Yes, Virginia, there is life after politics.

Faithful readers will recall John Elvin , the father of this Inside the Beltway column, who left Washington 15 years ago (the same year Bill Clinton came to town) and now plies his craft "in the semi-wilds on about a tenth of a D.C. salary — just me and a malamute and a cat, Geronimo, who thinks he's a mountain lion, in a big oversized suitcase called home."

And instead of quoting President Bush describing Al Gore during the 1992 presidential campaign — "Ozone Man, Ozone. He's crazy, way out, far out, man" — Mr. Elvin is keeping busy researching and writing about antiques, antiquities and collectibles as investments, focusing on fraud and misrepresentation, especially when purchasing off the Internet.

Thus the title of his new book, "Kaloma: The Josie Earp Mystery Photo."

"Scholars, history buffs and Wyatt Earp fans, as well as those intrigued by tales of controversies in the antiques field, will find much to ponder in Kaloma," says Mr. Elvin, whose investigations in the book include the authenticity of one vintage photo identified as the legendary lawman Earp's third wife, Josie.

"I went digging for the truth about a quirky mystery that sparked a storm of arguments among Western history buffs," he says. "In the process I discovered that collectors who buy via the Internet face perils and pitfalls unknown in the past."

As for Josie, Mr. Elvin says, buyers are treating this particular photo as a valuable rarity, but experts he's interviewed for the book label it as bogus.

"The pinup-style portrait reportedly has sold for as much as $4,500 and often appears in auction sites offered for hundreds," he says. "Those who have bought the photo are not going to be heartened by my findings. It's very possible that their hundreds or thousands of dollars bought a photo worth $25 — if it's in a $20 frame."

Mr. Elvin's 138-page paperback is available for $14.95 plus shipping from Lulu: www.lulu.com/content/804307.