Cop's book delves into Seattle's seamy side

Neil Low has spent 40 years with the Seattle Police Department, working everything from undercover vice and juvenile crimes to homicide.

But these days he's writing more than reports. The 59-year-old police captain now is a published author with his first novel, "Thick as Thieves."

"I'm all bruised from pinching myself," Low said Friday, happy about a personal goal coming true. "I'm really pleased with it."

Set in the 1940s, the story unfolds in Seattle's shady past. It follows Alan Stewart, a 19-year-old whose private-eye father is slain by corrupt police officials. Stewart seeks out answers and revenge and in the process, uncovers secrets to one of histories most memorable crimes -- the Lindbergh baby's kidnapping.

"It's an era that precedes me and one that fascinates me," said Low, taking a day off from his current position as the department's head ethics officer.

"It's going to be noir fiction. It's dark. It's sexy. It does have murder and broken kneecaps and corruption," said Low.

An official launch party is planned for July 19 at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop. The book was printed through Tigress Publishing, a West Seattle firm.

Low jumped into writing when he returned to school in 1995 for his bachelor's degree. He enrolled in a creative writing course at the University of Washington-Bothell campus and overheard the professor tell another student that she should have a manuscript ready for the course.

"So, I thought, 'Oh my God, I better start now.' It was going to be the pinnacle of my education," he said, and he pieced together a rough draft of his first manuscript, which remains unpublished.

Low said it was "semi-autobiographical from my vice years when I worked undercover from 1978 to 1980."

He said he enjoys basing his fiction around historical facts and said he throws in details from the smugglers' passages, prostitution dens and catacombs under Chinatown that he saw or learned of while on the streets.

And he couldn't resist imagining a Seattle connection to the infamous kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby. Low's been fascinated with the case since reading a book on the subject.

He sent drafts of his novel in Kinkos' boxes to colleagues and other writers for feedback, including a colleague who belonged to a book club and connected him with his publisher, Kristen Morris.

Crime novelist Ann Rule and Seattle author Lowen Clausen, a former Seattle officer, each gave him solid reviews.

"Reading it is akin to stepping into a film noir, shadowy, smoky, and shocking. No one is whom he seems to be, and each unveiling heightens the pace of high tension," said Rule in a review.

Even Low's boss, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske gave him a plug, calling it an "inside look at the dark side of law enforcement from a bygone time," according to Low's web site.

Now, Low is working on a sequel, which he said explores the notion that spies infiltrated Seattle, with its warplane factories and its shipyards, during WWII.

"The other night I stayed up way too late," he said. "I'm on page 178 of the sequel and I had to force himself to go to bed."

To learn more about the book and the coming launch party, visit Neil Low's website at www.neillow.com