William Gardner | Tucson | Three Knolls Publshing

Col. William H. Garnder, (retired)

Colonel Gardner, now retired and living in Oro Valley, Arizona, has had an illustrious military career. He can't really tell you much about it because it was in Military Intelligence and he has been sworn to secrecy (and he doesn't want to have to kill you if he spills too many bean.)

His first book is his autobiography. He enjoyed writing so much, he has written several more and is currently working on books 3 and 4 (out soon)

My father, as shall be discussed, put together an autobiography/anthology,

“The Principal of the Thing”, which summarized his life and his 37 years

as teacher/coach/principal at the Riverdale Country School, Riverdale section

of the Bronx, NY from 1919-1957. While of great anecdotal value to the

school, it also represents the story of a good man and great teacher which I

hope our current family has found and future descendants will find interesting.

That is the intention here – to put down my history, which will be fun for

me and as I know where the (few) skeletons are, they will be carefully overlooked

in favor of many other more pleasant memories.

Available only from the Author

“Ship and Shore - A Murder Mystery” and “Just Plane Murder” are the first of

four novels involving a murder on a means of transportation. The third and

fourth, “Murder in Training” and “Terminal Murder” will also be published

together. They were essentially written as something to do during the restrictive

period of the pandemic and as intellectual exercises. They are for family

and friends.

The stories originated with a notion in one of our cruises as to what would

happen if a body was found during the disembarkation process. How would

the authorities handle the situation with half the passengers still on board and

thousands arriving to board for a sailing in a few hours. I came up with my

own scenario and plot. Once done, came the thought of what about a body on

a commercial airliner after all the passengers had deplaned; on a train with the

passengers long gone from the station or even on a bus once it had arrived at

its destination. Again, I came up with my sequence of events as to what could

come next and whodunit.

Available only from the Author

In “Murder in Train-ing” a man is thrown from Amtrak’s Sunset Limited as it approaches Los Angeles. With over a 140 passengers who have boarded in multiple states (and not necessarily their home state) and various eventual destinations, checking out passengers is difficult. Was it someone from the victim’s past, a member of the group of firefighters with whom he is travelling, or just who?

In “Terminal Murder” a young woman is found dead after a bus from Phoenix arrives in Los Angeles. The passengers are long gone. While a possible motive emerges, possible suspects appear to have solid alibis. When solved, it could only be described as an audacious plan that might have worked.

In addition to the basic premise, the main characters in the four books are members of the Los Angeles Robbery Homicide Division and, in particular, its Captain, Charley Grainger, and his right-hand man, Sergeant Peter Gregory. The four events take place over two years during the pandemic. Each presents a different approach to finding out just “whodunnit” as the reader can imagine. There is additional continuity as the four books do have a few other characters in common.

Available only from the Author