Newman was the essence of cool. I first noticed him in Harper(1966), the cinematic take on Ross Macdonald's PI Lew Archer from Macdonald's book, The Moving Target. It was the beginning of that film, when he wakes up, finds no fresh coffee in his apartment and digs in the trash for some old grounds, that made Lew Harper human for many viewers. That opening, and Harper's affability, carried the movie for me.

Watching Harper led me to read The Moving Target. I was 13. It was the first adult novel I'd come across and much of the psychological meanderings didn't make sense but I liked the character. Lew Archer was dark, wisecracking and cynical. A noir-ish good guy who took as many lumps as he dealt out. I stuck with the Archer series, moving on to others when Macdonald died, and a lifelong love of hardboiled private eye mysteries was born.

I never read an Archer novel, however, without seeing Newman's face and hearing his voice delivering Archer's best lines.

What made Newman unique to me was his approach to character. I disagree with critics who claim Newman was always Newman in movies. That's how I regard Kevin Spacey or Tom Cruise or even George Clooney. They are always actors, portraying a role. Sometimes they carry it off. Sometimes not.

Newman always nailed the part, but never as an actor in front of a camera. He became Harper for me (both in Harper and when he reprised the role in 1975's The Drowning Pool). He became Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy and John Rooney (the mob boss in Road to Perdition, 2002). He was Judge Roy Bean and Henry Gondorff and John Russell (with his arm crossed behind him as Hombre, 1967). And they were all fascinating because he was at their essence.

Some critics point to The Hustler's Eddie Felson or Butch Cassidy as his most memorable roles.

Others loved Cool Hand Luke ("What we have here . . .is a failure . . . to communicate!).

My favorite was Twilight where Newman is an aging private eye who takes on a case that twists in some of the same fashion as Harper but with far more likeable characters, including Gene Hackman as a dying friend and the incredibly lovely Susan Sarandon. As with the opening scene of Harper, Twilight introduces us to Harry Ross in most memorable fashion. It is a film about people and their base motivations, probably why I liked it.

So, I'm in mourning today. I always liked the world more with Paul Newman in it. I would have liked to buy him a beer. Or, at the very least, a salad.

Go with God's Hand on your shoulder, Paul. You gave us a remarkable life.

Upper left: Floodwaters from Salt Creek in front of a house in Addison. When I arrived they were within ten feet of the house. When I left, they were at the basement windows.

Middle left: Kids play on sand hauled into Addison neighborhood for bagging.

Middle: A Prospect Heights woman tried to drive through the floodwaters in her neighborhood and discovered she couldn't make it.

Bottom: Fire equipment at Sunset Meadows Park in Arlington Heights as fire divers recover the body of a man who went swimming in the floodwaters. The park had become a twenty-foor deep retention pond.

I took some water in my basement. Not worth photos. Just a lot of damaged carpet and a leak that seems to be hidden behind some built-in bookshelves. A little work for me, more work for a carpenter who will have to dismantle the shelves!

Welcome Back to Blogger World, Doug!

Been a little longer vacation from blogging than I planned to take. For those of you eagerly awaiting an installment, I apologize. I'll be adding a bit about some of the stories I covered over the weekend as I rejoined WGN to cover the Great Chicago (and Suburban) Floods.

Other promised blogs will take a little longer but we'll be back in business soon.

On the book front, sales of Every Secret Crime continue and several book signings remain. I'm particularly excited about my Wednesday appearance at the Book Cellar in Chicago and Thursday's visit to the Lake Villa Public Library. If you happen to be nearby, I hope you'll stop in and chat.

Photos coming shortly.

Want to Build a Great Website?

A funny thing happened when I started promoting Every Secret Crime. Everyone started complimenting me on my website. Hardly a book signing goes by that someone doesn't stop by to say they looked at the site and were impressed.

I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

My site is entirely the creation of Beth Tindall, web maven to the stars, at Cincinnati Media.
I asked Beth to stop by the blog and answer some basic questions about website creation. Herewith...her thoughts:

Beth Tindall (http://www.cincinnatimedia.com/) started building websites in 1996 while still working in her longtime non-profit career. She started to specialize in author websites as part of her plot to get free books. Now she gets enough free books to keep her to-be-read stack huge, but she no longer has enough time to read them all! She's happy to talk to potential new clients provided that they do not have a pub date between July 15 and August 15, or they plan so far ahead that they won't need to talk to her during those times. She's kidding about that pub date thing. Kinda.

1.What are the advantages to having a professionally designed website?

I do have one author client who is very fond of saying "I didn't design my own book cover, so why should I design my own website?" I've seen her sketches and it's probably a good thing she leaves the designs to the professionals!

There's a lot of good reasons to turn your website over to a pro:

A professional webmaster will design a website for viewing by all internet visitors. We are aware of the different website browsers, platforms, size restrictions, fonts, etc. that are standard internet protocols. Many amateurs make the mistake of designing websites which look good on THEIR computer, but don't work for people on Mozilla or on a Mac or on dial-up internet connection, for example.

Also, we'll help you match up your website to your marketing goals -- do you want to interact with your fans? do you want to build an e-mail list? should you have a coordinating blog? How can you get traffic to your website from individuals who have not yet heard of you? These are all topics which should be discussed before building your website.

Another reason is that we can help you get your website noticed on search engines, and help analyze statistics to refine your website content, let you know what contests have worked for other clients, and so forth.

Your website is your online calling card. It should represent you and your writing. Authors spend hours and weeks and months writing and re-writing their books. Spending more hours and weeks building your website is time taken away from your primary craft -- writing. Spend your time writing your content for the website, and find a good website designer to help represent you online.


2. How do I choose a good website designer? What criteria should I use?

Find websites you like. Visit a lot of author sites especially. Write down what you like, what you don't like… see who does the websites that you like. Don't just look at the pretty pictures, but read the content as well. You might like BigNameAuthor.com but really only have a FirstTimer.com budget -- does the designer have a variety of sites in his or her portfolio? Do you visit the author's site and get an immediate sense of who that author is, or what he/she writes about? Can you find your way around the site easily? Does the page load quickly?

Ask other authors which website designers they have used, and what do they like about their designer? What is their weakness? Does the author love his or her webmaster? Is he or she responsive? Are deadlines met? Is the price structure adequately explained? Does the designer offer you options, involve you in the process as much or as little as you want?

3. Should I insist on a contract? Why?

Business is business -- you should have, in writing, an agreement of what services are covered, what services are not covered, what the charges are, who pays for the domain names, who owns the website content, where is the hosting, who initiates content changes, how is payment to be made -- these topics should at least be discussed via e-mail, if not spelled out specifically in a proposal or contract.

And, please be sure to keep a copy of your website log in and password, your domain name purchase location (if you bought it) and log in and password, your hosting account info, etc. That information should be printed out and in your business files.

4. What are the elements of a well-designed site?

First and foremost, you should love it. It should be something that you look at and say "(the designer) got it."

Visitors to the website should learn something more about you than they get from reading the book flap. Maybe it's a different photo of you, or a personal essay you've written, or more information about your characters or book location… but there should be some reason for a visitor to come to your site. Moreover, there should be some reason for the visitor to come back. Do you put up photo galleries? When is the next one? Do you have a book tour coming up? When is the next free short story going to be posted?

Visitors should be able to easily find information about you and your books, including the publication order and a brief description of each. I'm not a fan of using the same exact info as is on Amazon or Barnes & Noble websites -- I prefer authors write something new and brief about the books if time allows. It's the kind of thing I would want to know as a reader checking out a new or favorite author.

5. What unrealistic expectations do people have of their websites and their web designers?

The days of "if you build it, they will come" are over. Websites have moved from a novelty to a necessity. People are busy and want to get information online, at their own convenience. That being said, you can't just put a website out there and expect people to come to it. Your website has to be on the search engines for people to find it, unless you have ReallyUniqueName.com and people guess the right spelling of it.

Publishers market books, webmasters market websites, authors should market both. At the same time. Make sure you put your website address on your business cards, on the book jacket copy, if you do bookmarks, have the website address there. I can't tell you the number of times I see marketing materials without that basic information on there.

I suppose the only unrealistic expectations I run into are that I'm up on every client's publication date and should just automatically put the new book on his or her website. It's just not possible for me to do that. The author has to provide me with the information that he or she wants on the site.

I have run into situations where people have said they've contacted me with updates or inquiries into me building a site for them, and I've never received the e-mail. It's the internet -- servers burp, spam filters take on a mind of their own, I get delete-key-happy -- it happens that sometimes e-mails just aren't seen. I respond to every serious inquiry within 48 hours. I make updates as quickly as I can, hopefully within 48 hours.

A website designer who specializes in authors should be able to let you know if your website traffic is on track with similar authors. I wouldn't reveal specific numbers of any client, but I have tools to help me get traffic info on a variety of websites, including those not my own. If you're spending 3 hours a year on your website, your traffic isn't likely to grow very much. If you're spending 3 hours a week marketing online, you better be seeing a lot of increased traffic each week. If not, you should ask your webmaster to help you figure out why.

6. How much should I expect to pay for a professionally designed website?

I love this question. It's like asking, "How much does a car cost?" Well….. do you want new, used, full-sized, economy, leased, buy-a-beater, luxury, sunroof and spoilers?

Seriously, a website can cost as little or as much as you want to spend. The best option is to look at your goals, what content you want to put out there, how you want it to look, how often you want it updated, and so on. I've done websites for $300 and for $10,000, and everything in between. If you only have $500 to spend right now, but if you get a new contract and you can put in another $700 next year, tell your designer upfront. Or, ask what you can get for the low end of your budget and what you can get for the high end of your budget, and then make up your mind. I don't have any stock websites that I sell, and I don't have any stock prices that I charge. It's all based on what the client and I discuss on our initial consultation, what services are needed, and then it's all spelled out in the proposal.

Thanks for joining us, Beth. I suspect you may have some questions to answer over the next few days!

Heading North

If you happen to be in the beautiful Wisconsin North Woods this coming Weds, Aug 27th, head on over to Cottage at Cardinal's on Trout Lake north of Woodruff. I'll be signing books there from 1-3. Please join me and my host, Joanna Cardinal!