Growing up in a suburb of Spokane, Wash., Frank Scalise knew from a young age he wanted to be a writer. But to get to his career of choice, he took some detours.

First, Scalise joined the U.S. Army and spent four years in military intelligence in what was then Czechoslovakia. In 1993, he returned home and joined the Spokane Police Department, first walking the streets as a beat cop and then rising into administration. Scalise retired as a captain in 2013. Throughout his two-decade law enforcement career, he oversaw criminal investigations, led K-9 and SWAT teams. And he also wrote stories.

“If you love something, you find your way to it,” said Scalise, who has lived in Redmond since 2016. “That’s the way it was for me and writing.”

While working in law enforcement, Scalise found his way back to the germ of a story he started a decade prior. He dusted it off and eventually finished his first novel, a piece of police procedural fiction he titled ”Under a Raging Moon.” Still in his day job, he worried how his bosses and fellow officers would react. So he decided to publish it under the pseudonym Frank Zafiro.

The book was set in Spokane (renamed the fictional “River City”). It explored the inner-workings of a police department and their search for a violent thief known as the “Scarface Robber.” Scalise said that publishing it with small press and putting it out into the world gave him a thrill. In the 17 years since, the book gave him a base to publish 17 later stories with interweaving characters, themes and settings that he calls “The River City Series.”

“Binging is all the rage in TV and streaming,” said Scalise. “I think a lot of people find something like they like and they want more of it and they don’t want to wait.”

He said giving readers more of what they want was the key to separating himself from other writers and helping him make a living at the work.

“Once you have a reader, you can keep them if they like your stuff,” he said. “The more you have for them, the better you are going to be financially. In this day and age, the hardest part is being discovered — getting your book in front of readers.”

He also says his experience on the force helps set his work apart. Plenty of other current and former police officers write fiction, but Scalise said he felt many mainstream writers paint officers as one-dimensional characters. Too often, he said the average beat cop has little motivation, back story or humanity. Scalise found many were nothing more than a badge number.

“I wanted to give them a first name,” he said.

Still, crime fiction isn’t about superheroes. Even though his work dug into the lives and minds of fellow officers, he knew his characters had to have flaws and limits in order to make the stories worth exploring.

“You can be one-dimensional in the other way, just making people perfect heroes that no one really wants to read about,” he said.

Scalise said that in his books law enforcement make bad decisions and live with those consequences, even when trying their best to succeed. Years after his first book was published, officers found out Scalise and Zafiro were one and the same. He expected that many would accuse him of telling secrets, but Scalise said officers became some of “his biggest supporters.” Once officers knew he was a writer, they would chase him down to pass on vibrant quotes or memorable details from a twist in a case.

After finishing his river series and co-writing dozens more books in the genre, Scalise wanted to branch out. Writing under his pseudonym, he had co-authored books ranging from private investigator mysteries to hardboiled noir fiction, action/thriller adventure and more.

“I wanted to try my hand at other kinds of stories — to stories set in other worlds.”

He dusted off his real name and published a series about a hockey player for young adult readers. And under the name Frank Saverio, he branched off into new worlds to publish works of science fiction. The number of books he has either written solo or co-written now reaches 50 or so. He often works on multiple books at a time and may publish multiple books in a series at the same time.

Scalise even collaborated on a book of short crime stories inspired by Paul Simon songs. The collection, called “Paranoia Blues” includes a piece from Scalise inspired by the tune “Hazy Shade of Winter.” As a major documentary on Simon is released, the book is finding renewed interest from music and fiction fans alike.

And when he needs a break from the writing desk in his northwest Redmond home, Scalise continues to oversee leadership training courses for police departments across the United States and Canada.

His books are available online and in many local bookstores, including Herringbone in Redmond, Paulina Springs in Sisters and at multiple shops in Bend.