Former WNYT morning anchor pens fiction novel
CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. >> Former WNYT-TV 13 anchor Phil Bayly has been busy piecing together a fiction novel called “Murder on Skis.”
The novel, published by Shires Press, is set at a fictional ski area in Montana, where JC Snow, a local TV reporter who grew up in Saratoga County, investigates a strange sequence of lives lost at Grizzly Mountain.
“I hope murder mystery fans will enjoy this book,” Bayly, a resident of Clifton Park said.
“I couldn’t find a work of fiction written for adults set in the world of skiers and snowboarders, so I decided to write it myself! I think the book is a fun read and offers a fusion of personalities and places reflecting ski life across America,” Bayly added.
Bayly, who anchored the No. 1 morning news program for
Albany’s NBC affiliate for three decades and covered everything from forest fires and presidential primaries to car crashes and the 9/11 terror attacks, is a selfproclaimed “mediocre ski racer,” who began writing Murder on Skis, while watching a sunrise at the Big Sky Ski Resort in Montana.
His trips to Montana began in the 1970s, while his brother was working on a degree from Montana State University in Bozeman. Bayly was enrolled at Colorado State University. The path between Fort Collins and Bozeman took him through the Wind River Indian Reservation, Jackson, Teton National Park, Yellowstone and the Gallatin River Valley.
“I’ve visited much of southern Montana, including Butte, Miles City, and Chico Hot Springs,” said Bayly, noting that the book features characters from “Big Sky Country,” as well as the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, and California. “Some of my real-life adventures along that trail are turned into fiction in Murder on Skis.”
Bayly was born into a skiing family in Evanston, IL., just outside Chicago, “and just when the last bell rang in high school” moved to Colorado.
“I pursued a career in TV and radio, but I always insisted that I was a ski bum with a good job,” he joked.
“Murder on Skis is something I’ve been tinkering with for more than 20 years,” said Bayly, who ski raced at Colorado State University and later covered World Cup ski racing at WNYT-TV 13. “I think it’s time to share my story with readers.”
Scheduled for release late November, the book is available at Murderonskis.com, at independent bookstores like Northshire Bookstores, Indiebound.org, BarnesandNoble.com, and Amazon.com.