He puts murderers behind bars in Ohio. Then goes home to write crime novels

HAMILTON, Ohio – "This woman was stabbed."

Butler County Prosecutor Michael "Mike" Gmoser reads matter-of-factly from a crime novel he wrote.

In his office here about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, Gmoser narrates the scene after criminals posing as paramedics recover a pregnant woman from a car crash, abduct her, force her into an ambulance and cut her baby out of her. A doctor later arrives to find that the woman was stabbed with a scalpel.

Gmoser, a Republican, has been Butler County's prosecutor for 14 years. He and his staff of assistants present criminal cases against defendants and advocate for victims, among other duties.

They've seen some brutal cases in Butler County. Gmoser prosecuted Daniel French, who was found guilty of aggravated murder in the 2012 killing of an 87-year-old woman living in a Monroe retirement community. French slit Barbara Howe's throat, stripped off her clothes, cut her hair, poured chemicals on her body and left her crumpled in the trunk of her car in Middletown.

Gmoser also prosecuted a Lebanon man who was convicted this year after he ordered the execution-style killing of Asiah Slone, whose body was found in a trash can in Middletown.

After Gmoser's workday prosecuting real-life criminals, the 79-year-old goes home to write about fictional cases of murder and kidnapping.

He isn't some creep obsessed with murder or the stereotypical aloof writer. Gmoser is outgoing and chatty. He jokes that the only thing silent about him is the letter "G" in his name. His blue eyes light up when he recounts stories from his countless interests (flying airplanes, paragliding, to name a couple). And a conversation with him is often punctuated by his friendly laughter. He's long been interested in writing books, especially given his experience as a trial lawyer who seeks to accurately tell the story of a crime.

Gmoser has completed two books so far. The section Gmoser is reading aloud in his office is from his second book, "Spencer's Law," published in 2021. He wrote his first, "The Farrier's Son," a few years earlier.

Both books follow Spencer Tallbridge, a man who becomes the fictional Rutledge County prosecutor, as he uncovers the truth in criminal cases.

Spencer, in part, is inspired by Gmoser's own life.

Starting to write

The bookshelves in Gmoser's office are lined with framed pictures. There's a photo of him in a 1958 Corvette he fixed up. Another photo shows him and a Beechcraft Bonanza, the high-performance, single-engine aircraft he flies.

One is of Gmoser and his late wife, Olga Gmoser, both with large smiles.

"She could never find anything bad about anybody," he says.

"If we ever had much of an argument − which I can't say that we really did – it was over somebody that I thought was a miserable S.O.B., and she could find something good to say about them," he adds with a laugh.

Olga died from cancer in 2014. When Gmoser was recovering from losing her, he turned to creative pursuits. He started playing drums to fill the quiet in his house. He also began weaving the threads of a book plot in his head.

Two years later, with the entire book outlined in his mind, he began writing "The Farrier's Son." On Gmoser's laptop (which he calls his "typewriter"), he created the story of Spencer Tallbridge, then an assistant prosecutor who wanted to prove that a convicted man facing the death penalty was indeed guilty of murder.

One of Gmoser's friends had connections with a publisher, Winged Hussar Publishing, which expressed interest in Gmoser's book. It was published in 2017.

The plot was based on evidence from cases and personalities in his life, he says. Gmoser hasn't worked on cases that are the same as those in his books. But, aspects of the overall fictional narratives are based in reality.

For example, Gmoser got the idea to have criminals cut a baby out of a pregnant woman from a news report in Chicago. The plot in "The Farrier's Son" was inspired by an interview novelist John Grisham gave on TV.

A theme in both books – the strong influence of a father – is also drawn from Gmoser's life.

Gmoser says his father, Al Gmoser, exemplified confident decision-making. Gmoser proudly shared a story of when his father was a United Airlines captain. He was a "brilliant aviator," his son says.

Fiction meets real life

In the early 1950s, Gmoser's father was flying from New York to Chicago and saw bad weather coming in. He called dispatch and said he was going to deviate from the path and land in Michigan. Dispatch pushed back and told Gmoser's father that other planes were still flying into Chicago.

Gmoser says his father replied: "I'm not. I'm not going to chance it. There's a tornado coming. And I'm not going to kill these people."

Dispatch said, "Well, you're going to have to answer for that."

He said, "I'll answer for that."

According to Gmoser, his father and passengers landed, but the other guy didn't. He was torn apart by a tornado. Everybody was killed.

"Having that type of authoritative demeanor was something I learned from my father," he says. For Spencer to have the same experience felt right to Gmoser.

Spencer's father is a farrier, or someone who shoes horses. He taught Spencer the "country wisdom" the assistant prosecutor uses to navigate cases.

In "Spencer's Law," Spencer is now the county prosecutor and struggles to navigate a moral dilemma, so he calls his father. Spencer has to decide whether to assault an FBI agent he believes is crooked to potentially save the kidnapped baby. If he's wrong, and the FBI agent isn't a crook, Spencer would be in big legal trouble.

His father encourages Spencer to make his own decision but reminds him, "The real measure of a man is not what he acquires or the comfort of his life. The measure is how well he can live with himself with the decisions he makes."

Ultimately, Spencer's decision pays off for him.

Do you want to start writing?

Gmoser tells anyone interested in writing books to write what you know.

"Live the roles of the people in your universe," he says. Given that Gmoser has been a defense attorney, assistant prosecutor and county prosecutor – like Spencer Tallbridge − one could say he has.

He also recommends being involved in as many disciplines as you can, saying it's "fertile ground" for ideas.

Gmoser lives this truth. He does scuba diving, deep-sea fishing, paragliding and beekeeping. He was previously a medical malpractice lawyer. And of course, he flies planes.

Much of this feeds into his writing. He draws on his extensive medical knowledge during the ambulance scene. His aviation knowledge is key in a riveting scene in "Spencer's Law." And he understands how the legal system works.

With all these hobbies (and his legal career), one might ask: What does he plan to do when he retires? Well, Gmoser says with a smile, he doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon.

But he does plan to keep writing.

He pulls a thumb drive out from his desk drawer, and a wide grin spreads across his face. He says, "This is the third book."

This story was updated to add a video.