RANGELY I Editor’s note: I first met Rod Harris and Norma Hood at Giovanni’s Italian Grill four years ago, when I was editor of the Herald Times. I wrote a column about them and the book they were co-writing about Rod’s experiences as a cop in Las Vegas, Nev. Last Friday, when I was in Rangely and stopped for dinner at Giovanni’s, there were Rod and Norma once again. They told me all about their book series—No. 4 has been published and plans are in the works for the fifth and final book—while I ate my dinner. Which, by the way, Rod generously paid for.
This “couple” has worked together for going on five years.
“And we’ve never had an argument,” Norma Hood said, laughing.
Norma and her writing partner and friend, Rod Harris, have had their fourth book published in the series based on Rod’s experiences as a police officer in Las Vegas.
There’s even talk of a possible TV show or movie script based on the books. It has certainly been a successful collaboration: Harris, 66, does the storytelling, and Hood, who will turn 75 in December, does the writing.
“For four years in a row, we’ve put out a book every year,” Harris said.
“The fifth will come out when I get it written,” Hood said with a smile.
Harris was a street cop in Las Vegas for 26 plus years. That’s a lot of experiences. Enough to fill five books.
“He tells the stories, and I write about them,” Hood said. “These are real stories, but we make it fiction, so I can embellish them.”
Harris grew up in Rangely and returned to take care of his mom, who was ill. Hood was a friend of Harris’ mother.
“That’s how we met,” Harris said. “She was a friend of my mom’s.”
“Neither of us would have done this without the other,” Hood said of her partnership with Harris.
Now, with a fifth book in the works, this little project, which started with Hood writing some notes on a napkin at—Where else?—Giovanni’s, has exceeded both Harris and Hood’s expectations.
Four books later, they’re still having a blast.
“You know, with us, we always laugh,” Hood said. “We’ve had a good time doing this, and I still have that napkin.”
