Battle Creek’s Tony Soprano (Sort Of)

Adam "Pump" Arnold is said to have been a fixture in Battle Creek when the Cereal City was on the frontier of the wild west. In fact, authors Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester say the "Pump" story predates the "Cereal City" moniker.

The Original Battle Creek Crime King is Pardoe and Hester's latest book which plucks a story from Battle Creek history which might seem ripe for the telling - but maybe a little too good to be true for modern-day residents. In fact, Pardoe and Hester themselves were not convinced, initially, there was enough in the "Pump" Arnold story to make an interesting book.

Hester tells WBCK in a recent visit with Pardoe that after they began to dig into the story, they quickly realized there was plenty to tell.

Crime King is a follow-up to the Battle Creek cold case story The Murder of Maggie Hume released in 2014, about a 1982 murder of a 20-year-old woman.

Hear Pardoe and Hester talk about Crime King and another project they are now undertaking. Click the player below.

Hear The Richard Piet Show weekday mornings from 5:30-9 on WBCK.