SEATTLE - Seattle Police Dept. Captain Neil Low says he's been interested in creative writing for a long time. After writing police reports all day he would go home and write fiction, short stories mostly, as a way of relaxing. In fact, the practice goes back more than 40 years, to the time when he was serving in the Navy in Sourtheast Asia.
"I started playing aound writing short stories when I was in Vietnam. I would send them home to my mom, mostly as a gag," said Low.
But what was once a gag is now a growing career. Low has just published his second novel featuring private detective Alan Stewart.
The series is set in Seattle with the latest entry, "Sign of the Dragon," (Tigress Publishing) featuring drugs, guns, femme fatales, international intrigue, espionage, metal smuggling for the Japanese war effort and plain old-fashioned street crime.
Low is a student of history, especially the history of crime in Seattle. Unfortunately that involves a lot of police history, as the force in this city was notoriously corrupt for many decades, right up into the 1960s.
Low says he still loves police work and isn't planning to retire just yet. But he also admits the sucess of the novels and the kick he gets from writing them show he will stay very busy once he does walk away from four decades with a badge.
"The writing thing is just taking over. I have more ideas to work on but I can't really do that if i'm spending all my time here at work," he said.
And there is definitely more Alan Stewart action to come. Low says he has plotted out Stewart's career as a mid-century Emerald City private eye for a full seven books.
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