Guest Post: Which Came First? The Story or the Headlines?

James L’Etoile became one of my favorite authors the first time I read one of his books, and he remains on my list of authors whose books I read automatically when they are published. I don’t even need to read a synopsis. Because his books have never been a disappointment. On the contrary, I read them quickly and then eagerly anticipate his next release, whether it is an installment in his award-winning Detective Nathan Parker series or his novels featuring Detective Emily Hunter which are based in nearby Sacramento, the River City. The two series are very different, but equally engrossing, compelling, and contemporary. Sometimes eerily so, because L’Etoile has a knack for remaining ahead of and anticipating headlines and newsworthy issues based, in part, on his law enforcement background.

The fifth volume in the Detective Nathan Parker series, Darkness Falls, opens with a scene uncannily reminiscent of the first episode of Breaking Bad. Except there is nothing funny about it. Parker discovers a double murder in a Phoenix drug lab housed in an old travel trailer. The evidence suggests a connection to his adopted son, Miguel, now a nineteen-year-old college student who also works with Billie Carson at the Immigrant Coalition, assisting immigrants who make their way north of the Mexican border.

But Miguel is a good kid who couldn’t possibly be swept up in a drug rip-off and murder. And there’s no poosibility that he was involved in distributing illicit designer drugs in the Arizona valley.

But soon authorities are closing in on Miguel and Parker discovers a border militia group rushing to control the drug flow. The Night Watch militia leaves of trail of violence in their wake while local politicians use the shadow of the scourge of drug violence to influence an upcoming election.

Who stands to gain while Parker and his family are caught in the crossfire? Who will betray them?

It’s my honor to welcome Jim back to Colloquium!

Which Came First? The Story or the Headlines?

by
James L’Etoile

Thanks for having me back for the release of Darkness Falls. Appreciate the invitation to return after last time — you know, when Billie Carson pushed her way in and demanded we change the series name to something in her honor. Words were said. She’s been sulking in the corner of my office for the last eleven months.

Anyway, Darkness Falls seems like it’s a ripped from the headlines kind of story, with immigration issues, raids, and ICE detention taking a central part in the plot. All very current issues we are struggling to understand. So how does an author create a story with such polarizing, hot-button issues?

When I drafted Darkness Falls some two years ago, the escalation of immigration enforcement hadn’t begun. But you could read the handwriting on the border wall, as it were. The Nathan Parker series was inspired by an experience while I was still working in the prison world.

I led an audit team to a prison south of San Diego to review its security and classification processes. These audits are usually the time when a warden shows off their prison to “the team from Sacramento.” There was something off from the moment we arrived at the prison. It came down to the one thing that all prisons have as their central reason for existence. They couldn’t “clear their count.” Which means the number of inmates in the prison didn’t match the number they were supposed to have. This is the worst possible scenario to have going on at the very moment an audit team rolls up to your prison.

The prison sits near the international border with Mexico. You can see the wall from the prison yard. There are trails snaking through the hills around the facility used by undocumented migrants making the trek north. Just adding this little detail as context for what’s to come . . .

Turns out, after multiple recounts and a warden seeing his career flutter away, the count disparity was in the prison’s minimum support facility. After a bed-by-bed photo count, they found the issue. They had one more inmate than they were supposed to have.

The “extra” inmate was an undocumented migrant who was so cold, hungry, and desperate that breaking into prison for a warm place to sleep was his best option.

That feeling of desperation stuck with me over the years. The Nathan Parker series is set firmly in the center of the world of border policy, immigration, and the violence that comes along with it. It’s not a matter of being anti-migrant or supporting open borders. Capturing a story in that environment is more than a political statement. It’s told and experienced by the characters. Darkness Falls looks at a possible intersection of anti-migrant militia groups, ICE raids, and detention facilities — and it gets personal for Nathan Parker. His adopted son, Miguel, who endured his own suffering on his trek norward from El Salvador after his family was killed in gang violence, is the person of interest in a drug lab murder. His visa status comes into question, and there is doubt in Parker’s mind if Miguel could have played a role in the crime.

Betrayal, when it comes from within, cuts especially deep.

Meet James

James L’Etoile’s writing is influenced by his twenty-nine years “behind bars,” not as an inmate, but as the associate warden of a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, and Director of the Division of Adult Parole Operations with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. His novels have been short-listed for or awarded Lefty, Anthony, Macavity, Silver Falchion, and the Public Safety Writers awards. He also pens short stories and screenplays and serves as the Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America.

Dead Drop, Devil Within, and Served Cold are the first three installments in his outstanding Detective Nathan Parker series. They were followed by Sins of the Father and now Darkness Falls. Although each book can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, readers will enjoy the context that reading each installment brings.

Face of Greed launched the Detective Emily Hunter series and was followed up by River of Lies and Illusion of Truth. Reading the series in order allows readers to experience the progression of the characters’ lives and careers, but is not required.

Connect with James at his website, or on Goodreads, X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram or BookBub.

Thank you again, James!

Books by James L’Etoile:

Detective Nathan Parker Series

Detective Emily Hunter Series

Guest Posts by James L’Etoile: