Retired FBI agent who was based out of Wausau writes fictional who-dun-it with details plucked from real life
MERRILL - He retired as a special agent in 1999 after more than three decades with the FBI.
Tom Burg spent the bulk of his career based in Wausau, working on cases across north central Wisconsin, collaring culprits who committed crimes that included airplane theft, arson and jewelry store heists.
Now, two decades removed from the job he loved and still calls "fun," Burg, 78, has written a murder mystery, a book he's called, "Accidental Sheriff: A Crime Story." It's a work of fiction, but it's peppered with stories from the actual cases that Burg solved, offering an insight into the real-world work of law enforcement officers.
"I enjoy reading and watching fictional crime stories," Burg wrote in the introduction to "Accidental Sheriff," but "even the good ones fall into a formulaic pattern and become too, well, fictional."
Case in point: Although murders predominate fictional who-dun-its, "homicides are fortunately relatively rare and those that do occur are more often than not simple cases," Burg said. Another problem with most fictional cop stories is that the hero focuses on one case. In real life, he said, law enforcement officers juggle several at once.
Thus Tommy T. Thomas, the protagonist in "Accidental Sheriff," works on solving several cases, all the while one special case looms over the entire book. That one case is truly fictional, and involves the shooting of Clint Williams, the sheriff of the also fictional Gitche Gumee County, located in northern Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior.
Like Burg, Thomas is happily retired, and living with his smart, supportive wife in a rural setting. Thomas is a stand-in for Burg, who also wrote the book to be a love story based on his real-life wife, Pat.
Thomas is quickly appointed as a new, temporary sheriff by "Gov. Jim Boyle." Yes, Burg is playing a game with the names; "I guess it sort of reflects my sense of humor," he said.
Then, while former colleagues at the FBI and other agencies begin to delve into the death of Williams, Thomas and the Gitche Gumee deputies begin to solve other cases. The process Thomas uses is real, and interesting. For instance, he uses a strip of tape on a motorcycle battery with a portion of a name, and a Madison-area telephone book, to track down the perpetrator.
"Yes, I really did that, going through each page of the Madison phone book," Burg said.
Thomas also used a low-level flim-flam man who was arrested in a change-making scam to flip on a high-level ring of jewel thieves. That, too, really happened in real life, Burg said.
Thieves often know each other, he said, and word tend to gets around in criminal circles. Using leverage on lower-level offenders by offering lighter sentences for their crimes can lead to tips.
This allegiance to reality in the book has been noticed, primarily by former colleagues and fellow law enforcement officers.
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Some of them, he said, have left reviews on the book's Kindle sale page. Burg's "investigative experience jumps out in the pages from his planning, anticipation, intuition, investigative tools and interview techniques," wrote one reviewer.
"This very readable story is really based on many years of actually doing the job," wrote another. "Tom is a long time acquaintance and I know of his determination, patience, professionalism and wicked sense of humor."
Burg said being a special agent was sad at times, disturbing at times, but his overall memories was that it was fun. He loves people, he said, and even the offenders often weren't evil, just out for a shortcut. For him, writing about his service is a way to keep that kind of fun going.
And, yes, there is a sequel in the works.
How to buy 'Accidental Sheriff'
The book costs $14.95 and copies are available at Janke Book Store in Wausau and Sweeter Times in Merrill.
People can mail-order physical copies of the mystery by sending $18.90 (the book's cost plus $3.95 shipping and handling) to: MS Designs, PO Box 473, Wausau, WI 54402.
For more information or to order a copy, visit www.mainudesigns.com/accidentalsheriff
Kindle editions are available from Amazon.com for $8.99.
Contact Keith Uhlig at 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@gannett.com. Follow him at @UhligK on Twitter and Instagram or on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: Ex-FBI special agent based out of Wausau pens fictional who-dun-it
