Two Books Based on Truth

Two Books Based on Truth

By BR Chitwood

*

Two True Crimes!

One solved! One still a mystery!

“Mama’s Madness” was solved some years ago by some excellent police work in Northern California…

This ‘Mama’ was from the loins of Satan, evil in word and deed, the punishments of her daughters were manic and difficult to believe, recorded not here but stark and vivid in the book. This ‘Mama’ murdered two of her three daughters and an ex-husband, robbed and invented tortuous punishments so ugly and vile to mention here – but, there between the pages of the book, the reader will find them. This is a well-written book with many 5-Star Amazon ratings…you don’t want to miss this one!

This one was solved: mother sentenced to a California prison…probably out by now…

BUY SITE FOR ‘MAMA’S MADNESS’: https://www.amazon.com/Mamas-Madness-Billy-Ray-Chitwood-ebook/dp/B07DCFWNX7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=I8WMPK9ELK7W&keywords=Mama%27s+Madness&qid=1654728126&s=books&sprefix=mama%27s+madness%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1

*

 “Stranger Abduction” is very close to the Author’s heart because this crime was committed prior to my move to some ranchland in SE Arizona… My new neighbors told me as much as they could know about this mother and daughter disappearance, to wit:

It is a summer Sunday afternoon in rural Cochise Country, AZ near Sunizona, AZ, and a large happy family has just finished Sunday lunch. It is decided that Mom and her pert little 14-year-old daughter will walk three miles to their country store for ice cream and cigarettes for Dad. It is a walk often taken by members of the family – a sister lives along the Hwy. 181 route, affording them the opportunity to stop and visit.

Mother and daughter reach the country store, chat gaily with the owners and other shoppers, then leave for their return walk home, happily smearing ice cream on each other’s faces and kicking gravel along the road… a cheerful Mom and Daughter enjoying their Sunday.

Mom and daughter never make it home on that sunny Sunday in 1983!

They were never heard from again.

*

The sad aftermath of this true case is a family tragedy!

This novel explores the possibilities of what might have happened on that Sunday afternoon so many years ago. As an author in residence some six miles from Route 181 where two people were abducted, having talked to so many of the neighbors, I had to write about this case… It became a ‘must do assignment’ for me, and, I suggest for other writers as well.

PLEASE! If anyone has any information about this ‘Cold Case’, please contact the Sheriff’s Office in Bisbee, Arizona. PLEASE!

*

By BR Chitwood

https://www.brchitwood.com

OR

https://www.billyraychitwood.com

BUY SITES:

BUY SITE FOR “STRANGER ABDUCTION: https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Abduction-Billy-Ray-Chitwood-ebook/dp/B01K5ZRFS4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=135W0RS5SS0XS&keywords=stranger+abduction&qid=1654729175&s=books&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C96&sr=1-3

All 20 of my novels, 500 blog posts, many Short Stories, Flash Fiction, and Poetry are on the website provided above… Hope you can read and enjoy some of my stories.

*

BRC

Lester at Dexter High

Lester at Dexter High School

Lester at Dexter High

*

BR Chitwood

It Is quite amazing how and why people have the impulse to disfavor you in all kinds of settings – be it a Store, a Movie House, Church, School, sidewalk, a restaurant, anywhere!

Maybe it’s a ‘Social, verbal vitriolic attack because the personal ‘VVA’ remembers the number of times the person ‘has pushed his/her button recently’. Let’s call the ‘VVA’ another name as well, his real name, Lester Hale, the local high school football’s team hero who has shot them to the top of their local Football Division.

As in most cases of ‘Bullying’, the ‘Les’ knows how to sketch the points of where he levels our unsuspecting victim. The most frightening aspect of this ill-guided Teen-ager is that he understands exactly where the key is kept when not being used.

Lester has other problems this day. He watches the kids scratch their heads over the number of police present at the school, checking lockers and classrooms. He also catches the stares from members of the police unit. He is not intimidated by their presence.

He is however eager to know ‘why’ the police presence? The ‘deal’ he has cooked up doesn’t go until the bell rings at 3:15 PM.

Hey, I’m just backing to a few pages of history, and I’m not surprised to find we have had these kids with fouled brains throughout our history. The bastards who get them there have set the tone for their thoughts and their hatred…

Lester is having a marvelous day: he has gotten some real scary faces around him, those who wonder what is coming next from this unregistered member of the ‘KKK’ who has modified their programs of devastation. There is nothing good that will be coming from this group, other than dumbing-down talk and action…their lives, the way they were taught to live them. The kids had a chance, but did they have the positive images of ‘Purple Mountain Majesty’, ‘America the Beautiful’, and ‘A house not divided’ who sang the positive and the beautiful… No, the kids had their music and lyrics written for them by ‘lame duck’ nay-sayers and those shooting the dice for glory and bounty.

 cheeksso much to people coming to America, and, somehow, ‘the melting pot’ became a ‘shooting arcade’, a place you can pick a good fight anywhere.

I cannot spend much time with our Governmental successes – certainly, not in the past couple of years, but it seems the young congress ‘modifiers’ – AOC and her group, are making America somewhat of a Pariah Playground…licking their cheeks and taking our money.

We are so close to becoming a country with all the evil forces of the past settling in for Armageddon.

I am not a ‘Doom-Sayer’ but, now an old man, I worry for my kids, grand-kids, and great-grand kids. We have the greatest motivators in our country coming forward, good and honest people. ‘Bite the bullets’ you need to bite, get rid of the ‘losers’, but, please, get our country running again. We have all you ‘red, white, and blue’ power-movers, and one can hope for here in the USA an emerging country and economy – with lots of gas, food stuffs, and some very large bottles of Champagne.

Come on, America, Let’s get going!

*

BR Chitwood – June 1, 2022

*

https://www.brchitwood.com

*

I have written 20 books, 500 blogs, short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and songs…hope you can enjoy some of my work…they are all at https://www.brchitwood.com

Do You Know This Man?

Do You Know This Man?

By BR Chitwood

Do You Know This Man?

No? I knew him, not so well, some forty years ago…he was a habitue, a devotee, of the Phoenix neon night life, searching for parts of himself he lost along a long emotional road from the hills of Appalachia: lost in an abusive and disoriented childhood; lost in a flawed and impetuous marriage; lost in the glittering promise of booze and women. Yes, I knew him, not so well, as he made all his stumbles along the way, losing not only himself but the connections to family and friends, to the people who loved him.

Yes, of course, I’m the man in the photo, and there’s a lot more to the story…hope you’ll read THE CRACKED MIRROR, Reflections of an Appalachian Son, by Billy Ray Chitwood.

Amazon Worldwide

https://www.brchitwood.com

…

Excerpts from “The Cracked Mirror…”

***

In the end, my story must be like so many others, a story of a simple kid who grew up eating emotional soup and spending a lifetime trying to digest it. There are no spectacular or heroic moments. I’ve been in the United States Navy, but I’ve never fought a war—except the one I’ve declared within myself. So I know not the pain of holding a bleeding comrade to my bosom as he or she gasps the final breaths. I know not the anguish of a parent losing a child in an accident, or, in war—unless losing a child to drugs can be comparable. I’ve loved and been in love, but I’ve never stepped far enough from myself to know the true and natural profundity of its happiness and joy. I’ve been born but never died—unless the demon of the past is segmented death. The prospect of dying scares the hell out of me—not so much the prospect itself, but the pitiful legacy that is left behind. I’ve known insecurity and fear, along with self-confidence, loyalty, and pride. There have been the sins, small enough, I hope, to keep me at least somewhere in the thoughts of those I’ve loved. At times I’ve longed for ‘Nepenthe,’ the drug mentioned in ‘The Odyssey’ as a remedy for grief, the potion used by the ancients to induce forgetfulness of pain and sorrow. But, then, without some pain, can the soul truly seek refuge when the long journey is over?

***

The jail cell brought back sobriety and a stark reality. Sitting on a hard dirty ‘bed thing’ in the dimly lit, tiny barred enclosure, the demon thoughts came and possessed me. My world was disintegrating around me! The claustrophobic cell was my coffin of contriteness, a veritable symbol of my languishing life. There again was the ‘dark closet’ feeling within me, an anxious and suffocating hell! Grabbing at the bars I pitifully called out to the jailer, but no one came. Within the limited space I paced, stopped at the ugly stained wall, splayed my body against it, and tapped my forehead against its roughness. The jailer eventually came. He showed me a smile of compassion and told me that morning would come soon; then, I would be arraigned. The fitful night would pass.

***

It is Time that wears down the acts and deeds of man into something forgettable, mundane, heroic, noble, historical, and unforgettable. It is Time that leads us warily toward the greatest secret of all: That which lies beyond the dark veil!

***

“…There are men like you in the world, Prentice, through whatever kind of intervention, divine or otherwise, who must make us cry and laugh, who record for us the stirrings of the soul which we might otherwise never know.”

…

BR Chitwood

Okay, here I am today, no longer chasing those windmills, still trying to figure out this ‘one foot in front of the other’ thing. There are times when it seems I’m pretty close to figuring out this grand production, but those times are little teaser moments to stir something in the soul — sort of like a dreaded visit to a doctor or dentist, getting the car repaired – feels great when you find out the blood pressure is normal (thanks to a little round pill taken each day), the teeth cleaning and exam present no new cavities, and the car now carries no shameful dent.

All in all, living for some years on the rolling bluegrass hills of lovely Kentucky, a good wife, an aging, lovable cat, great daughters and sons, have given me happiness and joy. Back in Arizona the past still gets in my way at times in inscrutable ways, like a misty longing for something valuable I’ve left behind. I’ve never abandoned my faith, though fragile it might be, and there are many more good days than bad,

With all this said, I’m still writing, still searching…guess that only stops when mortal time gives up on me…

 BR Chitwood – April 6, 2022

If you like books of mystery, suspense, action, romance, many of which are inspired by true events, please visit my website at  https://www.brchitwood.com – after a short bio, just scroll down the ‘home’ page to preview the books and synopses of each.

More: It’s all here: https://www.brchitwood.com

*

Nine of the author’s 20 books shown below…  Go to https://www.brchitwood – Website with synopses of all 20 books, over 375 blog posts, short stories, poetry, songs, author info, and BUY SITES AT YOUR AMAZON SITE…

Please visit! You will find some good reading with ‘BUY SITES’, book reviews, et al!

BR Chitwood – Author

April 6, 2022

NOTE:

All books below have 5-STAR REVIEWS on AMAZON!

***

If you like books of mystery, suspense, action, romance, many of which are inspired by true events, please visit my website at  https://www.brchitwood.com – after a short bio, just scroll down the ‘home’ page to preview the books and synopses of each.

More: It’s all here: https://www.brchitwood.com

*

• 

***

Nine of the author’s 20 books shown above…  Go to https://www.brchitwood – Website with synopses of all 20 books, over 375 blog posts, short stories, poetry, songs, author info, and BUY SITES…

Please visit! You will find some good reading with ‘BUY SITES’, book reviews, et al!

BR Chitwood – Author

April 6, 2022

The Author’s Mission

For Me, I Write

BR Chitwood

*

Since my mobile and turbulent childhood my head fills with the events and movements of the days, the emotions that come and stay with me until I write about them from some subliminal heart/mind connection the words flow onto the screen of my laptop. I accept them and allow them entry on the page – as though they were destined to be there, an outlet for the subtle joy and pain of the soul…it is my belief that all artistic endeavors come from that similar sort of tingling.

As some subscribers to my blog posts might allow, most of my writing has a ‘Romantic’ cant, from my murder mysteries (some taken from actual crimes) to genres with historical essence, love, poetry, murder, and current events. My writing heroes of the past are many – …Hemingway, Steinbeck, Crane, DeMille, Grisham, to name a few. For Poetry, my favorite is an ex-Priest named James Kavanaugh.

I have written twenty books, their ‘buy sites’, 375 blog posts written over the years, plus poetry and tribute pieces to Arnold Palmer and other notables. That Website/Blog site address is:

https://brchitwood.com

 I hope you will visit my website/blog, look over some of the book synopses, posts, poetry…perhaps you will find something you would like to read…

At least, I can hope!

Wishing all writers and readers my best wishes.

*

BR Chitwood – February 28, 2022

https://brchitwood.com

Author BR Chitwood’s Writing

By BR Chitwood

PLEASE VIEW

1. You sleep while riding a ‘mare’ or ‘dreaming peacefully’. You awake in a ‘bad mood’, snack on quick and easy ‘coffee and toast’ (too much coffee!), and drive to your job – while your kidneys insist on your quick attention…
2. You sit at your desk, work menial tasks and have your fanciful day dreams and ‘Romantic Thoughts’…
3. You think of where you and your soulmate will vacation… perhaps a great resort in Aruba or an Ocean Cruise…
4. Work ends for the day, and you go for cocktails at your favorite pub with your favorite lady…
5. At home, feeling guilty, you open your laptop and resume writing the manuscript for your new novel…
6. You take a break, check your E-Mail. There is your new blog message: “5-Star Reads in most genres – 20 books, some based on true crime, Short Stories, Flash Fiction – some books are related to true criminal events: https://brchitwood.com – Also, Romance and Suspense…”
7. Ah, c’mon! Take a ‘tour’! There are some great books and writing at this website…
8. If you are a reader, avid or not, you will enjoy the books’ synopses, blog posts, short stories, flash fiction, poetry.  
9. ‘Thank you’ from the author – and good reading!

BR Chitwood – February 24, 2022

https://brchitwood.com

https://twitter.com – @brchitwood

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

Conundrum Craziness

*

Conundrum Craziness

BR Chitwood

*

No!

Not, AOC!

Not, ‘Building Back Better’!

We waken in the morning…

Not, ‘Covid’ and mad Scientist…

We drink coffee, eat, go to work, or, retired from the ‘bee buzzing’, we read. go to our computers to display our ‘genius’ and/or idiocy, write blog posts or books, watch crazy news, read, settle into our favorite habits, find boredom preference in our routines…

After all, we are retired, no longer fighting AM and PM traffic…

We become habitual and wary of our existence…

Some political scenarios make us feel so uncertain about our world and day-to-day lives…

I look out the big windows by my office and see a clear blue sky, an inviting sun, a mountain, a pool, a relaxing seating area, and debate with myself whether or not to finish this post – actually, forgetting the original purpose for the post, other than more railing about our unpredictable political structure, the build-up of Russian troops on the border of Ukraine…

Easy decision…

Actually, the world has not changed all that much since I once cared to debate the political stature of our governments, their leaders, and the political tendencies of neophytes who would make our world so much better…

Hell, I’m poolside, not that anyone will be contacting me about anything I care about…

I look at my lovely wife! “Hey, milady, you going to read, play with your laptop, or you coming poolside with me?

*

BR Chitwood – February 3, 2022

*

Anyone interested can check out my 20 books, each book with synopsis and buy site, my 275 blog posts, my many Flash Fiction and Short Stories…

https://brchitwood.com

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

(Other author sites as well.)

Until the End

Until the End

BR Chitwood 

So, it seems I shall be ending this fascinating life adventure as I entered it, confounded by the sounds of jubilation and tears, yet, without a kindly grandmother slapping my rear end to bring the breath of life to a reluctant new birth in a small clapboard house in Appalachia, a saw mill hamlet of dirt roads and a railroad spur for bringing logs to the primary employer of most of its scant population of farmers, most of whom were in a prolonged ‘Great Depression’.

*

As a man ready for his final destiny, a man with precious little of consequence for the reader who might chance upon these few words I write here, the words will have little historic value or any other kind of value that would perpetuate a useful understanding except for some amusing and pathetic experiences. At best, the words herein have been written by many others facing their final breaths of air on this orbital craft that ended up with the name of ‘Earth’.

So, skipping over my apathetic problems with school and teenage acne, some good buddies, and a couple of young ladies I was too dull and dim-witted to approach, and an early entry into the United States Navy, marriage to a ‘Navy Wave’ with her own confused history, college, teaching, and emotional experiences that not only paralyzed me but would put me on the path of unrighteousness…yes, alcohol and lovely women of the night – indeed, a shameful and wonderful foray into an almost every night ‘Whoop-de-do’.

Mistakes of a shameful quality?  

A ‘big time’ Uh-Huh! Years of willful neglect to career and inner peace. Still, it was fun and disaster – now, you know where the phrase came from, wait for it! ‘Honkytonk-Heaven’ or, ‘Neon Madness’.

So much time wasted?

I suppose – but it was my life for a time. Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias wrote and performed the lyrics and music For All the Girls I’ve Loved Before. It is a song I should have written. In other words, I could not have written a better epilogue for my life.

 My good wife of nearly forty years has encouraged me in my writing efforts, always steadfast and loyal. She also with her love and unselfish nature brings a smile to each new day.

Somehow, in the aging process, I found the gift of writing, much of it venting moments of my life.

Twenty books – some based on true crimes, some in different genres, give glimpses into my life…Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Biography.

Short Stories,  FlashFiction., Poetry and over 375 Blog Posts!

*

Perhaps, I have atoned for some of my ‘low spots’ in life… Regardless, my writing speaks ‘Truth’, and it is my hope that readers can find in my books not only the joy of reading but some essence of inspiration. All my writing can be found at: https://brchitwood.com complete with synopses and Amazon Buy Sites.

Wishing everyone a happy and frustration-free 2022, with the scourge of Covid and Omicron all in our rearview mirrors.

• BR Chitwood – January 20, 2022
• https://www.brchitwood.com (Website/Blog/et al)
• https://Twitter.com @BR Chitwood
• https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood
• https://Linkedin.com – BR Chitwood

Website: http://brchitwood.com – B R Chitwood – My Mission: Writing to Discover Me

In Praise of Books

In Praise of Writing

BR Chitwood

*

There has always been for me an aura of magic, an arcane sense of urgency in writing, perhaps a natural and innate inclination to share something about my life that has caused fear, joy, pain, regret, sorrow, aches that must have palliative affirmation that can be a cathartic experience and perhaps cause some soulful searching.

      So, that sense of urgency has been with me all my life but became reality on an eighty-acre ranch in southeast Arizona called ‘The Lazy Rabbit Ranch’.

There was a lovely library, fireplace, large mahogany desk, walls of books, views all the way to the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico to the South. To the East were the long stretch of the Swisshelm Mountains. To the West were the Dragoon Mountains, over which some thirty miles was the historic ‘town too tough to die’, Tombstone.

In that setting, I wrote six mystery books called the ‘Bailey Crane Mysteries – 1-6’, each book based on true elements. Many of my books (twenty in all) were written about actual crimes (two of those crimes are still unsolved today.)

In that setting, I also wrote of a mother and daughter who went missing while on a walk to a country store some three miles from their home. The title of that book is “Stranger Abduction.” The disappearance occurred years before we moved to the area, but the locals told us what they knew about the ‘still unsolved case’ which occurred in 1983.

 (My wife and I often shopped at that country store – some four miles away from our ‘Lazy Rabbit Ranch’.) The disappearance of the mother and daughter would not leave my mind, and I wrote a fictional account of the case  

      On the beautiful ‘Sea of Cortez’ I wrote of a Northern California mother who tortured and murdered two of her daughters and an ex-husband – “Mama’s Madness” – many 5-star reviews of this book are on Amazon.

There are other fictional books that deal with Romance, History, Mystery, Suspense, one Science Fiction book – “Serpent Rock” … my first effort with that genre.

Writing has been ‘my love’ since my humble beginning, and I believe I’ve written some good books over the years. My problem? I have not invested in marketing to any great extent. With that admission, I would still proudly put my books alongside any of the books in the genres I have written.

If you are interested, you can find all of my books (with synopses and ‘buy sites’) at:

https://brchitwood.com

You will also find at my website some 375 blog posts, short stories, flash fiction, and poetry.

Hope you can read and contact me. Best Wishes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR – 2022!

HAPPY READING!

brchitwood@gmail.com

BR Chitwood – Warts and All

BR Chitwood

BR Chitwood (Author) – Warts and All!

December 19, 2021

*

I’ve written over twenty books, over 375 blog posts, short stories, flash fiction, and poetry, all found on my website and blog: https://brchitwood.com.

The books cover most genres, some crime novels depict the author’s factual accounts with some fiction to enrich the drama. There are romance novels, a ‘Bailey Crane’ six-book mystery series, some of which inspired by true events, one science-fiction novel, memoirs that perhaps tells too much about the author’s life.

THE CRACKED MIRROR – Reflections of an Appalachian Son is a narrative about my life, and I use a character – Prentice Paul Hiller – to depict me. In this memoir I use a two-track system for conveying the action taking place: PP Hiller (me) on a ‘Nursing Home’ track, PLUS a track that covers my life. I believe the reader will find THE CRACKED MIRROR an excellent read…of course, my selfish-side believes all my books are excellent.

In my Website – https://brchitwood.com – you will find all my books with cover pics, synopses, and Amazon Buy Sites.

The Cracked Mirror – Reflections of an Appalachian Son

​​(A fictional memoir – 90% + TRUE)

BR Chitwood

​About a Tennessee boy who ate some emotional soup and spent a lifetime trying to digest it. It is the story of a young man leaving east Tennessee and going in search of himself, unprepared for the adult world he is about to enter. Behind him, and, within him, is the emotional debris of his childhood: abuse, broken family, and a substantial part of his soul. Searching for his identity in isms and bars, he stumbles, gets up, only to find in the end that legacy and meaning are elusive, a ‘white buffalo’ always somewhere in the shadows. 

“The Cracked Mirror – Reflections of an Appalachian Son” is largely a true story of the author’s own life, a mirror of his past, cracked with the stress of all his memories: a family broken apart by their Appalachian circumstances and the ‘great depression’; a childhood tainted by a father’s abusive nature; an impetuous marriage and a sorrowful divorce; a subsequent search of ‘isms,’ for love and meaning in California and Arizona gin mills; a tableau of horrible events, including a senseless family murder, suicide, and a desert survival.

“The Cracked Mirror – Reflections of an Appalachian Son,” is the story of fictional Prentice Paul Hiller (Billy R. Chitwood) his life, his heritage, his mistakes, the events that have come to shape him, and the demons within that he cannot dispel. Along the way, he gives his passionate and provocative views on criminal justice, love, politics, religion, war, and his favorite writers. In the end he finds a new love, some hope for redemption, some semblance of meaning and legacy. 

The author’s own family roots trace back to the eleventh century in Chetwode, a lovely hamlet north of London… 5-Star reviews on Amazon.
​
 Amazon BUY SITES:

Amazon Universal BUY LINK: mybook.to/B004ZGWQY8
https://www.amazon.com/Cracked-Mirror-Reflections-Appalachian-Son-ebook/dp/B004ZGWQY8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511899160&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cracked+mirror+-+reflections+of+an+appalachian+son – US

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cracked-Mirror-Reflections-Appalachian-Son-ebook/dp/B004ZGWQY8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511899160&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cracked+mirror+-+reflections+of+an+appalachian+son – UK

https://www.amazon.ca/Cracked-Mirror-Reflections-Appalachian-Son-ebook/dp/B004ZGWQY8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511899160&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cracked+mirror+-+reflections+of+an+appalachian+son – Canada

Thank you for previewing and reading my books. Any comments you might have can be left on this blog or my Web site or at my E-  Mail: brchitwood@gmail.com

I wish everyone good reading!

*

BR Chitwood – December 19, 2021

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!      

https://twitter.com – @brchitwood

https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

Sign-Out

Sign-Out

BR Chitwood

*

The ink in the pen is dry!

So much output!

So little notice!

Shoddy self-marketing!

Calculations, Actions mis-guided!

Message received!

Enjoyed the journey!

Wrote some lovely words and phrases!

Pleased with the writing efforts!

Twenty books in many genres!

All on Amazon!

Over 375 posts, short stories, flash fiction!

Quite an adventure!

Loved Authors friends made!

Good luck to all!

*

BR Chitwood – https://www.brchitwood.com