The Lost Time Crime

You may be wondering how come I haven't written much in the Murders in the Mesilla Valley blog lately. That's an easy one. I got distracted by LIFE.

In addition to having put everything else aside to work on getting a client's family history book ready for the printer, I went to France and then made a quick trip to South Dakota. The client's book has been at the printer's since before I went to France, first and second proofs have been received and corrected, and I expect the printed book will be shipping any day now. (That book is In The Shadow of El Capitan. It may eventually be available as a digital download. Please check back if you are interested.)

Additionally, the next project is looming on the horizon. What writers often tell each other, as Alamogordo Daily News reporter Jessica Palmer told me this week, is "don't quit your day job." Not a generator of great wealth either, my day job, but, oh well.

However, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite anyone with vintage photographs from the Vado, Del Cerro, Berino, and Mesquite, NM, areas to share them for a hometown book I've undertaken for Arcadia Publishing. It's to be a photographic history of the area, which I think would be a useful item to have on hand, since there doesn't seem to be much published. There are some mentions of Vado on the internet (some with photos from a northern New Mexico Vado, not our southern one) accompanying them. I've run across some articles that mention Vado in my preliminary research, but not many. And there's still much to do to gather info on the other communities, as well.

Thus, I am throwing myself upon the mercy of these towns' founding families. Here's your chance to see that your family takes its place in history. You can make that happen by contacting me and sharing your photographs. You can do that at standsred@gmail.com, or by calling me at 575-233-4072.