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An Interview with Seamus McCree

3/11/2013

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From Bad Policy by James M. Jackson




Thank you for being with us today, Seamus. Tell us about yourself.
Lots of people wonder how to pronounce my first name. It’s  “Shay-mus.” No one seems to have a problem pronouncing McCree, although they  often spell it wrong.

 Since I claim to be a basically honest guy, I need to fess up  from the beginning that calling myself a cop is stretching the truth. I actually  work for Criminal Investigations Group, CIG for short, and every blue moon or  two I am deputized for whatever police department we are assisting.  Most recently I worked with a cop named Bear who got me  deputized for the Ross County (Ohio) Sherriff’s  Department.

If it counts for anything, my father was a police sergeant in  Boston until he was killed while on duty. I just learned the full details of his  death and they shocked me something fierce. I have a son, Paddy who just  graduated from college, and I am proud as heck of him. I say he’s the king of  nonsequitors, but if I don’t get back on track you’re going to think it’s  hereditary. 

I grew up Irish in Boston and escaped after college. I was a  top-rated bank analyst on Wall Street until I quit in disgust. Buy me a beer,  I’ll tell you the whole story, but I didn’t have anything to do with the recent  banking crisis, except to warn it was coming. Anyway, I quit and it cost me a  ton of money and what was left of my marriage.

I was looking around for something to do and the head of  Criminal Investigations Group asked me to set up a financial crimes group for  them. CIG originally assisted police departments across the country with cold  crimes. After 9/11 the FBI shifted major resources from financial crimes to  terrorism. CIG decided to try to fill the breech. I used my contacts and put  together a world-class group of financial sleuths. Afterwards, I stayed on and  used my background to help solve crimes.

So you like numbers and stuff?  Yuck.
You know, if everyone was good at numbers, I couldn’t have made  a living since I bend three nails for everyone I hit straight. Fact is, if I  stuck with numbers I might stay out of trouble, but I’m always wondering not  only what happened but why it happened. It’s the why that gets me in  trouble.

How did you become involved in this case? 
Normally I work on cases remotely, but the one that got me to  hook back up with the Ross County Sherriff’s office and dig into my father’s  death started when an insurance broker I had met on a previous case showed up  dead in my basement. He had suffered an IRA six pack (shot in the ankles, knees  and elbows) before someone finished him off with a shotgun  blast.  Naturally, the cops thought I was involved, and sometimes when
they have a prime suspect they focus all their attention on him. I knew I was
being framed and needed to prove it.

Tell us about this case.  
I’m friends with Lt. Tanya Hastings who is the head of the  Cincinnati Police Department’s homicide unit. It’s a conflicted relationship and  this situation didn’t make it any better. When she doubted my innocence, I knew  I was in trouble. What I had not anticipated was how twisted and evil some people  can be—especially when they think they and their family have been wronged. Most  financial crimes are intellectual. This vendetta against me was based on  long-simmering hate against my family—and I had no clue until I started kicking  over rusty cans.

Was there ever a time during this case that you doubted those  that you normally trust?
In the middle of this case I figured out my Uncle Mike was lying  to me. Uncle Mike isn’t actually my uncle, he’s my godfather and took over my  discipline (which I badly needed) after my father’s death. He’s a retired Boston  Police Department Captain and I had always known him to be a straight shooter.  Turned out he had hidden information from me about how my father  died. A bigger problem for me was that people who normally trusted me  suddenly did not. I suppose that’s natural when you’re a suspect, but it was a
real shock for me since I’ve made it one of my main principals to be trustworthy.

How dangerous was it to solve this case?
When I think of danger, I think of our troops in combat or of  the beat cop who tries to stop a crime. Those women and men put themselves in  real danger every day. By its nature, having motivated people trying to kill you  is dangerous, and that did happen on this case. Unlike our troops or the beat  cops, I could take evasive measures. Plus, when it comes to stuff like that, I’m probably not smart enough to be scared.

Did working on this case affect you emotionally?
It’s one thing for someone to target me because I’ve upset their criminal enterprise. That I can handle; it goes with the job. It’s quite another thing when the criminals target your loved ones. I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t read the book, but when those close to me were hurt I became an emotional wreck. It not only affected my emotions, it affected my ability to think clearly. My normal strength of rational thinker was sorely tested.

How did this case affect your personal life?
I think the saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is relevant. My house was effectively destroyed by fire. I almost lost two loved ones. Yet the fire forced me to recognize what things were really important to me. The trauma with loved ones brought us closer together. It would have been much better to have gained this knowledge  without the excitement, but at least something positive (besides catching the  crooks) came out of the turmoil.


 
JAMES M JACKSON is the author of Bad Policy for Barking Rain Press. Known as James Montgomery Jackson on his tax return and to his mother whenever she was really mad at him, he splits his time between the woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Georgia’s low country. Jim has published a book on contract bridge, One Trick at a Time: How to start winning at bridge, as well as numerous short stories and essays. Bad Policy is available wherever Jim’s travels take him, from online booksellers  or his website. Read the first four chapters for free. You can find his current schedule on his website http://jamesmjackson.com where you can also sign up for his quarterly  newsletter.


 
 
  



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An Interview with Stella Lavender

1/1/2013

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 From the book Cold Feet
                 By   Karen Pullen

 
 
We are honored to have with us today Stella Lavendar from the State Bureau of  Investigation in North Carolina. Stella, tell us about yourself. 
I’m a professional shopper, for drugs. In the market for coke, crack, smack, pot, ice, and pills. If you’re selling, I’m buying, and recording each transaction on video or voice. Later you’ll be visited by an arresting team, and you’d better lawyer up, agree to a plea deal, or join us–we can always use a cooperative informant. My employer is the state of North Carolina, the State Bureau of Investigation.  I joined the SBI out of college, after I graduated with a BS in criminal justice, four years ago. I always wanted to be a cop, because of what happened to my mother. 
 
What happened to your mother?
When I was five, she went into a gas station to pay and intercepted a robbery.  An
attendant was murdered and mom was abducted, never found. I became obsessed with
cold cases and the criminal justice system. For years I kept notebooks of murders and investigations and trials.  I’ve promised my grandmother Fern that I’d find out what happened to my mother, some day. 

After your mother died, who raised you? 
Fern. She is an artist, miserably poor, but she has a lot–I mean a lot–of boyfriends who take her out to dinner, do chores around her falling-down farmhouse, treat her to mini-vacations in charming B&Bs. She is light-hearted, amusing, and sexy. 
 
How did you become involved in this case? 
Fern and I went to a wedding. We sat with the other guests on  the lawn of this fake Scottish castle bed & breakfast, just waiting and waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle.  After observing a kerfuffle between a bridesmaid and the innkeeper, I followed them inside to the bride’s bedroom. She was dead, her body contorted, and I suspected
poison. The investigating detective asked for my help because many of the people involved in the wedding were related to the local police. Once I had my boss’s permission, I was free to work on the case, though I had to continue  doing my night job buying drugs.

Tell us about this case.  
The timing was curious.  Did someone get cold feet and want to prevent the wedding? We were interested in the groom, of course. He swore that Justine was an angel and
couldn’t possibly have had any enemies. Well, Justine may have been a lovely person but a number of people were not happy with her. One guest had lost his  job after a brief affair with her. The groom’s ex-girlfriend obsessively stalked him and crashed the wedding. An angry couple blamed their daughter’s disabilities on Justine, as the midwife present at the baby’s birth. And then it turned out that Justine’s past was very different from what one would assume. She’d kept it secret, or had she? Who knew? 
 
Was there ever a time during this case that you doubted those that you normally trust?
My grandmother Fern’s motives are mixed where men are concerned. When her new boyfriend turned out to be a drug dealer, she wasn’t sure whether to believe me when I told her he was dangerous. I could only tell her so much, because any involvement was unsafe for her and me.
 
How dangerous was it to solve this case?
In my final encounter with Justine’s murderer, I nearly lost my own life while saving a witness. Furthermore, since I was concurrently working as a drug agent, physical danger was a continued possibility.  After selling me a kilo of coke, a paranoid dealer evaded arrest and came looking for me. Good times.

Did working on this case affect you emotionally?
On many levels. It was my first homicide case and I wanted to solve it to prove myself. It brought back memories of my mother’s presumed death, and wanting to bring solace to Fern. The danger to Fern – my only living relative – was real. Finally, the whole issue of marriage continued to churn around in my psyche.  Neither my mother nor Fern married, but I had just been dumped by my fiancé Hogan in the midst of planning my own wedding. To make matters worse, I had to work on this case with Hogan, who is a fine SBI researcher.

How did this case affect your personal life?
I sleep with my dog Merle while my grandmother has all the fun, though I developed a major crush on the investigating detective who is married and therefore off-limits.  Working with Hogan, a serial cheater who hadn’t quite given me up, was challenging. It was an effort to remain professional.

Will you ever become a full-time homicide investigator?
 
Yes, tomorrow would be my preference, but my SBI boss wants me to keep buying drugs.  He says I’m good at it because I don’t look like a cop.  Yay for me.
 
What do you do in your spare time?
During this case, I had none, because I had to fit the murder investigation around my regular assignment as a drug agent.  I try to visit Fern a few times a week to make sure her house hasn’t fallen down yet, and go for a slow jog with my dog Merle. Guess that sounds boring, but after my workday, boring is just the ticket.
 
Thank you for being with us today. Good luck with the …drug buying. Be sure and give Merle a treat for letting you visit with us.

 
 
Karen Pullen left a perfectly good job at an engineering consulting firm for more creative endeavors as an innkeeper and a fiction writer. Her B&B has been open for 12 years, and her fiction has been published in Every Day Fiction, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Spinetingler. She earned an MFA from the Stonecoast program at the University of Southern Maine on beautiful Casco Bay. She lives in Pittsboro NC. Cold
Feet
is her first novel. She blogs at her website, www.karenpullen.com  where you can
also find details on a contest to win a weekend at Rosemary House B&B (imagine spending a weekend in a cute artsy town and two nights in a charming historic B&B, an airjet tub for two, flickering fireplace, eggs Benedict and strawberry-topped Belgian waffles for breakfast).  Cold Feet will be published in January 2013. It’s currently available for pre-order at bookstores and online retail outlets, and should be on the street in early February.
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Meet District Criminal Investigator Pel Darzin

9/30/2011

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 from Force of Habit by Marian Allen  
 



                 
Allow me to introduce Pel Darzin of the Meadow of Flowers District constabulary in Council City, the capital city of the planet Llannonn. Council City is the Central City of the Meadow of Flowers District. Down these mean streets--well, a bit mean, but not too mean, because the Llannonninn are courteous people--walks this man.  Darzin came up through the ranks from constable and knows his city and his district inside and out.


District Criminal Investigator Darzin, tell us about this case. What made it so special?
The special thing about this case was how convoluted it appeared, and how simple it actually was, once I saw through to the one, all-important fact at the heart of it. There were these aliens from outer space, you see, and then there were these other aliens from outer space. And the second aliens saved one of our people from the first aliens, although first one of the second aliens put her in greater jeopardy. Bookkeeper Freldt Saymak of
Jok'rel's Traveler's Rest Inn, called to report that Gord Pron, an enforcer for a well-known Stokk criminal, was extorting her to cook her boss' books. I arranged to meet her and listen in while she maneuvered him into repeating his plot. But, before I got there, a party of Terrans -- well, mostly Terrans -- came to Jok'rel's for shore leave, and the rest is history. Some say Professor Isobel Schuster changed places with Freldt Saymak by chance, but I know better.
 
What made the case hard to solve?
All the aliens. And, of course, all the criminals. There was the Stokk Gord Pron and boss and his henchman, there was a member of our own Grand Council working with Pron's boss, there was a Terran con man named Connell Morgan and, technically, myself. Frankly, Communications Commissioner Darlla Bute didn't make matters any easier. We joke about that now.

Did anyone outside of the police department help you solve this case?
Oh, yes. Oh, my, yes. The Irregulars were invaluable, as always. I understand your own Sherlock Holmes had his own Irregulars, is that right? I'd like to compare notes with him some day. The crew and teaching staff of the Space Academy training ship St. Gregory the Wonderworker were invaluable allies; we were all very impressed. And, of course, the
mysterious Bel. This is Bel's story, really, you know. I'm humbled and proud to have played my part.

Has this case affected your personal life in any way?
Professionally, which is closely related to my personal life, I feel much more comfortable dealing with Terrans, which has boosted my career. Although we have a variety of aliens from outer space on Llannonn, the Terran mind is the most difficult for us to fathom. Terrans are much more complex than we give them credit for being. Too many of us give up and simply treat them as if they were insane, which is a mistake. An understandable
mistake, but a mistake. When I get what you would call my twenty years' service in, I plan to retire to the rural part of the Meadow of Flowers District and raise pratties. I couldn't afford that, if it hadn't been for the salary advancement and Terran/Llannonninn liaison fees this case instigated for me.

Thank you for being with us today, District Criminal Investigator Darzin. I wish you the best as you fight crime in outer space.


Marian Allen lives in rural Indiana. For as long as she can remember, she has loved telling and being told stories. Allen has had stories in on-line and print publications, on
coffee cans and the wall of an Indian restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky. Force of Habit is her second book. For more information on her or any of her books visit her website at Marian Allen - Fantasies, Mysteries, Comedies, Recipes or her Facebook Author page Marian Allen Author.  A short story also featuring Pel Darzin is free atSmashwords.


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Meet Private Investigator Manuel Aguilar

9/16/2011

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 from Devil’s Kitchen by Clark Lohr.


 
We have with us today Manuel Aguilar. Born in Tucson, Arizona, he is a product of a tripartite society: Anglo, Latino, and Native American. His cultural and racial heritage goes back many years before English-speaking Europeans came to dominate the Southwestern US.  Aguilar is bilingual. He served for sixteen years with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and was fired over complications arising from a murder case. He currently works as a private investigator for Jeffrey Goldman, a criminal defense attorney.

You were fired over a murder case? How did that happen?     
I was fired over what, at first, looked to me like a simple murder case—a decapitated head found in a county landfill. Once we’d got the dead guy ID’d, I started looking at people around the case. Those people started dying. One of them was shot to death. That’s unusual. I didn’t want to let the case go. I kept pushing the case and was involved in several shooting incidents as a result. The sheriff’s department fired me. Then my girlfriend, Reina, got me to go to work for Jeff Goldman.
     
What made this case hard to solve?
The case was hard to solve because there were powerful people involved who didn’t want the case solved. These people had corrupt law enforcement on their side and a bunch of sicarios, Mexican nationals, killers, who work under the radar in the US.

You mentioned your girlfriend Reina. Did she help you solve the case?     
I couldn’t have done it without Reina.

Did anyone else help you?
Johnny Oaks, who’s also a PI—and Goldman. I got help from the few friends I had left in the sheriff’s department, too. There was a kid involved, a runaway teenager.  She had good information and we used it.  I also had a Yaqui  grandmother who helped.

Did this case affect your personal life in any way?     
My personal life? Yeah, it made it better, emotionally.  I got hurt physically, but I came through knowing a lot more about what’s out there, the stuff you can’t see—call it the spirit world if you want to.  Reina’s in my life. She’s as important to me as my job. We came through it even closer than we were before.

Thank you for being with us today. We wish you and Reina the best and appreciate what you do.



Clark Lohr comes from a Montana farm and ranch background. He is a Vietnam vet and a member of Veterans for Peace. He’s lived mostly in Tucson, Arizona since the late Sixties. Devil’s Kitchen was published by Oak Tree Press and released in June 2011. The book is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Powell’s Books. Visit clarklohr.com for more information.  
 


  


  


  


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An Interview with Detective Toby Sands

8/5/2011

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An Interview with Detective Toby Sands

8/5/2011

4 Comments

 
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 from the mystery Dumpster Dying by Lesley A. Diehl


 


Detective Toby Sands was with the Big Lake Police Department for over twenty years. His record of closing cases was disappointing until the captain paired him with Detective Stanton Lewis. Following his last and most famous murder case with Stanton, Sands “retired”, a forced retirement for medical reasons according to the police department.  I was fortunate to be able to track him down at a cabin on the Kissimmee River.
     
Detective Sands, tell us about this case.
Call me Toby (He spits brown liquid from his mouth toward a rusty coffee can on the floor and misses.) See, I’m just a good ole boy from rural Florida.  I don’t do fancy cop stuff, none of that high tech BMW stuff.

Do you mean DNA? 
Whatever.  Like I said, I’m old fashioned in my approach.  I can sit in my car under a palm tree for hours waiting out my perp. This case was no different.  My partner, Detective Lewis was running around after leads all over the county, but I just sat tight and the killer kind of fell into my clutches.

What made this case so special? 
Well, what was special about the case was that the wealthiest rancher in the county was killed and his body put into a dumpster at the country club just outside town.  Now that means you got to step lightly around these folks.  They’re real important, got lots of money.  Don’t cross ‘em none.  Like his widow.  Widow Davy was a gal to reckon with.  I tried not to rile her none.  She had some temper.  I could tell you stories…  Well, anyway, I kept a low profile in my cruiser cuz I knew better than to upset the Widow Davy.  See, Toby’s been around here a good long while, and I know how to get what I want out of a suspect. 
       
What made the case hard to solve? 
Like I told you, it wasn’t so hard.  Just took a lot of sitting and waiting and listening to folks talk, like my favorite bartender at the Burnt Biscuit.  Let me tell ya, he knows more about what’s happening around here than I do. And, of course, I know plenty.  I’m appealing those bribery charges.  I took that money only temporarily to find out what was going on with some crooked lawyers. I was intending to give it all back, but I got jumped by some federal cops and… Well, that’s another story.
       
Did anyone outside of the police department help you solve this case? 
Hell, no. Even my partner was useless. Course he was sweet on that little gal who found the body. Now there’s the real problem. Women. Women always get in the way of solving a crime.  I don’t have no women in my life.  My dog, ole Pokey, is a boy.  Don’t trust bitch dogs none.
       
Has this case affected your personal life in any way? 
Hell, yes, it has. I’m sitting here out on bail waiting for my second trial.  No one in the department, not my partner, not the captain appreciated all I done to solve that case.  I lost my house, mortgaged it to pay my lawyer—he turned out to be a crook—to get me off, and here I sit in this crummy dump waiting for the next trial.  Yeah, you could say it affected my life. (Toby spits in the can once more and once moremisses.)
       
It’s rumored around the police department and town that you’re a crooked cop.  How do you respond to that? 
I already told you. I was just trying to find out what was going on, and someone offered me money, so I took it. Otherwise how could I win their trust? In my years in law enforcement, I always played friendly when someone offered me money.  Let me tell you, I found out plenty about folks around here. I got a reputation for being willing to play ball with those who were generous to me.  I was the guy in the department you could trust.  If the price was right.

Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today, Toby. Good luck with your trial and appeal.



 Lesley A. Diehl retired from her life as a professor of psychology and moved to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York.  In the winter she migrates to old Florida—a place where spurs still jingle in the post office. Dumpster Dying was released by Oak Tree Press, January 2011.  Her books can be obtained through
Amazon.com, B&N.com, and independent book sellers. For more information visit her website at www.lesleydiehl.com  or her blog http://anotherdraught.blogspot.com. 
 


 
 

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Meet Sheriff Jeff Ramsey

7/30/2011

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from Button Hollow Chronicles #1: The Leaf Peeper Murders by Loni Emmert & P.I. Barrington  


We have with us Sheriff Jeff Ramsey of the Button Hollow, New Hampshire Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Ramsey joined the Button Hollow force as a deputy as a young man and has been serving the citizens of the village of Button Hollow for over twenty years.


Sheriff Ramsey, tell us about the recent crime spree in Button Hollow. 
Button Hollow is a small village in central New Hampshire. It’s a small town where everyone knows everyone else, and I mean that literally. Most residents have lived their entire life in Button Hollow, so when we had two citizens found dead in a swamp looking like suicides I became suspicious. Sure, both were down on their luck, one a prostitute with a love for meth and the other a loud-mouthed drunk but I knew both of them for   years and neither one seemed to me to be a good candidate for suicide. The  circumstances were off, and there were too many unanswered questions.  
    
Some people say that things like that happen to people like the ones you described. 
In their youth they were the same as you and me, they just made some bad decisions. That did not give anyone the right to kill them. 
      
Why is this case so special to you? 
Murder in Button Hollow, that’s what! We’d had some other strange activity go on in town, and something just didn’t sit right in my gut, you know what I mean? I know my town inside and out and I knew something unusual was going on. 
     
Did anything make these murders hard to solve? 
The Button Hollow Citizens’ Brigade made it damn hard to solve. 
      
Citizens’ Brigade? What’s that? 
Unfortunately, our town had established the Citizens’ Brigade which is a group of elderly residents that feel the need to stick their noses where they don’t belong and get involved in police business. Most of the time they get in my way and make my job more difficult,
which they definitely accomplished this time, but, I gotta admit they actually helped me solve the case. I gotta say that Button Hollow does produce some tough, upstanding citizens. 
      
How has this case affected your personal life? 
I hate to talk about my personal life but throughout this case my wife Sharon and I had been having some problems. We worked that all out now and hopefully things on the home front will remain calm. 
 
And the Brigade, is it still around? 
Yep. I conceded and let them stay together. After one of them willingly put their life on the line to help me prove that two of their neighbors were murdered what else could I do? So, they’re still around. Still annoying me and still getting in my way.

                
Thank you, Sheriff Ramsey. I hope that the Citizens’ Brigade helps you keep Button Hollow safe for all of your residents.



Loni Emmert lives in Southern California, works in entertainment, and loves to write murder mysteries. Button Hollow Chronicles #1: The Leaf Peeper Murders was released in August 2010. The Covered Bridge Murders, the second in the series is scheduled to be released soon. Button Hollow Chronicles #1: The Leaf Peeper Murders can be purchased through Amazon.com, Mainly Murder Press or the author’s website:  http://thewordmistresses.com.


 
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Meet Detectives Anthony Chapetti and Monte Carlson

7/15/2011

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Meet Detectives Anthony Chapetti and Monte Carlson

7/15/2011

2 Comments

 
 
from Jambalaya Justice by Holli Castillo  


We have with us today Anthony Chapetti, Shep to his friends, a detective in the Special Investigations Division in the Sixth District of the New Orleans Police Department.  For the last few years, he's worked homicides, except for a recent identity theft.
 
Also joining us is Detective Monte Carlson, also of the Sixth District SID.  While the other SID detectives focus primarily on homicides, Monte has an ear to the street and deals with narcotics, conducting undercover drug buys. 

Shep, tell us about this case.
This case was big because it involved the captain’s daughter, a prosecutor named Ryan Murphy, who also happens to be my girlfriend.  Someone was writing checks from the account of one of Ryan’s friends, another prosecutor who was presumed dead a few months ago. Everyone thinks the girl was murdered, but her body was never found,
complicating what might have been an ordinary NSF check case. While I don’t necessarily believe she’s still alive, I do know one hundred percent that dead people don’t write checks.  

Monte, what made the case so special? 
Dawg, they all pretty special.  At first, this one wasn’t nothing but me waiting around for some big-time dealer about to drop a bunch of Ecstasy.  The deal was going down at the Marquis de Sade, a club in a neighborhood where some hookers had been murdered, and the dealer kept putting me off.  This case got personal when Ryan showed up at the club, looking for somebody who might know a little something-something about the murders.  She was tight with one of the vics, and it had her kind of messed up.  Meanwhile, she’s keeping all this from Chapetti, which tells me things ain’t as great with the two of them as he might want folks to believe, especially me.  The truth is, if Ryan’s daddy, our captain, didn’t get a say in who she settles down with, she’d probably be with me.  But my light skin ain’t light enough for the captain, who can’t get past the fact that I’m black and not
Catholic. Captain’s strictly old school. Not that it stopped Ryan in the past. She’s been known to break a rule or two--when it suits her. 
 
What made the case hard to solve? 
Shep: There were a few things. I was always one step behind, and the information I was getting didn’t clear things up in the least. None of the store clerks could give me a solid identification either. But the biggest hindrance was I had to work with a partner, Nina, a woman I had an extremely brief relationship with--one night-- a long time ago, way before Ryan.  The D.A. and the captain thought it was a good idea for the two of us to work the case together.  Nina was a D.A. investigator in the economic crimes unit, and made my life difficult every step of the way on this investigation.  Plus I think she might have been hitting on me, trying to get back together.  And then there was the captain, who didn’t want Ryan knowing anything about the case.  I wasn’t comfortable lying to Ryan, but I have to follow Captain Murphy’s orders. I also had to keep working my regular homicides the whole time, which left me little time for anything else.  And people were talking about my late hours with Nina. When it looked like there was a chance Ryan could be in danger, I had to make a choice between what the captain wanted and what I thought was the right thing to do.  It didn’t go well.
 
Monte:  My dealer wouldn’t show.  I never met the dude up close and personal before, so I didn’t even know who to look for. Every dealer nowadays has a prepaid cell phone they text with, ‘cause they think it’s less likely they gonna be caught if they text about the deal
instead of meet face to face or talk on the phone. Then there was Ryan, all up in my grill at the club at night. She was cool and all and didn’t blow my cover, but I had to watch her back while I was trying to set up my deal and bust the dealer.  That girl’s a firecracker, and if somebody loses trouble, she’ll be the one to find it. And no way I was
letting anything bad happen to her. I’d kill my deal first.  And it ain’t because her daddy’s my boss.  I thought I had everything under control when just as my deal was about to go down, it all hit the fan and things went south like you wouldn’t believe.  
 
Did anyone else help you solve this case? 
Shep: Not really. Nina only slowed me down and made my job harder.  She was a political hire, and had no investigative experience, so she was constantly screwing things up.  Sometimes I think she messed up on purpose, just to spite me.  I think she would have sold her soul to the devil to solve the case before me, which was never going to happen.  It seemed most of the tips I got just led to more paperwork, and more trouble from Nina.  Give me a good gang or drug murder any day of the week.             
 
Monte:  I ain’t a big fan of relying on other po-po to do my job. Sometimes, decisions gotta be made that ain’t exactly in keeping with department policies, and I don’t need nobody looking over my shoulder when I’m in the decision-making process.  I did have backup outside, not my choice, and they just ended up getting in my way, stopping me from doing what I really wanted to do to my suspect when the time came.  Lucky for him.  I got a serious problem with anyone who gets his jollies hurting women. 
     
Shep, has this case affected your personal life in any way? 
Big time. Just when I thought the case was solved and the danger was over, my worst
fear came true.  By the end, there were more than a few dead bodies. Things aren’t going to be the same for a lot of people, including me.
 
What about you, Monte?  Has this affected your personal life? 
I’m ‘a have to pass on that one for now, dawg.  I guess we’ll see.  

Thank you, Shep and Monte, for being with us today. We wish you well with your cases and hope you can keep Ryan from finding any more trouble.

 
Holli Castillo is an appellate public defender and former New Orleans prosecutor. Jambalaya Justice, the second in the Crescent City Mystery series, is scheduled for release July, 2011 by Oak Tree Press.  For more information or to contact her, please visit www.hollicastillo.com, www.gumbojustice.net, or www.jambalayajustice.com.  


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An Interview with Detective Rick Martinez

7/2/2011

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from Lights! Camera! Murder! by Loni  Emmert


We’re speaking with Det. Rick Martinez  of the Los Angeles Police Department. Rick joined the LAPD twenty years ago, spending ten of those years in a patrol car, four of them in vice busting hookers and johns on the infamous Sunset Strip, and the last six tackling murders in homicide. 
 
Det. Martinez, tell us about this case.
This was a very high profile case involving the murder of a star from a daytime soap opera, Lovers’ Lane. Everyone from the show was a suspect: the director, other actors, even some of the crew members. The media loved that celebrities were involved and reporters were all over the crime scene. The pressure coming down on the department was pretty intense as the studio execs where the production was filmed and the producers of the show wanted the murder solved fast even though the crime was making the formerly low ratings shoot through the roof. Because of the media coverage surrounding the case my job seemed to be on the line every day. 

But working in Los Angeles, especially Hollywood, you must see a lot of cases that involve celebrities. 
Not really. Most of the homicide cases that I have investigated are the same that you’d find in any large city. Gang killings, domestic violence that goes too far, plenty with money as a motive but not in large amounts like you’d probably guess. Often someone will kill for just a few dollars. 
 
Was there anything that made this particular case hard to solve? 
The murder of Dirk Saunders became difficult to solve due to the sizable amount of potential suspects. Plus, he was bludgeoned to death which pretty much told me that it was a very personal and emotionally driven crime but that didn’t narrow down the suspects. There had been a lot of pressure on my supervisors for a resolution from high-powered, wealthy people which put my investigation in the spotlight. Also, this was a difficult case because of constant threats on the lives of other individuals surrounding the victim and television show. A second murder occurred, as well as several attempted murders. 
 
Did anyone outside of the police department help you solve this case? 
Yes. The primary person of interest who at first seemed to be my best suspect, Abigail Whitefeather, was instrumental in solving the case. Abigail had been on a date with Dirk Saunders the night he was killed so being the last person, besides the killer, to see Saunders alive put her at the top of my list as someone to interrogate. She had also been  working on the set of the show and had a lot of access to the cast and crew. Several of the people involved in with Lovers’ Lane wanted Dirk dead and out of their way. Abigail used opportunities to find out what was going on behind the scenes and acquired information that proved crucial to solving the case, though I must say that I do not condone citizens becoming involved in police investigations.
 
Has this case affected your personal life in any way? 
Yes, and that also made the case more difficult. During the investigation it became clear that I was developing feelings for Abigail, which brought me uncomfortably close to not
only a possible suspect but also to someone whose life was in danger. Once I realized that we could be headed toward a more intimate relationship it obviously became clear to my supervisors and I was taken off of the case.  
 
Sounds like you have a problem separating your personal life from your work. 
Trust me, this is the only time that something like this has happened in my career. I tried hard not to let my feelings for Abigail taint my judgment. And nothing really happened between us until after the case was turned over to the D.A.  Everything was kept at a professional level.
 
Thank you Detective Martinez. We’ll keep a lookout for any other high profile Hollywood cases that Abigail may get you involved in.

 
Loni Emmert lives in Southern California, works in entertainment, and loves to write murder mysteries.  Lights! Camera! Murder! was released in October 2010. It is the second cozy mystery written by Loni Emmert.  It is the first in the Abigail Whitefeather Mysteries and explains how Abigail finds herself alone at forty and moves to Hollywood to follow a long-forgotten dream: become an actress. Lights! Camera! Murder! can be purchased through Amazon.com, Hilliard & Harris, or the author’s website: 
http://thewordmistresses.com


 
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