Bruce Borgos
Shades of Mercy
In the tradition of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box, Bruce Borgos’s The Bitter Past begins a compelling series set in the high desert of Nevada featuring Sheriff Porter Beck…
Shades of Mercy has been named a Dossier Book of the Year for 2024
The Writer’s Dossier – The Bruce Borgos interview
A Dossier update 7/16/2024
I was listening to Bruce Borgos doing an interview for THE BITTER PAST on the ThrillerZone podcast with David Temple when I told myself, “I have to talk with this guy!” I remember, I was cutting the grass, and after Temple described Borgos’ protagonist Sheriff Porter Beck, I stopped the mower and downloaded the audiobook right then.
Since meeting Bruce at Bouchercon a few months later, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed keeping in touch with him. SHADES OF MERCY is another banger of a book, and Porter Beck is a perfect hero once again. I’m thrilled to have Bruce in The Dossier and look forward to anything he decides to write. Here are two new questions he was kind enough to answer.
Bruce was also kind enough to send me a copy of his new book, and I can tell you that it does NOT disappoint! Sheriff Porter Beck is your new hero.
Traditional vs self-publishing
DOSSIER: Before THE BITTER PAST came out, you’d already self-published LIFE STRINGS and HOLDING FIRE (2016 & 2018). What was the change that took place when you launched your Sheriff Porter Beck series to make it the hit that it is today?
BORGOS: I think the main factor here was moving from self-publishing to traditional. It’s such a big leap and one I was confident I was ready for. Those first two novels showed me I could be successful as a novelist. I decided just after LIFE STRINGS that my next was going through a traditional publisher. Now that’s easier said than done, so I took the time to study up on how to acquire a literary agent and how to professionally prepare a manuscript. Once my agent sold THE BITTER PAST, there was a world of difference – a quality marketing and editing staff, and targeted publicity designed to get the book “out there” in all the right places. None of that would have happened if I’d chosen to self-publish again. Getting your foot in the door at a traditional publisher can be very, very tough. I think we all know that. But it’s SO worth it!
Borgos on that “snappy repartee”
DOSSIER: With the release of SHADES OF MERCY, your second Porter Beck novel, can we look forward to more of that clever/snarky inner dialogue from Nevada’s coolest sheriff? Are you expecting any complaints about his cavalier approach to life this time around?
BORGOS: Oh, yes! We’re going to get a lot more snappy repartee and inner dialogue from the good sheriff. He really is a “wit-storm,” and while he occasionally muses on people or circumstances in a less-than-politically-correct way, he’s a stand-up guy. I get tons of praise from readers about Beck and how much they like him, so I won’t be toning him down any time soon. I’m not going to please everybody. I don’t set out to do that. But I do my best to create characters that my readers will care about and root for.
Bruce Borgos’ first Dossier. Obtained and released on 8/9/2023
Finding Russians
DOSSIER: A Russian assassin in the Nevada desert? How do those two things come together for THE BITTER PAST? Are you the Russian they’re seeking?
BORGOS: A Russian assassin and the Nevada desert might seem like two things that don’t belong together, but consider that for at least ten years (the 1950s) and probably beyond that, the Soviets were working to find out everything they could about the U.S. nuclear program. It wasn’t just the Manhattan Project and Los Alamos. I simply imagined a scenario in which a single spy managed to compromise the Nevada Test Site and stayed behind after his mission expired. Upon learning he may still be alive sixty years later, the current Russian government dispatches assassins to find him.
The BIG book blurb
DOSSIER: We all want to know exactly what kind of bribery and/or favors were involved in getting the Craig Johnson quote (of Longmire fame) on the cover of your book.
BORGOS: You’d have to ask my wonderful literary agent, Janet Reid, who emailed me one day to say Craig Johnson really liked my book. She’s a notorious prankster, so I was absolutely sure she was joking. I mean, there was no way Craig Johnson would have the time or the inclination to read my novel, right??? But it was true. As to what she had to give him, who knows? She is the Query Shark so it’s possible she threatened to bite him!
Any writing environment works
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Music/silence/closet?)
BORGOS: I do most of my writing from home or our cabin in the mountains of southern Utah, but I can do it in a school. I can do it a pool. I can do it here or there. I can do it…:) Sometimes I turn on a good movie soundtrack or have my playlist going full blast to give me the necessary emotional boost I need for a particular part of the story, but silence works just as well.
That guy, Porter Beck
DOSSIER: Sheriff Porter Beck in THE BITTER PAST has an amazing inner dialogue, especially with his potential for romance. Is your inner dialogue as clever or effective?
BORGOS: Where do you think he got it??? It’s a great question, though. Some of the reviews I’ve received from women (a small percentage) have been slightly negative toward our friend, Porter Beck. But as you mention, his thoughts about the main female character in the book are just that. Thoughts. Inner dialogue. And he’s a man, unmarried and looking for a relationship. Everything romantic in the book is entirely consensual. And fun!
Shades of Mercy! In the usually quiet high desert of Nevada, Sheriff Porter Beck faces one of his greatest challenges―a series of unlikely, disturbing and increasingly deadly events of unknown origins.
DOSSIER: You have two earlier self-published books, and THE BITTER PAST is your first traditional. You’re really on to something. What’s next for Porter Beck?
BORGOS: Shades of Mercy, the second Porter Beck mystery, should be out sometime in 2024. Porter stumbles into a deadly conflict that involves an old friend, a Mexican drug cartel, and a sixteen year old girl named Mercy Vaughn, who is not at all what she appears to be. I can’t wait to see the cover for this one!
Get to know Bruce at: Bruce Borgos | X | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon Author Page