How I Came to Write This Book: STIFFED, Rob Kitchin

http://www.amazon.com/Stiffed-Rob-Kitchin/dp/1484903765

How I came to write this book ... Stiffed by Rob Kitchin

Stiffed is a screwball noir set in New England about a group of friends trying to get rid of a dead body but, in so doing, plunge themselves into deeper and deeper trouble.  There were two inspirations for the story.  The first was a single line that I stumbled across - ‘Friends help you move, true friends help you move bodies’.  A light bulb immediately sparked into brightness.  The second, was a blog post by Donna Moore that I’d been thinking about for a while in which she gave her definition of noir:

“Noir fiction has our protagonist spiraling down into the pit of despair, thrown there by a mocking Fate, who then stands at the edge of the pit shoveling dirt onto the head of the protagonist until he is half-buried. Fate then throws the shovel down into the pit and the hapless protag reaches out for that glimmer of hope, only for it to whack him on the head and kill him.”

From these two seeds I had my premise:

Take an ordinary guy.  Put him in an impossible situation by giving him a dead body and a very good reason not to go to the police.  Add his friends.  Dump a ton of crap on them.  Keep dumping crap on them until they’re buried up to their eyeballs.  Give them a glimmer of hope, then dump more crap on them.  Wait until they’re buried alive then give them a small shovel.

I had the first chapter written within a couple of hours.  Over a weekend I mapped out the rest of the story, aiming to keep the narrative fast paced and humorous, with lots of action, twists and general mayhem.  This is basically achieved by throwing in a bunch of bad guys and ensuring that the central character and his friends face or commit just about every crime on the statute book in a twenty four hour period in an effort to get rid of the body and keep themselves alive.


An initial review by Paul Brazill does a good job of capturing the essence of the tale: “Stiffed is a massively enjoyable, fast-moving and very funny black comedy of errors that comes across like Hitchcock’s The Trouble With Harry directed by the Coen Brothers.”  Though some might say it is more Farrelly Brothers than the Coens.

Check out SPINETINGLER for some additional praise for STIFFED.

STIFFED is published in paperback, kindle and other formats by SNUBNOSE PRESS. 

How I Came to Write This Book: John Kenyon

How I came to write "Cut."

I had this image of a guy sitting on the subway with a cooler in his lap, but this one wasn't filled with his lunch. It contained a human heart. Who was he? How did he come to have a heart in a Playmate cooler? Why was he on the subway?

I knew if I answered these questions in the right way, it would make an interesting story. I wrote, slowly, making sure to ask more questions of the story as I answered others. When I was done, it was a revelation. This was a real story. I had written a handful of others, but they felt more like exercises, mimicry. This was the first one that felt truly worthy of an audience. I called it "Cut" and sent it to Thuglit, a newly discovered home for crime fiction in the web.

Todd Robinson, the man behind Thuglit, responded quickly, telling me he liked the story and wanted to run it. We worked through some edits, all of which made it better, and he scheduled it for one of his issues. When the story hit, I really felt like I had accomplished something, that this whole writing thing might pan out. Someone with a great eye for stories had deemed mine worthy of an audience, and now it was out there, earning praise.

A short time later, Todd contacted me to say he wanted to include the story in a print anthology. That book, Blood, Guts and Whiskey, includes the likes of Sean Doolittle, Tom Piccirilli and even Eddie Bunker. To say I was over the moon to be published in the same collection with these contemporary favorites and a hero of mine is to be a master of understatement.

That first publication was five years ago, a time during which I have written and published a couple dozen more stories, hacked away at a novel or two, and started my own magazine. But it is that first story that kicked everything into gear. That's why I called my collection The First Cut. It's an homage to that first swing, a reference to the first cut on an album (which is why it leads off the collection). There is much more to come, but it all starts with that.

Another guy with a great eye for stories, Brian Lindenmuth, picked things up from there. I liked the manuscript I submitted, and decided that these stories were worthy of another audience. So call this a story of perseverance, practice and having smart, talented people willing to help you along the way.

http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Cut-ebook/dp/B008MB4OKQ/ref=la_B006MIWQYM_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1343502888&sr=1-4

How I Came to Write This Book/Found a Press: Tom Vater

The Devil’s Road to Crime Wave Press - Tom Vater

Back in May, I was sitting down with my friend Hans Kemp, kicking literary business ideas back and forth – we’d recently collaborated on a wonderful non-fiction project (www.sacredskinthailand.com) - when Hans reminded me that I had a crime novel, The Cambodian Book of the Dead, in my drawer, and another, The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu, that was about to go out of print.

We founded Crime Wave Press - a Hong Kong based fiction imprint that endeavors to publish the best new crime novels from Asia and about Asia – then and there. Now, the first two books are out, a third is in production for September, first reviews are rolling in, we’re enjoying modest sales and Crime Wave Press is officially launching at the UBUD Writers Festival in Bali in October. We are pushing away from the scene of the initial crime, into an uncertain, barely illuminated but intriguing future. And we’re well positioned to ride our crime wave. Hans Kemp has been publishing books about Asia for twenty years and I am a seasoned writer of non-fiction books, screenplays and articles.

It’s been a long road to Crime Wave Press. I first traveled through Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal in the early 90s, taking notes. By chance I met a group of friends who had done the old hippie trail from Europe to India in the 1970s. Their tall stories gave rise to The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu, a kaleidoscopic pulp thriller following two generations of drifters embroiled in sex, drugs and murder on the aforementioned overland route. First published to some critical acclaim in 2005, the book quickly disappeared, along with its publisher. The new Crime Wave Press edition is meaner, leaner and is about to be republished in print in October.

So this is a call to arms of sorts. Crime Wave Press is looking for authors. Visit the Submissions page on www.crimewavepress.com.

The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu

http://www.amazon.com/The-Devils-Road-Kathmandu-ebook/dp/B008E71INO/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1342199051&sr=1-2

The Cambodian Book of the Dead

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cambodian-Book-Dead-ebook/dp/B008GDT8QU/ref=sr_1_1?cor=US

Crime Wave Press

http://www.crimewavepress.com

Brooklyn Zoo

Megan, Darcy, Alison & Chris moved to NY in 1994. You know about Megan.

Alison became an actress. moved to L.A., and has been in several TV series over the years. Chris, the editor of the Rutgers Law Review, has a brilliant legal career in Denver with two young sons.

Darcy started out as a free lance writer but felt something was missing. So she went back to school for many years, got a Ph.D. in psychology and became a psychotherapist. This is about her year as a resident at a mental hospital in Brooklyn. She is in practice now full-time, has a darling daughter and another on the way.

How could I ask her to write this herself, but here she is thanks to you tube.
Another book on police psychologists is on the way.

How I Came to Write This Book: Charlie Stella

Why I wrote this book.

Originally, ten years ago, it was a kind of homage to where I first became enthralled with writing (at the college I attended in Minot, North Dakota). I went there to play football first; learning was fifth or sixth on my priority list until I met Dave Gresham. Dave was a graduate of Iowa’s MFA program and was taught by two of my favorite writers, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Richard Yates (Yates apparently signed Dave’s thesis).

Being a fan of the bitter cold weather ND often features, I thought it essential to write that into Rough Riders (there’s a lot of frigid weather in the novel). There is a stasis bitter cold can bring about and that helped in dealing with some of the subplots (there are several); there’s only so much a person can do in the cold, so fast one might respond, etc.

Ten years ago I was still fairly new as a published author and probably afraid of creating new characters. I’d always wanted to keep some of my characters alive for future works (kind of grifting off Mr. Leonard) and Rough Riders was my chance to have some fun with old characters in a new environment. Alex Pavlick and Dexter Greene are back, as is the bad guy from Eddie’s World, James Singleton (except he has a new witness protection name). Even Eddie Senta makes a couple of brief appearances in Rough Riders. Some of the newer characters (there’s a former Miss North Dakota, a Minot Detective and his wife and a Native American lawyer) sparked some interest from at least one reviewer (Men Reading Books) and I may find something for these new characters to do in the future.

Ultimately I had fun building the book a scene at a time and jumping from one location to another. It originally started in Montana, then swung back to New York, but I changed the final version during the last of the 10-year updates. I had to rewrite much of the book because of the long gap and all that has happened since 2001; the twin towers, the Gulf Wars, Bush, Obama, etc.

I originally finished writing Rough Riders immediately after my fourth published book (Cheapskates) went to press. Carroll & Graf originally made an offer on it but I was unhappy with some of the turmoil going on there (they were being swallowed at the time) and I turned the offer down.

Updating it wasn’t as easy as I thought, but it was fun. I had some very kind help in doing so as well. Ward Churchill (by way of Ben Whitmer) gave it a read and provided input on both the novel itself and the native American stuff. I did something I don’t usually do with my crime fiction and went a bit political in Rough Riders, making sure to take swipes at both sides of the political fence but always being clear about whose land this originally was and how “taking one’s country back” should be viewed with a little more clarity. It is one of the right wing slogans that makes me upchuck my sfogliatelle every time I hear it. Bottom line: it was never ours to take.

My maestro, Peter Skutches, was the original editor. As I said, Ward Churchill was another editor and then I employed the help of an author I discovered in the MFA program (one of about 25 new discoveries for me) at SNHU. I asked if I could hire Merle Drown outside the scope of the program (since my crime writing has nothing at all to do with the work I’m doing within the program) and once it was okayed, Merle added his guidance. He’s an author first and foremost and his book, The Suburbs of Heaven, is absolutely masterful. I’ve read it twice and will read it again as soon as I have the time.

That’s about it on Rough Riders. I’ve been completely distracted with school work and Momma Stella’s hospital stay ... she continues to keep us on our toes and remains the toughest broad I know. I love my Mommy!

— Charlie Stella

How I Came to Write This Book: Sandra Seamans

COLD RIFTS

FOR THE LOVE OF SHORTS

By Sandra Seamans

It ain't easy being a short story writer, especially in the mystery/crime genre. Why you ask? Because mystery readers don't read short stories, only novels. Because there’s no money in writing mystery shorts, only novels. Because there are no markets for mystery short stories, only novels. Because mystery shorts are too hard to write, novels are easier. Trash talk? Of course it is. But this is what keeps getting regurgitated year after year in the mystery community.

Well, I stand here before you an unrepentant short story writer and damn proud of it. So why short stories? Maybe because I’m old enough to start collecting social security and have a short attention span? Nah. I write shorts because I love the form. I love how a short story keeps the telling simple. One story, no side trips. I love that I can experiment with the genre by mixing in bits of other genres like fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. I love that I can sit down at the computer and in the space of an hour or two have a rough draft to play around with. And believe it or not, I love that every time I get myself psyched to write the great American novel it always turns into a short story.

“Cold Rifts” is my belief in a world that reads and loves short stories. That readers, even of mysteries, find short stories a perfect fit with their reading tastes. I believe that short stories hit harder and deeper into the hearts of readers. That they have a lasting effect. You’re a reader, aren’t you? So, share your favorite short with us. I’ll give you one of mine. Harlan Ellison’s “Soft Monkey”. A sweet mixture of crime and horror.

Your turn. C’mon, you know you want to. Step up and admit that you’re a short story reader, too. There’s no shame in loving short stories.

How I Came to Write This Book: Helen FitzGerald

Born in Melbourne, Australia, and one of thirteen children, Helen FitzGerald moved to Glasgow in 1991. She was a criminal justice social worker in Glasgow’s notorious Barlinnie Prison before becoming a full-time writer.

Her adult thrillers include Dead Lovely, My Last Confession, Bloody Women, The Donor and The Devil’s Staircase, which is currently being made into a feature film. Her books have been translated into numerous languages.

Her first YA, Amelia O’Donohue is SO not a Virgin, was published in 2010. Her novella, The Duplicate, is out with Snubnose Press in April 2012. Her YA thriller, Deviant, is to be published in 2013 by Sohoteen. She is currently writing her new novel, Cry, for Faber and Faber, out 2013.

How I Came to Write THE DUPLICATE

Before I moved up to secondary school, there were a lot of rumours about fingering. This was one of them: A boy’ll lure you round the back of the school “to count bricks” and that’s you totally fingered.

For the first month of Form One, I was terrified.

A month after that, a teensy bit intrigued.

A month after that, really quite desperate.

All my mates had counted bricks. Apparently it didn’t hurt at all. So I was thrilled when my best friend gave me a note from her boyfriend’s best friend which read: “Wanna count bricks after school Friday?”

I said All right.

Turns out the boy, Mick*, was quite a gentleman and kept his fingers to himself. I stood with my back to the wall, he put his hands on the brick wall, and kissed me. It was an open-mouthed no-tongue kiss that made me panic. My pals had told me they were all going full tongue. But this hot cavern didn’t appear to have a tongue in it. I gold-fished for a while before heading in to find it.

That weekend, I couldn’t sleep for love of Mick. We would probably get married one day.

When I got to school on Monday, my best friend gave me a note from her boyfriend’s best friend which read: “You’re dropped.”

Does this have anything to do with The Duplicate?

Not really…

Except that Barbara’s need to fit in is so overpowering that she completely surrenders herself to her first love.

And as with me, it doesn’t end well.

*John’s name has been changed to Mick for legal reasons.

How I Came to Write This Book: Ian Ayris

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK

I never intended to write a book. I never intended to write much of anything, really.

And then, a couple of years ago, a voice came into my head. It wasn't a very nice voice, if I'm honest. 'Some people deserve to die,' it said. Took me back a bit. I'm a nice bloke, see, by all accounts. But the voice continued its story, and I listened, and I wrote down what I heard. Six months later, the words I'd written were published as 'My Mate, Tel' in the first 'Radgepacket' anthology from Byker Books. I wrote another couple of stories, both at gunpoint, as it were, getting used to the fact that the closer I listened and the quicker I wrote, the sooner these bloody voices would leave my head. The two further stories were subsequently published in the following two 'Radgepackets'. Three out of three. Blimey, I thought, this writing game's a piece of piss.

The third of these first three published stories was entitled 'The Rise and Demise of Fat Kenny' – the story of John and Kenny and a certain gangster by the name of Mr Ronnie Swordfish. Unlike the previous two stories, there was something about this one that was different. The voices had spoken, I'd written down what I'd heard and what I'd seen, but the characters hadn't gone away. They just sat there, in this grotty mock-up of an East-End pub inside my head, looking at me over their warm pints of beer. Expectant. I looked back, into there eyes, and saw such pain.

I knew what I had to do.

To tell the whole story, I knew I had to go back to childhood, to the East End streets where John and Kenny grew up. Kenny was to be the main character. John, as in the short story, merely the narrator. And the story told itself. I had no plan, no outline, just a need to follow wherever the feelings were most painful.

And bloody hell, it hurt.

My inner world began to show itself through John and Kenny – John, the son of a fanatical West Ham supporter, from a tight-nit family, where love and humour comfort the soul and keep the pain at bay; Kenny – brought up in the house across the street, timid, distant, confused – the other me, dazed and vulnerable, long ago having withdrawn into a simple world of his own making.

And so with John and Kenny established, chapter after chapter continued to go by. School. Christmas. The Queen's Silver Jubilee. The death of Elvis. Cup Finals and the Winter of Discontent. My childhood memories.

The first half of the book was done. What lay ahead, I had no idea. So I carried on listening.

And what followed, blimey. Ripped my heart out to write, it did. Even typing these words, I'm taken back to the edge of that darkness, that awful, terrible, darkness. The two boys became separated which, from a psychodynamic point of view, was always going to be a difficult one for me. If they were separated, so was I. But in that separation I saw the direction I was intended to follow. Reconcilliation. Understanding. Redemption. The renewal of hope.

So I carried on writing into the darkness.

Mental insitutions. Prison. Separation. Loss. The return of Mr Ronald Swordfish.

I wrote the searingly painful second half of the book in a blur of coffee and chocolate in less than two weeks. Thirty thousand words. I now realised this was the way it had to be. I had to endure, as John had to endure. Kenny, he had his own way of looking at things. But John, John was suffering. Really suffering.

The situation was hopeless. Get mixed up with a psycho like Ronnie Swordfish, and it's never ending good. But in the most dire of situations, there is always hope. It's 1989. Tiananmen Square. John don't watch the news. It's a load of old shit. But soon as he turns the telly on, he can't get his eyes off it. There he is, this bloke, frontin up a tank. Two tanks. Three tanks. And he ain't got nothing but a couple of fuckin shoppin bags on him. And that, my son, that is courage. That is hope.

When the end of the book came, I had tears running down my face. They wouldn't stop. They're still there now.

And I hope they never leave.

ABIDE WITH ME is available through Amazon UK:

Amazon US:

Blog: http://www.ianayris.com

Publisher: http://www.caffeine-nights.com

How I Came to Write This Book: Nick Quantrill

How I came to write – “The Late Greats” (by Nick Quantrill)

“The Late Greats” is the second novel to feature my Hull-based Private Investigator, Joe Geraghty. My debut, “Broken Dreams”, was a very deliberate attempt to capture something specific about the city using the decline of its fishing industry as a mechanism. Although “The Late Greats” takes place within the confines of the city, the focus is on the feel of the place and its wider relationship with the rest of the country. Hull is an isolated city on the north east coast of England. We’re resourceful and not easily impressed. We’re warm but suspicious. Finding the story I wanted to tell was troublesome. I collected newspaper cuttings, I made notes and I listened to people talk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the unexpected triggers an idea.

The seeds of “The Late Greats” were sown from something trivial. Music is one of my passions. I’m the kind person who goes to Record Fairs and delights in collecting obscure B-sides. I’ve put the hours in down at my local music venue, The Adelphi. When one too many of the bands I liked in 1990s bands reformed, I’d seen and heard enough. One band in particular pushed me over the edge. I won’t name and shame, but I’d always admired their willingness to take risks and change over time. However, their comeback tour saw them do nothing more than trot out their greatest hits. It was lazy and cynical. As a music fan, it left a bitter taste, but as a crime writer it was interesting. Bands invariably breakdown when personal relationships fail, big egos get in the way and all sense of reality is lost. Are the smiling faces we see just painted on? Are the words that come out of their mouths just meaningless platitudes? What really goes on backstage? My guess is that these comebacks must produce incredible highs and intense self-loathing. I was sure I could use it as the backdrop to a story. All good crime novels are driven by tension and conflict. All I needed was a hook and it was obvious what that hook needed to be – money.

The focus of “The Late Greats” is New Holland. Persuaded by their manager, Kane Major, to reform, Geraghty is employed as a general fixer, but his job description soon changes when singer, Greg Tasker, goes missing. The deeper Geraghty digs in his search, the more unpleasant truths he finds. At first I let myself be swept away – I’m a music fan – I plotted a discography, and if I’d allowed myself, I could have written a whole book on the fictitious band. Reigning myself in, I quickly discovered New Holland was just the starting point. Although they’re at the epicentre of the story, it was the outward ripples which interested me more.

As much as Tasker and Major are to the fore, Geraghty remains the star of the story. “Broken Dreams” saw him determined to find out who was behind the death of his wife in a house wife. What he discovered isn’t really the story now. It’s about how he moves on and decides to live his life. Despite the undeniable attraction to his work colleague, Sarah, the introduction of Julia Gowans, a journalist covering New Holland’s comeback complicates matters. “The Late Greats” is a novel about friendship, loyalty and what really constitutes success in life. Although it’s Geraghty asking the questions, there’s no doubt the questions equally apply to him.

Info:

“The Late Greats” is published by Caffeine Nights. “Broken Dreams” is available now. Joe Geraghty short stories feature in Volumes Eight and Nine of “The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime.”

www.hullcrimefiction.co.uk

How I Came To Write This Book: Alison Gaylin

How I Came to Write This Book

AND SHE WAS

by Alison Gaylin

I often get asked, ‘What comes first for you – character or plot?’ Usually, it’s a little of both. (With TRASHED, for instance, my reluctant tabloid reporter and the series of Hollywood slayings pretty much popped into my head hand-in-hand.) But with AND SHE WAS, it was neither. A few years ago, I came across an article about a man with hyperthymesia – perfect autobiographical memory. There are only a handful of known cases of hyperthymesia in the world, and it involves recalling every single day of your life, from start to finish, with all five senses. I read that article, and I thought, “Oh my God. How awful,” and thus began the two-to-three year obsession that culminated in this book.

The aspect of this syndrome that struck me as both fascinating and tragic was not so much the ability to remember everything (which granted, is great for a detective), but the inability to forget anything. The idea of experiences – good and bad – remaining just as alive in your mind as the day they happened… I’m not sure I’d be able to live with that. And so I had to build a character around it. Originally, Brenna was a videographer who sets out to solve her sister’s long-ago disappearance after hearing a voice she recalls as that of her abductor, but I found that character ineffectual, and too removed from the action. So I made Brenna a private detective, specializing in locating missing persons. The germ of the plot came from one of my earliest traumatic experiences: When I was four years old, I wandered off from a neighborhood party, taking a younger girl with me. We got lost pretty fast. A woman came out of her house, scolded me, and took the little girl in with her, to safety, leaving me alone on the sidewalk. I guess it was my first rejection, and so, of course, I had to create a plot around it.

This was definitely my hardest book to write. It involves three different mysteries, the oldest of which is 28 years old, and the newest of which happened just a few days ago. I wrote and wrote and rewrote and reorganized, again and again. I have a computer file of cut scenes that is over 200 pages long. And even after I’d delivered what I thought was a pretty good first draft, it was called to my attention that the timeline was off – not a mistake you want to make in a book about a character with perfect memory.

All in all, though, I have to say the experience of writing AND SHE WAS was both exhausting -- and deeply fulfilling. And it is one that both the copy editor and myself are not likely to forget for a very long time.

Alison Gaylin is the Edgar-nominated author of TRASH, YOU KILL ME, HIDE YOUR EYES and HEARTLESS.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS COLLECTION: Chris Rhatigan

How I Came to Write This Collection: Chris Rhatigan, WATCH YOU DROWN

In May 2010, I sent a short story to Christopher Grant at A TWIST OF NOIR. He wrote back a few short hours later saying the piece was exactly the kind of thing he was looking for. It was the first time I'd been published—and I was thrilled. Earning the support of a writer and editor who I respected was awesome.

From there, I became immersed in the online crime fiction community. I published stories at a lot of different sites that I dug, places like YELLOW MAMA and PULP METAL MAGAZINE and SHOTGUN HONEY. Pretty quickly, I built up a nice cache of stories, and I considered releasing a collection.

But I wanted to do it right. There were a lot of ebooks coming out. Some were fantastic. Others were terrible. And a good number were decent, but maybe not ready for prime time.

Obviously, I wanted mine to be in that first category.

After talking with a few trusted sources, I decided to keep my collection 1) short, 2) in one genre, and 3) only stories that I really believed in. I even went back and polished already published stories.

I took my leanest crime/noir stories and put them together. Found an order that made sense. Some of these stories are published, some are unpublished. I sent the collection out to those trusted sources and got some excellent suggestions. Then I sent it over to Jason Michel with Pulp Metal Fiction, who made all the formatting and cover art happen.

So what category will my ebook belong in? Well, the reviews have been good so far!

Chris Rhatigan is the editor of ALL DUE RESPECT. WATCH YOU DROWN is available at Amazon and Amazon UK for 99 cents/63 pence. If you dig short fiction, check out his blog, Death by Killing.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK: Craig McDonald

El Gavilan: How I Came To Write This Book

By Craig McDonald

My first four novels were historical thrillers. They feature a 20^th Century author and globetrotter named Hector Lassiter. The Lassiter books span many decades and continents.

My new novel, El Gavilan, is more contemporary and hits closer to home: it’s set, more or less, in the central Ohio town where I grew up.

In the 1990s, the Buckeye State began to undergo a sea change triggered by waves of illegal immigration.

The America southwest grabs all the national media attention with its insanely over-the-top cartel violence, self-appointed “Minute Men” roaming the desert with guns and calls for construction of Berlin-reminiscent, soaring border walls.

Fact is, exploitation of illegal workers, human trafficking and all the strife spinning out of the Mexican methamphetamine trade know no boundaries.

As a county sheriff declares to El Gavilan’s presumptive hero, small town police chief Tell Lyon, in a very real sense, “The border is now everywhere.”

As a central Ohio journalist, I saw communities changing as native Ohioans and assimilation-resistant undocumented workers and their families grudgingly struggled to strike some kind of live-and-let-live balance, mostly unsuccessfully.

I experienced this nexus of intimations:

An illegal cockfighting ring was broken up a few miles from my hometown.

In that same Westside enclave, a former blue-collar neighborhood of GM factory workers, nearly all of the signage was suddenly of a decidedly Spanish bent. The local library was scrambling to accommodate a growing population of English-As-Second-Language patrons.

On the opposite side of a looming overpass, an apartment complex became a target of arson. It proved to be a racially motivated firebombing. Lives were lost in that fire…mostly those of children.

The fallout came in many dark flavors and it came down hard. The residents of the complex, recent immigrants to Columbus, had no English. First-responders spoke no Spanish. The controversy spinning out of that case drew national attention.

A few counties away, word came of a sheriff who chose to use his slice of post-9-11, Homeland Security grants not to update radio equipment or to obtain bomb-sniffing dogs as so many others were doing.

This lawman instead bought up billboard space and posted warning messages directed at illegal immigrants. He sent bills to the federal government demanding reimbursement of jail costs his department sustained resulting from the feds’ failure to exercise adequate border enforcement.

All of these developments conspired to inspire El Gavilan. They also suggested the character of conservative hardliner and Horton County Sheriff Able Hawk.

My notion was to take a damaged Border Patrol agent, a man literally running from borderland grief and bloody cartel violence—a grieving recent widower—and drop him into this maelstrom…to confront him with Hawk.

Tell Lyon accepts the appointment to the position of small town police chief expecting to have a kind of Mayberry-like ride. Tell arrives in New Austin, Ohio, expecting to sort out nothing more serious than some drunk and disorderly hi-jinks…family dramas and little traumas of shoplifting and teens using fake I.D.s to try and buy cigarettes or the like.

It’s a miscalculation Tell comes to rue. He lands in town just in time for the murder of a local Latino woman—a brutal crime that triggers a firestorm of unexpected menace and threatens to trigger a race war.

It’s a cliché to say some novels read as if they were ripped from the headlines.

Clichés become clichés, as journalist-turned-author Ian Fleming once observed, because they’re typically so curiously valid.

In the case of El Gavilan, the novel is indeed ripped from the headlines, but they were headlines I sometimes wrote.

Craig McDonald is a novelist and journalist whose first novel, Head Games, set along the Mexican borderlands, was a finalist for numerous literary awards in the United States and France. His new novel, El Gavilan, is available from Tyrus Books. Visit his website at craigmcdonaldbooks.com