A Knife in the Fog
Page 27
As always, any errors in the story are my own. Thank you for joining me on this journey into Victorian England and the fog-enshrouded alleys of the East End.
Bradley Harper MD, Fellow, College of American Pathology
Col. (Ret.) US Army Medical Corps
Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Chere Harper
Bradley Harper graduated from college in May 1973, and went directly into the welcoming embrace of the US Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. His career plan to be a high school history and Spanish teacher was altered forever by an unpleasant encounter with an army doctor. Deciding he could do better, he attended Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, graduating in May 1983, with an MD degree. He became board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology, and ultimately served thirty-seven years of active duty.
During his Army career Doctor Harper performed approximately two hundred autopsies, twenty of which were forensic, and this experience informs his writing. In addition to his clinical experience, he had four commands, beginning with the 67th Combat Support Hospital (Forward), in support of the Bosnian peacekeeping mission, and culminating as Commander, Vicenza Army Health Clinic, Vicenza, Italy. In Italy he received an award from the Knights of Malta (the only non-Italian to ever receive this award) for his support of the Italian Army.
His most notable staff assignments include Command Surgeon, US Army South, where he briefly served in support of US Special Forces in Colombia. During that time all US military personnel had a $1.5 million bounty placed on them by the FARC. Colonel Harper made sure that check was never cashed. His other staff assignment of note was on the personal staff of the US Army Surgeon General, in the Pentagon. He represented MEDCOM (Medical Command) at various recurring meetings of the Army General Staff and was always given the same two instructions: Take good notes, and don’t agree to anything!
He earned an associate’s degree in creative writing from Full Sail University in March of 2018, graduating as valedictorian of his program.
Doctor Harper and his wife met in junior high and have been married forty-five years. They live near Williamsburg, Virginia, have two grown daughters and one freshly hatched grandson. The two of them take a break from the authorial life in November and December, when they portray a happily married couple from the North Pole. A kindly soul, he only threatens those on the Naughty list with burnt cookies.