Episode 46: Books and book'n'em with Alan Hardwick

What do police officer, adopted son, milkman, cheese cutter, fur trapper and international terrorism have in common?

They have all been part of Alan Hardwick's life.

Hardwick is author of "Never Been This Close to Crazy," the Edmonds Police sergeant's first novel, which was published in June this year.

Hardwick's 28-year law-enforcement career has touched a number of important areas. Hardwick started in Idaho and founded the Boise Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Unit. He's now a member of the FBI's North Sound Counterterrorism Working Group and was a founding member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force the Everett Resident agency. Hardwick has served as lead case agent for dozens of international terrorism investigations.

"The book a picture of a man, a police officer and his sudden thrust into the life of a single father," Hardwick says. While the character is raising five children while being a police officer doing counterterrorism, Hardwick says the plot is not autobiographical.

"The story bleeds far beyond my own experience," Hardwick says. "But I do have a lot of raw data to work from."

Despite just publishing a novel, Hardwick says his first passion is music. He studied music theory, composition and education before moving toward his career in law enforcement.

Hardwick is one-third of the group One Love Bridge, which includes Ricardo Valenzuela and Mark Pendolino. The group performs original music and rock covers in the Edmonds area, including at Taste Edmonds!

"I became a musician, at least partly, when my mother bought me my first instrument for my second birthday which was a cymbal," Hardwick says of his adoptive mother.

As for his father, Hardwick says, "My dad was a milkman for Darigold." Eventually, the company offered his father a job in Chehalis at the cheese factory. "I got to say my dad cut cheese for living," he says.

"He never really liked that job," Hardwick says, which prompted a career switch to being a fur trapper in rural Lewis County. "I was the only kid in my school that had to float the river in the morning to check the trap line before going to school."

Episode length: 1:07:54