Fort Hood Shootings Weaponry

by Ben Small

Pat Browning asked some good questions via email about the Fort Hood shootings: How could so many bullets be fired by one person, and how many bullet hits can a body withstand without perishing?

The reports I've seen indicate that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was carrying an FN Five-Seven pistol and a .357 revolver. All rounds he fired came from the FN, a semi-automatic pistol which fires a 5.7x28mm cartridge, often called "the cop killer," because some forms of the round have been known to pierce a bulletproof vest.

Lee Lofland hit the nail on the head when he said Hasan intended suicide-by-cop. It's a phenomenon we're seeing quite often these days, where someone is too cowardly to pull the trigger on himself, or maybe is hopes to avoid a life insurance suicide exception, so he decides to let someone else do the job for him, and wants to make a public statement at the same time.

I'm sure there will be further investigation as to Hasan's motives, and I'll let the professionals handle that aspect. But I'd like to make a few comments about the cartridge and the gun Hasan used. I don't own one, but know the former CEO of FNH USA, have discussed the pistol with him, and I have friends who own FN Five-Sevens. I've shot them, and plan eventually to own one. This shooting will not deter me. It's an outstanding weapon.

The cartridge fired by the FN Five-Seven is the 5.7x28mm, a cartridge developed originally in the late 1980s for a personal defense weapon, FN's P-90. The cartridge is really more like a rifle cartridge than a pistol cartridge, much like the .22 Hornet. Here are pictures of the 5.7X28 mm cartridge and the standard 9x19mm Parabellum ("9mm) cartridge. The differences are self-evident.



The 5.7x28mm cartridge weighs roughly half as much as a typical 9mm cartridge, allowing extra ammunition to be carried easily. It also produces roughly 30% less recoil, improving control. It's a high velocity cartridge and features a high ballistic co-efficient, which means it's not only fast but accurate. And the lack of recoil means the gun stays on target, allowing for faster follow-up shots. It's a small, very pointed bullet, which means it will sometimes, in some forms, pass through a so-called "bulletproof" vest. That's why some versions are called "the cop-killer. In fairness, however, it should be noted that the armor-piercing version is only offered to the military and law enforcement, not commercial users. The ATF classifies the commercial versions of this round as "not-armor-piercing."

The FN Five-Seven pistol was designed to take advantage of this cartridge's favorable ballistic characteristics, primarily for military and police work, but it's also available commercially. The FN Five-Seven carries twenty rounds in its magazine, conceals well, and eleven round extensions are available, so it's possible to have thirty-one rounds available -- one in the chamber -- with just one magazine. Assume Hasan had extra magazines available and one can understand how some witnesses estimated a hundred rounds were shot in total. Hasan could have had ninety-one rounds available with just three magazines. Add in the shots fired by police, and the total approximates the round estimates from witness statements.

The FN Five-Seven has found more acceptance internationally than in the U.S. Cops and the U.S military don't like the round because of concerns for excess penetration, given the bullet's high speed and small size. One bullet can hit numerous targets. And the pistol has not been popular commercially because of high cost, both for the pistol and the ammunition. Plus, local gun stores don't usually carry the ammo; you'll probably have to order the round over the internet from large ammo dealers like Cabelas, Cheaper Than Dirt or Midway USA.

But to shoot one of these guns is to want one. The combination of low weight, accuracy and magazine count makes this pistol fun at the range. You won't believe how good your target looks. If you're shooting a beer round, make sure you choose this pistol for your turn.

So Hasan was able to put a lot of rounds downrange in a hurry, and with the penetration capabilities of the round, it's very possible numerous targets were hit with just one bullet. On the other hand, since the bullet itself is very small (only forty grains), its lethality is not assured unless a major organ is struck.

Hasan himself was struck several times but lived. How is this possible? Pat asked. Well, it depends on where he was hit and by what. The usual police carry gun is the 9mm or .40 S&W. The standard U.S. military gun is the Beretta, a 9mm pistol. Its adoption in the 80s was controversial, as the 9mm too is a small bullet. A famous shootout in the 80s in Miami between some bank robbers and the FBI left a number of Febs dead or wounded, as their 9mm weapons and some tactical mistakes allowed the wounded bad guys to keep shooting their much higher powered weapons. This event led to the development of the 10mm cartridge, now used almost exclusively by hunters. The 10mm cartridge proved to be too powerful, i.e. too much penetration, so the cartridge was cut down to a smaller size: the .40 S&W cartridge. A 10mm pistol will shoot the .40 S&W cartridge, but a .40 S&W cannot shoot the 10mm cartridge. A 10mm cartridge will not fit in the cylinder of a .40 S&W gun.

I suspect the shooting officer was firing a 9mm Beretta. If she had used a .40 S&W or the even larger .45 acp, it's more likely Hasan would have been incapacitated sooner. A .45 acp round will cause massive damage. It's about mass. Get hit with a .45, and more than likely, your involvement in the shooting is over. Get hit in the arm, and you'll likely lose that arm. The leg, and you'll likely bleed to death. The same cannot be said of the 9mm cartridge. With that cartridge, it's all about placement. No wonder our military don't like the 9mm cartridge; no wonder officers often opt for a .45 acp 1911.

I also don't know if our heroine, Sergeant Munley, was using a fully jacketed round or a hollow point. I'd guess a fully jacketed round, because that's the standard military round, whereas police generally prefer a hollow point bullet because of the risk of collateral damage with a fully jacketed round, which will pass through a human body. But I don't know this, and I could be wrong. Regardless, the lethality of what she was shooting would depend both on the bullet and where Hasan was hit. And those are facts I do not know.

It's interesting to note that Hasan did not shoot his .357 magnum revolver. That's because it only holds five, six or seven rounds, depending on model, and reloading would take awhile even with a speed loader. With the Five-Seven, however, Hasan just drops the mag, slaps in another, racks the slide, and he's back to shooting again. A new mag might take as little as a second-and-a-half to load.

Regardless, please don't forget: Guns don't shoot people; people shoot people. This guy was intent on killing people and having the cops kill him, and he could have chosen any number of means to achieve his purpose. He probably had access to shotguns, flame throwers and other weaponry, and he targeted a place where he could access a number of folks in a short period where they had no ability to escape. I believe I read Hasan also had available a number of Improvised Explosive Devices ("IEDs). He just happened to choose the FN Five-Seven pistol for his malevolence.

Meatballs and Terra Cotta Soldiers

The Great Wall. My husband and I roamed through China in 1989.

By Pat Browning


Making meatballs, thinking about Xi’an. Not that there’s a connection, although the old Silk Road traders probably roasted bits of yak over open fires. They didn’t have grinders to make yak meatballs. Or maybe they did. People were surprisingly clever 2,000 years ago.


National Geographic will exhibit several of Xi’an’s terra cotta soldiers in Washington, D. C. from November through March 31. They’re worth seeing. Aside from their historical value, they are simply beautiful. From The Washington Post:


QUOTE
The discovery of the Terra Cotta Warriors sent thrills through the archaeology community and the complex where they were found is a World Heritage Site, protected forever.


It was in 1974 that a group of farmers, digging a well outside the town of Xi'an in central China, discovered the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, who ruled the country from 221 to 210 B.C. It had been underground for more than 2,000 years. As they excavated, Chinese archaeologists discovered a vault with thousands of figures, including 2,000 soldiers, 100 chariots, 400 horses and 300 cavalry horses. It is estimated that 700,000 workers participated in building the underground complex, an effort that lasted more than 36 years. The warrior sculptures were lined up in formation, arranged to protect the emperor in the afterlife.
END QUOTE


You can read the story and watch a video of the soldiers being unpacked at
http://tinyurl.com/ylje2rx.

This was no dinky project. There’s also the story that those thousands of life-sized soldiers and horses were to fool and discourage any spies who might be snooping from a distance. Probably both stories are true – protection in this world and the next.

Xi'an's terra cotta soldiers, on guard for more than 2,000 years.

So, farmers digging a well in 1974 discovered them. I came along with a tour group 25 years later and saw them in the excavation pits. I was the only one of my tour group to visit the pits. Everyone else was back at the hotel, sick in bed. China is a tough trip.


My husband didn’t stir from bed all day. That night, the front desk sent up two doctors who didn’t speak English. When body language couldn’t make them understand that the patient needed a laxative and was allergic to penicillin, the hotel manager was called to translate. He was from Hong Kong, so he had no problem with English. The tab for consultation and medication was about $26.


By the time we got to Wuxi three days later, several group members went straight to bed. An English-speaking doctor made the rounds, giving injections about every six hours at $5 a pop. According to the doctor, the medicine was “western” for younger patients, and “eastern,” meaning herbs, for older ones.


Whatever it was, it got everyone up and about for three days in Shanghai and the flight home, but just barely. Some of our people were sick for weeks afterward. My only problem was that I smelled that wretched red Chinese sauce all the way from Shanghai to Los Angeles. Other than its famous, or infamous, red sauce, I loved Shanghai.


But Xi’an was the place that captured my imagination. I had a few déjà vu moments. I like to think in another life, Xi’an was my jumping off place for a trip on the old Silk Road. I’m the wandering type. The old Silk Road would have been just my cup of tea. Or yak milk.

Old city wall of Xi'an


As if reading my mind, Google took me to the American Museum of Natural History web site. AMNH recently announced a “Traveling the Silk Road” exhibition Nov. 14-Aug.15, 2010. From the press release:


“This intriguing exhibition brings to life one of the greatest trading routes in human history, showcasing the goods, cultures, and technologies from four representative cities: Xi’an, China’s Tang Dynasty capital; Turfan, a verdant oasis and trading outpost; Samarkand, home of prosperous merchants who thrived on the caravan trade; and Baghdad, a fertile hub of commerce and scholarship that became the intellectual center of the era.”


Ah, Xi’an. I could write a book just on the Jianguo Hotel in Xi’an. It’s doing beautifully now. Its listing on the Internet says:


“Each of the 800 rooms at this 4-star hotel have all the comforts and conveniences of home. Hair dryer, air conditioning, in-room movies, tea/coffeemaker, minibar are among the amenities guests will find in every room. In addition, this property in Xian has cocktail lounge, dry cleaning and laundry, conference rooms, business center, restaurants. For the enjoyment of guests interested in sports or leisure, there are sauna, massage, indoor pool, fitness center on the grounds. Guests seeking that perfect blend of attentive care and modern convenience will find it at this lovely hotel.”


I don’t doubt a word of it, but when we checked in that Easter Sunday of 1989 we waited in the lobby for four hours while they finished our rooms. I use the word “finished” loosely. Upstairs, we found hot water but no electricity. Some toilets didn’t flush. In one room the window had no pane. During our 2-night stay the hammering in our wing seldom stopped. Even so, we loved the hotel because the service was superb. Translation: they waited on us hand and foot.


China is so old, so historic, and so cultured, it sometimes seems as if everything began there. I’ve always wondered about the origin of the American Indian. I lean toward the theory that they came from China, across an ice bridge to the American continent.


But then there’s a language study that has early East Coast Indians speaking with a Portuguese accent. Well, why not? The Portuguese were formidable wayfarers once upon a time. And there are those who believe American Indians are descended from the Lost Tribe of Israel. Will we ever know?


Closer to home tonight, the baked meatballs are delicious. I ate a couple for a bedtime snack, and put the rest in the freezer.

Irish/Italian Leukemia Cure

by Jean Henry Mead

The Emerald Isle has been known for many things, including whiskey, the Blarney stone, poetry and literature. But this week, the online news magazine, Irish Central, announced that researchers at Dublin’s Trinity College, along with colleagues in Belfast and Sienna, Italy, teamed up to develop a cure for a common strain of Leukemia.

The research project, funded by the Irish Cancer Society, has proven that Pyrrolo-1.5-benzoxazepine-15 (PBOX-15) kills previously resistant strains of leukemia. Researchers in Dublin’s neighboring city of Cork also announced that curry can kill esophageal cancer cells, a fact known for years by doctors practicing alternative medicine in this country, much of which is outlawed.

Professor Mark Lawler of the Trinity School of Medicine in Dublin said, “This important discovery is the result of a truly collaborative approach, involving researchers across the different disciplines of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular medicine at TCD, together with our colleagues in Sienna and Belfast. The complimentary expertise allowed us to approach the problem of killing CLL cells from a number of angles.”

Lawler also said that the PBOX-15 drug kills resistant cancer cells by breaking them down and killing them when they become resistant to fludarbine, a chemical most often used to fight leukemia.

John McCormick, head of Ireland’s Cancer Society, said his organization "is proud to have funded this high quality research. The society is the largest voluntary funder of cancer research in Ireland and one of our objectives is to fund researchers that will ultimately develop new and better treatments for cancer patients. . . These findings now need to be brought from the laboratory to the bedside so they will ultimately benefit patients with this common form of leukemia.”

Meanwhile, at the University of Cork, researchers revealed that turmeric, the spice used to make curry, has molecules that kill esophageal cancer cells. They also announced that the chemical curcumin, which is found in turmeric, starts destroying throat cancer cells within the first 24 hours of treatment. Their findings were published recently in the British Journal of Cancer.

Nearly 17,000 cases of esophageal cancer will have been diagnosed in the U.S. by the end of this year and some 14,530 victims will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. The number of cases is Ireland averages 350.

Because I’ve lost four members of my immediate family to cancer, I’ve done considerable research of my own. Exercise and deep breathing exercises retard the growth of cancer cells while sugar feeds them. Three cups of green tea daily help to prevent cancer growth as does regular meals containing broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower. Half a cup of low fat cottage cheese as well as daily doses of wheat germ and flax seed sprinkled on cereal or salads have also been known to reduce or prevent cancer cell growth. Blueberries, raspberries and alkaline based drinking water, as opposed to acidic, have also been reported as cancer preventers.

The chemotherapy patient survival rate has been reported variously from 9-20% in this country, so those diagnosed with the disease should do copious research of their own to complement standard methods of treatment.

Love and the Mystery Writer

By Beth Terrell

I'm writing this post from Brewster Massachusetts, very near Cape Cod. I'm here for a writer's weekend workshop. I'll write about the workshop next week, since it doesn't actually start until tomorrow. I bring it up now because, if it weren't for this workshop, I wouldn't have spent the last two days driving from Nashville, Tennessee to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and I wouldn't have gotten a first-hand demonstration of true love in action.

Preparing for a trip like this involves a number of tasks. Do laundry; pack suitcase; make sure manuscript copies are in notebooks and loaded up; read the manuscripts of the other authors; pack a bag to take to the dog trainers' (where they'll be staying while Mike and I are gone); get Mom to take care of the house, cat, and birds; give the animals lots of attention before dropping the dogs off at "Aunt Peg's."

My husband, Mike, is also getting ready for a trip. He and a group of his friends are going to a gaming convention in Gettysburg, stopping at a number of battlefields and museums on the way. But in the midst of preparing for his trip, he took the time to print out maps detailing every step of my route. Not only did he print them, he took them to Kinko's and bound them. He made sure we had AAA memberships and that I had a brochure with all the services listed. He bought me an adapter for my lighter so I can plug in multiple devices at one time. And then he gave me an mp3 player loaded with songs he knew I'd like. When I thanked him, he said, "I'm just trying to make your trip more pleasant."

When I got into the car, one of the first things I did was plug in my GPS ("Daniel"). Mike gave Daniel to me several years ago for our anniversary, and programmed "him" with the British male voice because he thought I'd like that best. He makes sure Daniel's maps are up-to-date so that when I travel, I don't have to worry about getting lost and having to ask for directions.

You'd better believe that, when I got behind the wheel of my little black Honda Accord and plugged in my mp3 player and put the coordinates for the workshop location into Daniel's memory, I was feeling protected, taken care of, and very, very loved.

It's the same way I feel when he drops me off at the front door of a restaurant because it's raining and he doesn't want me to get wet. I don't generally mind getting wet, but it still touches my heart when he does it.

I know the care and feeding of a mystery writer can be challenging sometimes. We spend our "mad" money on writers' workshops and conferences, we need a boatload of reassurance that we do indeed have talent, and--as Ben pointed out after his trip to Croatia--we think of murder at the strangest times.

So I'd like to thank my husband, Mike, for all the many little things he does to show support and love for this mystery writer.

May you all be lucky enough to have someone who'll do the same for you.

Rebuilding is a Chore

By Mark W. Danielson

Many years ago, I built an airplane. Other than the expense, it was a relatively simple task. All it took was following the plans and putting in long hours. Okay; that’s simplifying it a bit, but it wasn’t insurmountable. At the time, I was living in Victorville, California, and every Friday afternoon, I would drive to my hangar in Pomona and work steady until Sunday night. I even slept in the hangar on a roll-away bed. Needless to say, I had no social life, but nothing got done unless I was there doing it.

I completed my bi-plane in July, 1979, and flew it for many years performing air shows and giving passengers their first view of an upside-down world. When I first built this plane, its front cockpit was open with a passenger aboard and covered with a plate for solo flight. After I got married, I thought it would be more comfortable to have a canopy over both cockpits, so I spent a year modifying the plane, building new instrument panels for both cockpits, changing the design of the turtle deck behind the rear cockpit, installing new fuselage fabric, and repainting the airplane. Ironically, my former wife never flew in it after I modified it. I have since sold the airplane and changed wives.

Right now I am in the process of rebuilding a manuscript. I many ways, the course is the same as building and then rebuilding the airplane. My first draft is always the most enjoyable because it’s new and fresh. Then comes the editing, and once I’m finished, my editors have their own take. Thus, the rebuilding phase is nowhere near as enjoyable as scripting it the first time.

One time I got so frustrated building a wing that I stomped around my hangar, desperately searching for something to bash without damaging anything else. I had heard of people destroying their entire projects as a result of a Rube Goldberg chain of events, so I was being careful not to repeat their mistakes. In desperation, I picked up a rubber mallet and slammed it over a sawhorse hoping it would make me feel better. Instead, the head broke off, flipped backwards, and hit another part! Needless to say, my first problem remained unsolved and I created another one because I had lost my temper. Comparing this incident to writing, there are moments when I’ve wanted to delete or shred an entire manuscript, but like my airplane project, I knew that setting it aside and walking away was the better course of action.

Nothing compares to the fulfillment of completing an airplane or manuscript. Both take flight when they are finished, and I’ll always have a sense of satisfaction when looking back. Perseverance is what sees my projects through. As they say, no pain, no gain. I only wish I was good enough to get things right the first time.

Warped

by Ben Small

As some of you know, I just returned from touring Croatia and a bike tour of parts of Slovenia, Italy and Austria. And of course, my mind turned to murder. I don't recall anybody writing a murder mystery involving a bicycle tour, but why not? Seems to me one could develop a story very Agatha Christie-like on a bike tour.

So many methods for the killer to use. He could oil a sharp turn on a downhill switch-back. Or she could reach down and thrust a stick or rod between someone's spokes. Or he/she could bat someone across the bean while passing.

Great. Now I'll be thinking about bike-murder all day...

Consider this: We had eleven people in our twenty person bike tour (not including two guides) who were part of one group from Ormond Beach, FL. Who knows the relationship these folks had before the trip? Maybe one has been cheating with another one's wife or husband. Maybe two of them are related and there's a will contest going on. Maybe one is the parent of a child arrested because of drugs supplied by another tour member. Whatever. These folks knew each other before the bike tour, and they'd had interactive lives.

What a chance for murder.

Just try to account for twenty people on a bike tour. Who's where at any time? Folks ride in different groups, and mix it up after rest stops or meals. Trying later to reconstruct who was with whom and when would be difficult -- again, just like an Agatha Christie murder.

Riding on paved or hard-pack gravel trails in beautiful valleys underneath the Julian Alps is a dreamlike journey. The air is crisp and cool, fresh, and spirits are high. The heart is pounding and the muscles are burning. Who's paying attention to details? Oops, somebody missed a turn. Okay. We'll catch them later. Or will we? What if they don't come back? What if somebody bumped 'em off at the last turn?

Okay, I'm sick. But so are you. C'mon, admit it. You go places and think about murder too, don't you?

Don't be surprised if there's a bike in my next book...

Robert Fate: Making His Own Luck, Part 2

Robert Fate’s photo from his web site.




By Pat Browning


BABY SHARK’S JUGGLERS AT THE BORDER by Robert Fate, fourth in the series, is now in bookstores.


This time we get into Otis’s story, when his estranged wife, Dixie, is murdered. Despite gunfire and body count, an underlying theme in the Baby Shark books is love and loss. Dixie is a major character in JUGGLERS, even though we only know her through others. I can’t say more without giving away the plot, but this book has the best last line since “Nobody’s perfect,” Joe E. Brown’s famous parting shot in the movie “Some Like It Hot.”


In a letter to his “buds from the old days in Oklahoma,” Robert Fate (Bealmear) talks about his career, and the realities of publishing and promotion.


***
QUOTE
I have had some questions asked about the crime series that I write, how did I get the writing thing started? How hard was it to get published? How does it all work? ––that sort of stuff. So, here are some answers to some of the questions about what happened after I turned 70 and wrote a novel. Hit delete when you get bored.


I chose to use my middle name as a pen name, since (admit it) most can’t spell my last name and were never sure how to pronounce it. So, Robert Fate writes the books.


What were the odds that if I wrote a book I would ever get it published? Here is what Colin Cotterill, a writer I admire, had to say about getting published: “Go into a bookshop, any bookshop, and count the number of writers you've heard of. Subtract this from the estimated number of books in the store. Then multiply that number by 100,000, because that's the number of people out there who are trying to get published.

Granted, there's a large percentage that can't write to save their lives, but there are many thousands of great writers who can't get their work in front of a publisher.

So, not getting published isn't such a big deal. Write for yourself. Write for your friends. Put stuff on the Internet. But don't shoot yourself if you can't get published.”


BABY SHARK by Robert Fate
Book one in the Baby Shark series was published in September 2006. It was an Anthony Award finalist at Bouchercon 2007, and was optioned by the producer Brad Wyman in the spring of 2008 to become a motion picture. A screenplay adapted from the book is scheduled to be in production by mid-2010.


Book one took eighteen months to write. It got over sixty rejections before a small publishing house in Colorado picked it up. That publisher is Capital Crime Press. The way that happened was I met the senior editor at a social event in L.A., we hit if off, and he agreed to read the manuscript. He liked it. We struck a deal.


Some who rejected the book told me to give up writing, since I wasn’t going anywhere. It may have been good advice––the jury is still out.


My publisher told me recently that book one would go into a second edition by next spring. To give you some perspective. The largest number of books I have ever sold at a single bookstore signing is 84. I did that once. At a number of signings over the years, I’ve sold 50 to 60 books. However, it is also not uncommon for me to sell only 5 or 6 at a signing. I followed the author Michael Connelly at a bookstore where I was delighted to have sold 20 books.

A couple of hours before I got there, Michael signed 150. He signed at two other stores that day and sold an equal number of books at those venues, as well. The thriller writer Lee Child told me he sold a book every six minutes somewhere in the world. So, these are numbers to shoot for, but a lot of books have to get written and a lot of readers have to like reading you before that can happen. That is one reason it would have made more sense to start this effort at a younger age––ah, hindsight.


Baby Shark’s BEAUMONT BLUES --
Book two in the series was published May 2007. It was an Anthony Award finalist at Bouchercon 2008, and was given a Starred Review in Library Journal.

Here’s the scoop on the Anthony Award – it is given out yearly at Bouchercon, the largest fan-based mystery convention in the U.S. – several thousand mystery readers and a hundred or so mystery writers (some big names, too) attend these happy events. It is scary how seriously these readers take their mysteries. They can make or break a crime writer.

The convention moves from city to city, i.e., Indianapolis, Baltimore, Madison, Chicago, etc. Hundreds of titles are nominated, five are chosen as finalists in each of the different categories. Because I was totally a new guy, it was a stunner to even be considered, and an honor to be a finalist.


Here is what a starred review means – librarians and bookstore managers and owners are buried in book reviews, hundreds a month come at them––nonstop, month after month, so stars are a way for the reviewers to help the buyers choose the reviews to read.

The four big reviewers are Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. They have reputations, cannot be bought, and are careful when they award stars because they know they influence purchases. This doesn’t mean other reviews are chopped liver––all reviews are important, but these four are the big kahunas. So, a starred review from Library Journal for book two was huge. Just to prove the point, Baby Shark’s library sales jumped after the review was released.

Here is that review –

Library Journal - Starred Review
“P.I. Kristin Van Dijk charges through her second entry (after Baby Shark) in this tremendously satisfying glimpse into the underside of 1950s Dallas/Ft. Worth. She and mentor-partner Otis Millett have been hired to find kidnapped teen oil-heiress Sherry Beasley, who needs to be kept safe until her upcoming 18th birthday. They retrieve her once, along with lots of cash, but free-spirit Sherry escapes almost immediately.

Unfortunately, crime boss Vahaska and his entourage of unsavory characters desperately want to find Sherry since she witnessed a double murder. Moving adeptly from pool halls into the ritziest hotel in Dallas, Otis and Kristin keep asking themselves whose money is in their safe and how it ended up in a remote farmhouse.

Mix in a few dead bodies and an attractive detective from the Dallas PD, and you've got one hot little crime story. Fate's witty dialog, colorful characters, and nonstop action make this pulp-style piece sparkle. Let's hope for more in this series. Highly recommended.”
—Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Co. Library, CA

It took less than a year to write Beaumont Blues (It got written while I was waiting for something to happen with book one) and by the time I was finished with it, book one was appearing on many top ten lists, real reviews were appearing on Amazon that hadn’t been written by my friends and relatives, and my publisher was happy with me.

A writer’s first book can often be a fluke, so the second book is important in establishing a readership. I was fortunate––it passed the test.


Now readers of the series were waiting for book three. It was tiny, tiny, tiny, but I had a readership. The names Baby Shark and Robert Fate were starting to be recognized among the fans of crime fiction. I had been writing novels for about four years at this point, and had been published for two years.


Baby Shark’s HIGH PLAINS REDEMPTION --
Book three in the series took a year to write, was published in May 2008, and received a Starred Review from Kirkus (a tough reviewer) – here’s how that went: The publisher phoned me from Colorado and said that Kirkus had reviewed High Plains. I was surprised the reviewer knew my books. I said I didn’t want to hear it, because Kirkus is often so hard on authors, especially new guys.

My publisher said, No, wait. It’s a starred review. Sure, I said, and since he is not above pulling a writer’s tail, I remained unconvinced. But he finally got me to listen and it was close to walking on air. A good Kirkus review is major news, especially for a nobody writer with a small readership.

A review from Kirkus with a star next to it is golden. It was after Kirkus that publishers in Japan and France got in touch concerning foreign sales possibilities. Nothing yet, but maybe, one of these days…

KIRKUS – Starred Review
“Baby Shark's in a sea of troubles involving bootleggers, racketeers, crooked politicians, a wounded partner, a cooling romance and hordes of hit men out to do her in.

Kristin Van Dijk and Otis Millett, partners in a Fort Worth private investigation agency, don't much like the gig because neither of them much likes their client Travis Horner. But when big Otis indicates that he has a reason for taking it on, Kristin, aka Baby Shark-a renowned pool hustler from a young age-stifles her protests.

Otis's reason, she soon learns, is gorgeous Savannah Smike, who might not be all there mentally but is fully present from the neck down. She hasn't exactly been kidnapped, Horner tells Otis while handing him a bag of ransom money, but the bad guys are keeping her in her underwear. It turns out, of course, that Horner is a lying scalawag and that Otis and Baby Shark have been set up. After Otis goes down with bullets in his chest, Baby Shark's outnumbered by a whole mess of murderers.

Not that there's ever any real doubt that this smart, tough, endlessly cool platinum blonde will be able to cope. Love her or hate her, everyone knows Baby Shark is lethal. A lively addition to a highly diverting series.”

The first two books in the series had garnered reviews from two of the four big reviewers.
So far so good.


And then Baby Shark got a boost up from an unexpected quarter. A well-known, award-winning, mid-level writer with a big time NY publisher surprised me by writing a letter of recommendation for book three to the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

She and her husband had read my books, and were fans. That author was Julia Spencer-Fleming. The complete letter is at robertfate.com if you’re crazy to see it all. Here’s a taste of it:

“High Plains Redemption is a hugely entertaining pulp-style masterpiece for today's reader. With bootlegging, billiards, Buicks and babes, this unique series is a blue-ribbon trip down memory lane. Fate is a unique storyteller. Who else would have penned a young, blonde, female protagonist in post-WWII Texas? Fate's style is modern, spare, propulsive, almost a screenplay. I loved the tough, oh-so-human heroine. My husband loved the twangy Badlands sensibility.”

A couple of other writers weighed in, so now the series was getting praise from other authors, my contemporaries –– well, maybe they aren’t as ancient as I am, but from a new direction anyway ––check your hat size, my wife wisely cautioned me.

And the truth was, I was still an invisible writer with a small (but growing) readership. “Who?” They say at Barnes & Noble. “We can order that for you.” Ah, to just be on the shelves––is that too much to ask?

Actually, they do show up now and again––a fellow in New Zealand who had read the series said the library in his town had put stars on the covers to signify the staff recommended them. Holy smokes! New Zealand!

Baby Shark’s JUGGLERS AT THE BORDER –
Book four in the series was published in October 2009. It took a year to write, and has gotten early reviews from the two remaining ‘big four’ reviewers:

Publishers Weekly - Starred Review
“At the start of Fate's masterful fourth 1950s PI novel (after 2008's Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption)¸ Kristin Van Dijk, who's been tied up in a farmhouse by two silver thieves she was tracking, manages to free herself and take out a killer, later identified as a sociopathic felon, who a little earlier showed up and gunned down the two thieves, unaware of her presence. Meanwhile, word reaches Kristin's partner, Otis Millett, that his ex-wife, Dixie Logan, a former stripper known as the Dallas Firecracker, has been murdered.

Dixie's last job was at a bank in Mesquite, Texas that had been held up a few weeks before and her body was found with that of a man who may have been one of the robbers. Kristin, a hard-as-nails heroine who's completely credible, and Otis dedicate themselves to solving Dixie's murder and sorting out whether she colluded in the bank theft. The pages will speed by for readers who enjoy gritty crime tales with plenty of flying bullets.”


Booklist – Starred Review
“With her pool-hustling career gathering dust like the parched Texas border towns where she was raised, Baby Shark, aka Kristin Van Dijk, is now a full-time private eye. The year is 1958, and the case is personal. The estranged, ex-stripper wife of Baby Shark's partner, Otis Millett, has been murdered. But her’s will not be the only bullet-riddled corpse to dot these pages. The violence seems to be centered on a series of successful big money bank robberies and a lunatic mastermind with little interest in splitting the take.

Cutting a deal with Fort Worth police detective Carl Lynch, Baby Shark and Otis talk their way into participating in the investigation—as bait. But Baby Shark Van Dijk is bait that bites back, while Otis covers her play with guns blazing. Fate fills his novels with verisimilitude; we smell the unfiltered smokes while jukeboxes play old songs that somehow feel brand new.

With book four in this gritty series (following Baby Shark’s High Plains Redemption, 2008), Fate again jacks pulp fiction up a notch or three beyond the old Black Mask formulas. Hard-boiled just doesn’t get much better than Baby Shark spinning another .38-caliber tale. — Elliott Swanson”

So now I’m writing book five, a stand-alone (not in the Baby Shark series). It’s a contemporary noir, 3rd person with a male protagonist. I call it Kill The Gigolo. It will be published in the fall of 2010. I will be 75 (won’t we all) and wondering why I didn’t start this particular adventure much earlier. Well, anyway.


In the fall of 2011, book six (five in the BShark series) will be published unless my readership has gone from tiny to miniscule and my publisher no longer likes me. We’ll see.

So far, from year to year, the readership for the series has grown. Maybe, when the movie Baby Shark comes out, that will encourage sales even more.
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Special Note: The first 3 of Robert Fate’s books are available on Kindle. And speaking of Kindle -- Amazon has announced that in November it will offer free software so that Kindle books can be downloaded as pdf files and read on PCs. One disadvantage is that you have to sit at your PC to read a book, but I’ve read several books recently as downloads. I’m surprised by how easy it is. – Pat Browning