Ken Dye, a former St. Louis County Police Department law enforcement official, “retired after a lengthy career in law enforcement and corporate security. While employed by a major metropolitan police department he was assigned to street patrol, tactical operations, narcotics, homicide and as the Intelligence Analyst.

The inspiration for Shadow of the Arch is the period Ken Dye considers the highlight of his career, five years serving as an undercover narcotics Detective. Ken Dye and his partner were honored with the Missouri police Officers of the year award for 1980 for intense undercover work that successfully prevented the bombing of a bank by known drug dealers. Ken Dye transitioned his police experience to corporate security for many years. He ended his career as the administrator for state wide Metropolitan Enforcement Groups and Narcotics Task Forces for the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority.  Ken Dye is the author of Shadow of the Arch.

According to the book description of Shadow of the Arch, it “is the first work of fiction by Ken Dye. The story follows the experiences of two hot shot police officers, Ian Sloan and Rich Falimoso, who are thrown into the cauldron of the 19th District. After a shoot out with two violent felons the two are promoted to Detective and assigned to the 19th squad where they are involved in a number of spectacular arrests.

The two Detectives are then assigned to the Metro West MEG, a multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement unit that is tasked with the mission of targeting large scale dealers and multi faceted conspiracy operations. Sloan and Falimoso are soon making big cases and hook up with Maggie Mehlville, a first generation Irish Detective, who along with her partner, Bill Robinson, are soon dealing a fit to drug dealers and large scale drug conspiracy operations.

Sloan and Falimoso are asked to participate in a bank robbery with a bomb set to go off simultaneously. A father and son team ask the two Detectives to help them obtain a bomb with the explosive power to level a building and several sawed off shotguns in furtherance of the robbery/bombing conspiracy. Father and son working together to accomplish a single goal, I just love to see family values like that, one doesn’t often see that in this day and age!”

Shadow of the Arch Ken Dye  More Info

About the Saint Louis County Police Department

The region grew with communities rising up to feed the needs of those early travelers migrating west. Initially the population remained centered near the area known now as the City of St. Louis. By the mid 1800's the City, with its dense population had moved to separate themselves from the County. At the close of WW II, the population began shifting and by 1960 both the City and County were each nearing a population of 725,000. In response to this growth the citizens of St. Louis County voted to create, develop and maintain a professional police agency. In 1955, the Saint Louis County Police Department was established to serve and protect the rights of all citizens within our borders.”