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

Bouchercon 2019: Texas Welcome

Sujata Massey

I went to Dallas last weekend for Bouchercon, a 50-years-old-and-counting annual mystery convention.The weather was cold, yet the Texans were warm. So were the folks I chatted with among the flood of 1800 mystery lovers who arrived from all points. This year's theme was suited to conventional thinking about Dallas: Diamonds, Denim and Death!

Every day was filled with book talk. This was done on panels, in the book room, the bar, the hallways. I met people from as far as Israel and India, and as close as Indianapolis. I met so many new friends that I hope to see again.

Retired diplomat Alfredo Barela knows me through Rei Shimura

Soho's publisher Bronwen Hruska coating with author Francine Mathews

Even though Bouchercon is ostensibly about attending panels of crime novelists and publishing  professionals, there are many side parties and special activities. Soho Press, my publisher, specializes in mysteries by authors from around the world, and they threw a special reception for author Peter Lovesey, who was celebrating the eighteenth adventure of his brilliant police detective, Superintendent Peter Diamond. I tore almost one hundred raffle tickets for people wanting the Diamond book bonanza. This was another slick way to make friends.

Being charmed by author Teresa Dovalpage

Peter Lovesey's grand giveaway being awarded by our editor Juliet Grames

With the Soho publishing gang

I feel so much at home with a publisher like Soho, who is enthusiastically committed to publishing great fiction with characters who are diverse in national backgrounds--and not sprinkled in for color, but because they are compelling people and their stories are unforgettable. At the Soho International Guest of Honor party, Peter Lovesey announced a new Soho contest for first-time authors with a paid advance and publication. He got his start with a literary contest in England, and that's similar to how I broke into print (the Malice Domestic Unpublished Writers Grant Contest).

Loved signing near author Felicia Mason and cinematographer Semone

When I began going to Bouchercon in 1996, the majority attendance was white men. Gender dominated the atmosphere in the bar and in the pale rooms. For the most part, Bouchercon no longer has that feeling of an old boy network. The con feels like a place for many people to express what it is they bring to mystery or love about it. I hear about mystery book groups, field research in New Zealand, and secret hikes into off-limit areas. Also crafts, quilts, and cocktail recipes.

Anthony noms for Kellye Garrett, Lori-Rader Day, James W Ziskin,  Holly West

In addition to panels where we can learn the secrets behind beloved books, the convention is also a haven for awards ceremonies. The convention bestows a fan-voted prize called the Anthony, which is named after the inspiration of the convention, the late New York Times book critic Anthony Boucher, said to be the first journalist who treated mystery fiction as serious literary works. Other mystery-centric organizations like Mystery Readers International give out the Macavity awards for general mystery fiction, and the Private Eye Writers of America awards the Shamus awards for professional investigator novels and stories. The Barry and the Dillinger are also coveted awards at Bouchercon. But that's not enough for Bouchercon. its organizers also shower honors on booksellers, fans, and other special people who have built the power of mystery fiction. The overall theme is love and thanks for keeping our literary world booming.

S.A. Cosby, Anthony Winner

If you go to enough conventions, you may no longer wear a size six little black dress, but there are some sizable advantages. Being an old-timer means you can enjoy seeing friends and newcomers light up as they receive their first requests for books to be signed, and maybe even awards for them.   This year brought a special thrill when my friend Shawn (S.A. Cosby), whose first novel comes out next year with Forge, won the Anthony for best short story. He had moved me to tears a few nights earlier reading this prize winning story, The Grass Beneath My Feet, aloud in the hotel bar.

Yes. Only with mystery lovers, is there read-aloud story time in bars.

Holding the Mcavity tight to my heart with Soho's publisher, Bronwen Hruska

On Halloween night itself, I was humbled to win the Macavity Award for The Widows of Malabar Hill. It turned out to be a beautiful crystal keepsake that will be take pride of place alongside a fabric Macavity cat award I won many years ago for The Flower Master. The nominees in this category were so excellent, I think any one of us could have won. So I am especially grateful, following the amazing awards this book has already gathered.

I was also nominated for a Shamus award given by the Private Eye Writers of America. I was very surprised that Perveen Mistry was seen as fitting into this category--she's a legal investigator, not a gumshoe. I hardly minded losing to Kristen Lepionka, who wrote a great modern PI novel featuring  woman, What You Want To See.

Att the Shamus awards dinner, some words were casually said that led to many follow-up dialogs on FaceBook and Twitter about how we can welcome people we don't know well into our various tight-knit mystery worlds. Some of the conversations were quite heated, while others were healing. Anyway, it wasn't until a few days after I got home that I could put away this other baggage, too.

When the new books go on the shelf, the old suitcase returns to the attic, and the wrinkled receipts go to the tax box, I no longer have visions of diamonds, denim and death.

It's time to stop chatting and start writing again.