This first book in the new JFK Assassination Unraveled series takes a fresh look at the Odio Incident, an encounter where someone identified as Lee Harvey Oswald threatened President John F. Kennedy prior to that fateful event on November 22, 1963 ... and an examination of phony secret service men on the Grassy Knoll. Both are key to understanding the death of a U.S. president more than half a century after the fact.
About the Author: After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1973, Tim Gratz practiced business litigation and medical malpractice for nineteen years before moving to Florida in 1993. During his student years, Gratz was very active in Republican politics, serving as Chair of the Wisconsin Teen-Age Republicans and later Chair of the Wisconsin College Republicans. In the latter capacity Gratz worked closely with Karl Rove, who was then National Chairman of the College Republicans. Gratz says his "fifteen minutes of fame" comes from his mention in the Senate Watergate Committee Report. As it happened, Gratz had been approached by Donald Segretti, a Nixon aide who was running a "dirty tricks" campaign against Democrat candidates. Segretti claimed, in "Mission Impossible" style, that he was working under the "highest authority" but that his superiors would deny any such authorization. Gratz was highly suspicious of Segretti. ("He was acting like he was James Bond, but he came across more like a fumbling Maxwell Smart," Gratz said.) He could not believe that any responsible politician would condone several of the activities Segretti was proposing, so he reported Segretti's approach to the Nixon campaign. According to the book The President's Private Eye, written by Anthony Ulasewicz, a member of Nixon's security team and the man who delivered bags of "Hush money" to the Watergate defendants. Ulasewicz flew to Madison, WI to investigate Gratz's complaint against Segretti. No one at even the highest level of the Nixon campaign knew of Segretti's activities until they investigated Gratz's claim and discovered that Segretti was in fact being run out of the White House. Mark Howell is a graduate of Cambridge University in Great Britain. He was a legendary figure in London's paperback world before becoming acquisitions editor on the multi-million-copy selling Mack Bolan: The Executioner series (soon to be a major movie) when it was purchased by Harlequin Books to launch the action-adventure Gold Eagle imprint. In Key West, Howell served as senior writer and editor of Solares Hill during it its award-winning final decade, becoming a household name with his weekly Soundings column. It was while he worked at Solares Hill for The Key West Citizen that he began a collaboration with Tim Gratz that broke new ground in the history of the Florida Keys connections to the Kennedy assassination.