MARRIED TO MURDER BLOG TOUR

Check out the ongoing blog tour for Jennifer Oberth's mystery: "MARRIED TO MURDER".

It's a humourous, cozy mystery set in the early 1800's and introducing Ella Westin.

Click below to go to Jennifer's website where you will find a list of where she's posting each day

 (November 27 through December 11)

MARRIED TO MURDER BLOG TOUR

GIVING THANKS

Thanksgiving is a day to reflect  

I give thanks for my 2 darling daughters, Jennifer & Dana; and my new son, Brian!

I give thanks for my wonderful fiance, Dan

I give thanks for my great parents

I give thanks for my siblings & their families:  Sue, Bill, David, Danny,Jonielle & Madilyn; Steve, Kathy, Robert, Stephanie, Michael & Stacy; and Arleen

I give thanks for my Aunt Marilyn & Giorgio; Aunt Kaye, John, Liz & Nina, Buddy & Carol

I might have a small family - but they are the best!

Plaster Casts

The Writers' Police Academy was a full service venue.  We learned all about plaster casts, fingerprinting, alternate light sources, police dogs, fires, gravesites/crime scenes, police snipers, jails...

The list goes on and on.

I wouldn't have missed it for the world and I can't wait til next year!!!!!

Thanks again to Lee Lofland and his band of merry volunteers.

Thanks to all the official personnel who gave their time and explained their techniques.

Thanks for all the hands on experience.

Thanks to the police volunteers who drove us around.  (Hi, Bunny!)

And a special thanks to my daughter, Jennifer, who treated me to this academy as an early Christmas gift!

FATS

My favorite activity at the Writers Police Academy was definitely FATS.  This is a computer simulated scenario used for training police officers.

Modified Glocks are used with the simulator.  The trainers showed us how to 'lock and load' and we were ready to go.  The computer plays different scenarios one at a time. 

My daughter, Jennifer, and I were partners.  One situation showed us off duty at a restaurant.  The chef strode out and threatened one of his diners - a judge who had apparently sent him to jail.  The chef pulled his hands out from under his apron and shot the judge where he sat.  It all happened so quickly, that there was no time to do anything but shoot.  When the chef is killed, the trainers play back the scene in order to show where your shots landed.  Jennifer hit the chef with a kill shot so quickly that you could still see the vapors from the muzzle of the chef's own gun.

Another scene found us in a scrap yard dealing with a guy on meth.  He was smashing a car with a tire iron.  I ordered him to throw down the weapon but he scampered onto the roof of the car and continued swinging.  I yelled various commands:  GET DOWN OFF THE CAR!  DROP THE WEAPON!  GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! 

In between orders, I muttered to my daughter:  I don't want to shoot this poor guy...  Do we have to shoot him?  I hope he lays down...

Suddenly, he leapt off the car and raced towards us.  Three shots and he was a goner.  Again, the replay showed Jennifer's kill shot.

One of the trainers said he was impressed that I recognized the tire iron as a weapon.  A lot of people don't seem to realize that it is a deadly object.  (If someone's coming after me with a tire iron - I'm gonna take him down!)  His comment surprised me.  How could anyone NOT think it was a weapon?

All in all, we had five different scenarios.  Two suspects actually listened to me and got down on the ground.  The other three were killed by my darling daughter.  Though my shots also hit the targets, I only wounded them.  She was dead on.

If I ever come across a bad situation in real life, I went Jennifer on my side!!

Joy

At the Writers Police Academy you never knew what was going to happen next.  A class with Joy and her handler was a welcome surprise addition to our day. 

Joy is a gorgeous, well-trained police dog.  She loves to search for drugs and criminals.  As an extra treat, we got to observe Joy in action.  According to her handler, Joy loves her job.

Unlike us mere mortals, Joy's day is flipped around.  So when she is at work it's PLAY TIME.  And when she's home, it's downtime.  This keeps her excited to get up and go to work. 

What a novel idea (no pun intended).

Arson Demonstration

At the Writers' Police Academy, we were treated to a real live fire!  The entire structure burned down in about 17 minutes.  It was funny to watch a bona fide fire marshall START a fire.  Not something you see every day!

As the fire grew stronger and stronger, the spectators shuffled backwards to get away from the intense heat.  We didn't even realize that we were doing that until it was nearly over and we all started moving closer to check out the damage.

For a closer look at the fire, check out Jennifer Oberth's You Tube time-lapsed video:

Anatomy of a Fire