Category fiction vs. nonfiction

Private Prisons in Crime Fiction

July 26, 2018 · by · in author, convict, Crime, crime and punishment, crime fiction, criminal justice, fiction vs. nonfiction, government, inmate, James L'Etoile, politics, prison, prison population, private prisons, writing, writing ideas · 2 Comments

Build it and they shall come… Private prisons have been a popular recurring theme in crime fiction and television drama. Most of the stories I’ve come across involve some smoky backroom deal between a corrupt judge and a private prison operator. Newly sentenced offenders, often kids, are portrayed as victims who wouldn’t have come to […]

Is Sacramento A Serial Killer Friendly Place?

April 6, 2017 · by · in author, Crime, crime fiction, crime thriller novels, criminal justice, fiction vs. nonfiction, human trafficking, James L'Etoile, location, serial killers, writing, writing ideas · 14 Comments

Location, location, location… I’m often asked why I chose to set my crime fiction in Sacramento, California, instead of one of the more well known west coast crime magnets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Fresno. Michael Connelly and Robert Crais have L.A. locked down with their Harry Bosch and Joe Pike series. But, Sacramento is an […]

Prison and Literature

March 16, 2017 · by · in author, convict, Crime, criminal justice, fiction vs. nonfiction, James L'Etoile, prison, prison gangs, prison population, social issues, writing ideas · 2 Comments

Lord of the Flies The social aspects of what goes on behind prison walls are really kind of fascinating. For those who worked there, we recognize the yard dynamics are something out of William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies. In the 1954 novel, a group of boys are stranded on an island and quickly devolve into savage […]