Tag Archives: crime fiction author
The Lockdown Continues : Lessons From Behind the Wall
Extended lockdowns like the six-month slog we’re going through can take a toll if you’re not prepared. As we talked about in March when the COVID lockdown orders were popping off across the country, a little prison wisdom can help ease the pain of long-term confinement. In prison, when the place comes off lockdown, it’s […]
Surviving the Virus Lockdown: Lessons From Behind the Wall
So, here we are, a month into our shelter-at-home exile from society. The virus, or more accurately, the response to it, has been difficult for some folks to wrap their heads around. One particular group seems to have coped exceptionally well during this isolation and quarantine — the convict. Shelter-in-place orders and doing time have […]
Sacramento Serial Killer — Profile of a Second Chance
Digging around in Sacramento’s history isn’t for the faint of heart. The Gold Rush town was lawless and bloody with a reputation for quick frontier justice. Yet on a few occasions, the hand of mercy reached out and offered a second chance to a killer. Ida Brewer was a sex worker in the 1850’s who […]
Sacramento Serial Killer – Ted Kaczynksi
Depending on the definition used, a serial killer is one who murders two or more victims, in separate instances (FBI Serial Murder Symposium – 2005). Theodore “Ted” Kaczynksi meets this standard as a serial killer in the classic sense–three victims were killed during his sixteen bomb, seventeen-year long domestic terror campaign as the Unabomber. One […]
SHU Basics for the Crime Writer
Recently, I attended ThrillerFest in New York and the Public Safety Writers Association Conference in Las Vegas. Both great venues for talking the craft of writing and picking up a few tips on making your crime fiction true to life. During conversations at both of these very different gatherings, the topic of solitary confinement and […]
Rerelease of Little River: The Other Side of Paradise
In 2013, my first novel, Little River was released by SALTMedia. It was a story about human trafficking in the Caribbean and the dark pervasive web of crime and corruption that follows human misery. There are 30 million people, primarily women and children, trapped in human trafficking rings–many of which come through our cities. I […]
Local Police Use of Spit Mask Comes Under Fire
Sacramento is once again in the spotlight for an incident with a citizen. Fresh off the unrest from the officer-involved shooting deaths of Joseph Mann, and Stephon Clark, the media and the ever-circling attorneys feeding on the seeds of racial unrest, were quick to condemn the officers for excessive force. This time the citizen in […]
Death Penalty Deception
I do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the State of California… I took this oath a few times in my career. […]
So You Married a Murderer
I met with a group of wonderful ladies at a Shalom Women’s Group this week and talked about crime fiction, Sacramento’s dark history of violent crime, and some of our more notorious serial killers. We had a wonderful discussion and the attendees asked some great questions. One question, and it’s a subject that comes up […]
BURY THE PAST Earns a Killer Nashville Award Nomination
I’m honored to announce that BURY THE PAST has been nominated for the annual Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award as the best procedural mystery of 2017. The procedural mystery genre is a thriller and suspense story in which a professional protagonist (detective, journalist, attorney, physician) solves a crime, usually gruesome and with graphic detail. Subgenres […]
James L'Etoile
James L'Etoile 