Setting Can Kill

 

I'm thrilled to welcome the wonderful crime writer, James L'Etoile, as our guest today. As you'll read below, his Anthony and Lefty nominated and PSWA Winning Detective Nathan Parker novels are grounded in his personal experience, even as they explore new territories and crimes at the U.S./ Mexico border. He also writes the Lefty, Anthony, and Killer Nashville nominated--and PSWA winning--Detective Emily Hunter series and don't forget his back list, including Silver Falchion winner, Black Label, his Detective John Penley novels, as well as his short fiction. Jim also hosts his own show on the Authors on the Air network and is a generous supporter of other writers. Plus, he's a great person to have a drink with at any conference. You can find his bio and website informatio below. Welcome, Jim!   -- Wendall

Author James L'Etoile

Thank you for leaving the back door unlocked and allowing me to guest post here on Murder is Everywhere.

In my former career, working in maximum security prisons, I was witness to murder—and it was everywhere. Life in prison was cheap and expendable, often coming after the slightest infraction, or imagined disrespect. That exposure has influenced my writing. It has to, right? But probably not in the way you’d think.

 

I don’t write dark, noir-ish prison stories brimming with unrequited redemption and spontaneous violence. I had enough of that in real life, but some of those characters and events never completely vanish. I write crime fiction and some stories have a tie to real-life events.

 

 

The Detective Nathan Parker series is set in the unforgiving Sonoran Desert. The terrain is hostile, as are coyotes who traffic undocumented migrants over the border. Eager to cross for a chance at a better life, the migrants are vulnerable to extortion and unthinkable violence.

 

The series idea came from a time when I worked in the California prison system. I was conducting a security audit of the prison in San Diego—it's so close to the border that you can see it from the prison yard. The prison couldn't clear their count—which means the number of inmates they were supposed to have didn't match the number they found in the facility's beds. Everyone's mind went to escape. But, in this case, there was one more inmate than they were supposed to have.

 

The border wall.

 

When it all unfolded, an undocumented migrant snuck into the minimum facility because he was tired and hungry from the border crossing. It got me thinking about what that trip must have been like to make breaking into prison the best option.

 

The news reports of over fifty migrants dying in the back of a tractor trailer during the 2022 record heat wave in Texas sparked the third, and most recent book in the series, Served Cold. It was gruesome and spawned from greed, bringing cheap labor over the border. My twist to that tragic story is to figure out why they were in the cargo container in the first place. It might not be for the reasons you'd think.

 

Texas migrant deaths spark Served Cold.

 

Translating those experiences to the page can prove tricky. I want to show the risk migrants face when they attempt a crossing. To me, it’s more about the people caught between the cartels and government policies. It’s an emotionally charged and politically hot-button-worthy issue. Elections are won and lost over the topic—but so are lives. I try not to preach my particular slant to the story. I give the readers my observations and let them make up their minds. Readers are pretty savvy.

 

The new Nathan Parker thriller.

 

In both events I mentioned, the harsh desert setting becomes more than a backdrop. It’s as vicious and uncaring as any serial killer. Serpents and equally venomous humans wait for the weak and vulnerable. Always changing and adapting, this killer survives. Setting can be a killer.

 

James L’Etoile uses his twenty-nine years behind bars as an influence in his award-winning novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, and director of California’s state parole system. His novels have been shortlisted or awarded the Lefty, Anthony, Silver Falchion, and the Public Safety Writers Award. Face of Greed and Served Cold are his most recent novels. Look for River of Lies and Sins of the Father, coming in 2025. You can find out more at www.jamesletoile.com

 

--Wendall