He wrote his first memoirs in 1971, while another memoir book was published in 1980, one year after his death. During his first book tour across Canada for "Public Enemy Number One" for McClelland & Stewart (published in the United States as "The Alvin Karpis Story"), Karpis, looking more like an accountant than a gangster, still showed a dry sense of humor. In Edmonton, Alberta, while shuffling Karpis between various interviews with the media, M&S book rep Ruth Bertelsen made a stop at her bank. Asking Karpis if he wanted to come in with her, Karpis replied, "No, dear. You take care of the vault. I'll drive." He became a mentor to her young son until the sociopathy of some of his advice to her child angered Miss Bertelsen.