Category Crime
Paying Gang Members to Not Pull the Trigger
I’ve talked about Sacramento crime here before and how we seem to be the birthplace of violent crime and most notably, a magnet for serial killers. The Violent crime rate — which includes the number of homicides, rape, robbery, and assault — was 716.3 per 100,000 people in 2016. Nationally, the violent crime rate was […]
BETRAYED: Powerful Stories of Kick-Ass Crime Survivors
October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and it isn’t by accident that Authors On the Air released their inaugural publication–a crime fiction anthology focused on the issue of personal violence and crime survivors–in October. All of the authors gifted their stories to the anthology and all proceeds are being donated to a non-profit community organization […]
Bouchercon Toronto
This week, I’ll be in Toronto, Canada with over 1,600 mystery writers and readers for Bouchercon. This annual event is dubbed as the world mystery convention and draws some of the biggest names in the business. Connelly, Crais, Coben, Child–just to name the writers with last names starting with the letter “C.” There are non-stop […]
Goodreads Giveaway for BURY THE PAST
Crooked Lane Books is sponsoring a book giveaway over on Goodreads. You can enter the giveaway for your chance at an early copy of the second book in the Detective Penley series. https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/254896-bury-the-past Enter to win 1 of 3 galley copies of BURY THE PAST, the second Detective Penley mystery by James L’Etoile. Sacramento Police […]
Betrayed–A Crime Fiction Anthology
On October 1, 2017, the publishing arm of the Authors on the Air, Global Radio Network, releases their very first anthology of short crime fiction. BETRAYED features stories from twenty, critically acclaimed, best selling authors, and I’m thrilled they let me come and play with them. If you’re a crime fiction junkie, like I am, […]
Drafting Small Town Life
The setting of a new novel I’m drafting is a small town. Small town life–sounds quaint and idyllic doesn’t it? In a larger city, the darkness has more places to hide. The unseemly and profane have a place–usually on the other side of the tracks. That negative space seems somewhat isolated and contained among the […]
Pot Crimes
My home state of California recently adopted a new state herb–Marijuana. Reactions to the new pot legalization laws were mixed, from joyous, bud-loving hippies to fearful, the end-of-days are upon us, evangelicals. Me–for the most part, I don’t care. The medicinal marijuana crowd touts the benefits of the stuff as a cure all for whatever […]
Bedrock – The Violence Control Unit
From the outside, the goings on in prison are invisible. If you live close enough to one, you might catch a glimpse of concrete walls and high mast yard lighting. If the wind is just right, you could hear the shrill buzz of an alarm in the distance. For most people, that’s the only thought–a […]
Getting Your Hands Dirty–Prison Reform
You hear the expression all the time–“Getting your hands dirty.” A yuppie call to get in the trenches and act like you’re doing the work, just like the common folk. It’s a trite little phrase used frequently by the likes of Martha Stewart, political figures, and CEO’s who haven’t looked at an assembly line since […]
The Corner Office
I’ve been pretty fortunate over the years to not only maintain gainful employment, but also to do that work in some pretty glamorous settings. As I sit at my desk and figure out which project is going to get my attention today, I think back to other desks, and other times, where I did have […]
James L'Etoile 