Three authors set for signing at Always Buying Books

Always Buying Books in Joplin will have three non-fiction authors at a signing this Saturday, Dec. 8, 1 to 4 p.m.

Rick Mattix

Rick Mattix is author of The Complete Public Enemy, described as "the ultimate reference book for the gangster era. According to the publicity release, the book includes:

* Hundreds of illustrations and period photographs
* A full, first-ever crime chronology of the period
* Innovative lists including last words of dozens of gangsters and outlaws from the period

Mattix, the release notes, is an expert in the criminal gangs of the twenties and thirties, and a prominent researcher and consultant to authors and television documentaries. The coauthor of Thompson: The American Legend, Dillinger: The Untold Story (expanded edition), The Complete Public Enemy Almanac and author of numerous magazine and journal articles, he lives in Bussey, Iowa.

Mike Koch

According to the news release, "The Kimes Gang by Mike Koch is a fascinating story of youthful boys who began their outlaw ways as vagrants and thieves and graduated to bank robbery and murder. The gang’s various crimes covered several southwestern states including Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. Political corruption all the way to the governor’s office in Oklahoma is well researched and discussed. The main characters are brothers Matt and George Kimes but also include brothers Roy and Clyde Brandon, Herman Barker. Elmer Inman and the notorious safecracker Ray Terrill, among others. This book reads as a virtual who’s who of crime in the southwest during the 1920s

Koch was born and raised in Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point ad then began work as a fingerprint expert at the FBI in Washington DC. He worked there a couple of years and then moved to Oklahoma in 1977 and begin working for the State of Oklahoma. He currently works as an investigator for the Pardon and Parole Board. Koch is interested in Oklahoma’s rich history of lawmen and outlaws. Koch is a member of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahombres, Western Outlaw-Lawmen Association (WOLA) an national Association for Outlaw and Lawmen History (NOLA). Mike is a historical researcher and consultant to authors and was a consultant in the 1997 Towers Productions for the A&E television show of “The Barker Gang”. He has also written several stories for the Oklahombres quarterly journal. The Kimes Gang is his first book.

R. D. Morgan
R. D. Morgan has written six books concerning Oklahoma lawmen and outlaw history including The Bad Boys of the Cookson Hills and The Tri-State Terror: The Life and Crimes of Wilbur Underhill. His latest effort is an Oklahoma Centennial project called Taming The Sooner State: The War Between Lawmen and Outlaw In Oklahoma and Indian Territory 1875-1941. He has also penned dozens of articles for historical journals, magazines, and newspapers on the subject. Morgan was recently engaged as a historical consultant for the production of the documentary “Crime Wave” for the History Channel. He is currently working on his seventh book, Irish O'Malley and the Ozark Mountain Boys. He is a member of Oklahombres, Oklahoma Lawmen and Outlaw History Association (OKOLHA), president of the Haskell Friends of the Library and on the Board of Directors of The Three Rivers Museum, Muskogee, OK.