Pictured are a chocolate donut with a bite from it, a jelly filled donut awaiting its fate and a deputy sheriff badge #507 with the name Paul St. John Fleming inscribed at the bottom of the shield.
"Ahh, copper stories," we might think. We all know the symbols, the jokes. Trouble is, we still wouldn't have a clear idea of what the book contains. These "copper stories" are unexpected. They have heart. They might cause a reader to laugh and cry. They will certainly cause a reader to reassess his view of what a cop does-besides eat donuts.
There is a heart warming story about an English constable who influenced the author to become a cop. One, called "A Cold Day in Hell, " is about the day author Paul St. John Fleming's duty it was to guard a plane that had crashed in a city street; the corpses of two children were in it. Another is a humorous piece about a pie-eyed Santa who Fleming encountered one Christmas eve when he was given a choice to "work Christmas night or work Christmas night." These are mostly vignettes, mostly reprints from columns Fleming wrote for the Salt Lake Tribune, and many are set in Salt Lake City. There are 50 in all.
A little like donuts, these tiny tales are addictive. You probably won't be able to read just one.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"