Local author publishes thriller and will hold a book signing in Yuma

Allen T. Grimes, author of “When the Lantern Swings,” will perform a dramatic reading July 6

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – Allen T. Grimes, author of “When the Lantern Swings,” will hold a dramatic reading and signing of his new book on Saturday, July 6 from 3:30-5:00 p.m. at the Yuma Foothills Library.

The horror thriller novel was published on July 2, 2024.

Grimes, a retired FBI special agent and former Akron police officer, brings over 26 years of law enforcement experience to his gripping narratives.

“It’s about retired police officer Ed Freeman, who moves to Lake Hope State Park as a senior park ranger. He comes there because he shot a teenager. We thought he had a gun. But it turns out it was an air rifle. So he wants to get away from police work in the big city and moves to Lake Hope State Park in hopes of a quiet, what we call, retirement job in the police force,” explains Grimes.

“But then he comes across the mutilated remains of a young woman on the old Moonville Rail Trail. Everything indicates that she was hit by a train, but that’s impossible because the tracks were removed 40 years earlier.”

He presented his main character with mental challenges to give her a realistic impression of what people have to endure in everyday life.

“My main character, Ed Freeman, has ADHD and is also struggling with the shooting incident, which causes him to hallucinate during his investigation. So he’s struggling with his inner issues while at the same time trying to solve this very difficult case and save the lives of his colleagues,” says Grimes.

He says he loves characters who struggle with personal problems.

“I don’t like when fictional characters are too brave, too noble, too kind and always do things for the right reasons, because I think people can identify with people who face challenges in their lives because that’s the case for most of us,” Grimes adds.

He adds that his inspiration came from the honeymoon he took with his wife and that this book actually took 37 years to write.

“When we were newlyweds, my wife and I, like most newlyweds, didn’t have much money for a honeymoon. A friend told us about Lake Hope State Park in Zaleski, Ohio. A week-long stay there was very inexpensive,” says Grimes.

“On Friday nights, there’s this campfire night where the park ranger tells stories about local legends. One of the legends was about a miner who died in the Moonville Tunnel. And when the train came, he tried to warn the train with his lantern by swinging it wildly back and forth. But it didn’t work and he was killed. It’s actually a true story.”

In this novel, Grimes’ experience as a law enforcement officer mixed with her imagination.

“Because I worked in the police force for many years, I always wonder what an ordinary person, what an ordinary police officer would do if they were put in an extraordinary situation? My ideas come to me in the form of little film clips, you know, just a few seconds long, and in that film clip I see a police officer leaning over a body on a path, and it’s obvious that he’s been hit by a train,” explains Grimes.

“But that can’t be because there are no tracks. So he has to figure out how on earth he got hit by a train. So what would a police officer do? A police officer would start his investigation like a normal police case until circumstances force him to realize that something supernatural is going on. And maybe my normal police investigation techniques won’t work in this case.”

You can purchase the paperback “When the Lantern Swings” for $16.95 on his website and get it on Amazon starting Tuesday, July 9.