Paranormal Fiction, Westerns and True Crime

Editor's Note: One of the writers if former military.

Police-Writers.com is a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books. The website added three police officers: Candace Sams; Craig Johnson and Timothy Carney.

Candace Sams had an eleven year law enforcement career. She was a police officer for the Texas A & M University and the San Diego Police Department. She has a BS in Agriculture from Texas A & M University. Candace Sams is the senior woman on the U.S. Kung Fu Team, awarded the Medal of Putien from China and the Statue of Tao for martial arts, holder of several International Martial Arts Titles, and is an Award Winning author of Fantasy fiction. She is the author of six books: Stone Heart; Gryphon's Quest; The Craftsman; The Gazing Globe; Goblin Moon; and, is a contributing author to the anthology Wyrd Wravings: An Anthology of Humorous Speculative Fiction.

Candace Sams book Gypon’s Quest was awarded the Road to Romance Readers’ Choice Award for best paranormal book. According to the book description of Gypon’s Quest, “The Sorceress of the Ancients sends a Druid Warrior on a mission. He must retrieve three rune stones that were stolen from an ancient, Irish burial site. Can he recover them before the world learns of their powers? Can he keep a mythic Order of creatures safe? Will revealing his secrets, to the woman he loves, cost them both their lives?”

Craig Johnson is a former New York Police Department police officer who worked both the 23rd and Central Park Precincts. He has received both critical and popular praise for his novels The Cold Dish and Death Without Company with starred reviews in Kirkus and Booklist. The Cold Dish and Death Without Company have been made Booksense 76 selections by the Independent Booksellers Association, and Killer Picks by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. On its day of release in Penguin paperback, The Cold Dish began a six-week run on the Barnes & Noble top-fifty best-sellers list.

Death Without Company was selected by Booklist as one of the top-ten mysteries of 2006 and has been nominated for the Wyoming Historical Society as it's fiction book of the year. His first short story, Old Indian Trick, won a Tony Hillerman Mystery Short Story Award and appeared in Cowboys & Indians Magazine.

Craig Johnson’s third in the Walt Longmire series, Kindness Goes Unpunished, was released March of 2007. According to Booklist, in Kindness Goes Unpunished, “Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sheriff Walt Longmire goes on a rare road trip in this third entry in a consistently entertaining series. The trip has two purposes: visit Walt's daughter, Cady, a lawyer in Philadelphia, and support his best friend, Henry Standing Bear, who is the guest of honor at the opening of an exhibit of Native American photographs. Plans change quickly when Cady, the victim of a vicious attack, hovers near death.”

Timothy Carney was raised in an orphanage in the Midwest. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served thirteen months in Vietnam. Upon discharge, he joined the Orange County sheriff's Department. He worked in various capacities for the Orange County sheriff’s Department as an investigator, including narcotics and homicide. After serving as a homicide investigator and a sergeant, he was promoted to lieutenant. Timothy Carney is a graduate of Regis University, Denver, Colorado.

Timothy Carney co-authored Final Affair, a truce crime book. According to the book description, “When Janet Overton died from "unexplained causes," no one in her Orange County community suspected foul play. But a year later, Sheriff's Investigator Tim Carney sensed something amiss in this so-called "nothing case"-and uncovered the shocking truth about Dr. Richard Overton's past.”

Police-Writers.com now hosts 535 police officers (representing 219 police departments) and their 1142 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Cops on Evidence

Editor's Note: One of the author is prior U.S. Army.

Police-Writers.com, a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books, added two authors who have written extensively on the subjects of evidence collection and crime scenes.

Randal Davis has been an Investigator or Police Officer with departments in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas for 26 years. As a Police Officer and District Attorney Bureau of Investigation Investigator, he has conducted or participated in thousands of criminal investigations and arrests. He has received considerable police training and experience in Crime Scene Investigation, Homicide Investigation, the California Street Terrorism Act, Patrol Procedures, General Criminal Investigation, Narcotics, Sexual Assault, and Crimes Against Children.

Randal holds a Masters degree in Criminal Justice (with honors) and a Bachelors degree in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice from California State University Long Beach. Davis is a Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society member. He has been an Adjunct Professor teaching Criminal Justice courses at Santa Ana and Santiago Canyon Colleges since 1997. He has also been a guest instructor at Western State Law School.

Since 1992 Randal has been a POST instructor for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, instructing courses in Homicide Investigation, Criminal Law, Ethics, Professionalism, Weapons Laws, Search and Seizure, Crimes Against Persons, Constitutional Law, and Civil Rights. Additionally, prior to his civilian law enforcement career he was a military police officer in the United States Army.

Randal Davis’ book, Evidence Collection and Presentation, is designed to introduce the concepts involved in collecting and presenting audio and visual evidence. The students will also be introduced to the documentation methods for preserving visual evidence. The text gives the student and understanding of the courtroom technology available for presentation methods utilizing audio and visual means. The disciplines include digital photography, film photography, video, voice and audio recordings.

Jon Lewis received his Master of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice from Chapman University in Orange California. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Speech Communication from Long Beach State University in California. He is a veteran officer with the Newport Beach Police Department, currently serving as a Sergeant and a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team.

Jon Lewis’, Biological Evidence, is an introduction to the types of biological evidence commonly found at crime scenes and how to collect it. This book is written in an easy to read and understand style for non-science majors and for professionals working in the criminal justice system. Specific biological evidence discussed includes blood, semen, saliva, urine, feces, hair, and fingernails. Additional topics include autopsy, the basic departments of the crime laboratory, toxicology, forensic entomology, and uncollectible biological evidence. Packaging, preservation, and care of biological evidence is discussed and chain of custody is explained. Additional topics include DNA, case studies, courtroom testimony, and exhibits for the courtroom.

Jon Lewis’ second book, Criminalistics for Crime Scene Investigators, is an introduction to the concepts involved in the field of Criminalistics from the professional and scientific disciplines dedicated to the recognition, collection, identification, and individualization of physical evidence and the application of the natural sciences to the matters of the law.

Police-Writers.com now hosts 315 police officers (representing 135 police departments) and their 736 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.