James L’Etoile
Served Cold
When a cargo trailer packed with dead undocumented migrants is found abandoned in a freeway rest stop, Detective Nathan Parker soon discovers the dead wore identical clothing, were the same age, and weren’t destined for the fields.
The Writer’s Dossier 4/7/2025 – The James L’Etoile interview
DOSSIER: Even though you’ve been writing in two different series a year, you decided to forego basic things like sleep and jump into hosting podcast episodes for Authors on the Air. What is it about connecting with other authors, whether at conferences, social media, or podcasts, that help stimulate your energy to keep doing more?
L’ETOILE: Sleep is overrated. Maybe part of it is that I got a late start on the writing career after life in prison. Seriously though, one of the biggest surprises when I joined this community was the incredible support everyone offers. I didn’t expect that at all coming from a place where it was dog eat dog. I come away revitalized after a conference or a book event with my writer pals. The people I’ve met in the mystery and thriller community are the best. I particularly enjoy discovering some of the new voices coming into the scene. Our genre is in good hands for year to come. Connections with writing organizations like Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime help me keep plugged into that energy.
Very grateful
DOSSIER: Your crime novel, SERVED COLD, won the Lefty Award this year for Best Mystery, beating out books like ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS and CALIFORNIA BEAR by fellow Dossier members Rob Hart and Duane Swierczynski. Is this the kind of thing you imagined happening after working for twenty years in the criminal justice system?
L’ETOILE: Thanks very much. I don’t think of it as beating out great guys like Rob and Duane—or Margot Douhaiy, Claire Booth, or Leslie Kartz. They all wrote fantastic books this year and I’m thrilled to be listed alongside them. I’m very grateful and I have no idea what I might have said when accepting the award. And, never did I think I’d end up writing commercial fiction that people actually want to read. After I retired, I was sitting with my morning coffee, reading a book—and well—it was horrible. I might have uttered, “I can do better than this.” It was challenge accepted moment and it sent me down the path of learning how to do just that. Years later, I did meet that author at a Bouchercon and thanked them for their “inspiration” to help me become a published author.
In the Security Housing Unit
DOSSIER: Having a past relationship with prisons, where and when do you like to write? Do you have a 6×8 windowless room you use, or do you prefer something a little more airy and bright? (You might want to explain the prison reference!)
L’ETOILE: After 29 years behind bars (working there—not as an involuntary resident) you can’t help but have some of that stick with you. I guess the best way to describe my writing would be to compare it to living in a Security Housing Unit—you know the place where you go when you need extra structure, or can’t be trusted in general population. Solitary confinement. I write in the early morning hours before the rest of the cell block wakes up. The place I write might vary from my cell (office), the dayroom (my upstairs loft), or out on the yard with the other convicts (at the fire pit in the back yard with my corgis).
Sold out
DOSSIER: Your novel, FACE OF GREED, was so popular when it came out, almost all the printed copies had been sold during the pre-order stage. So, when you started doing events on your launch day, people weren’t even able to order it. How frustrating was that and how elated were you at the same time?
L’ETOILE: I was blown away that the first print run sold out within a month of release. The publisher used to put in a second print run. I had an event scheduled at Book Passage in Marin County and they couldn’t order books. The publisher and the distributor did a special printing and overnighted the books to the store. The event went off without a hitch. Incredible support from Oceanview and the distributor, IPG.
The next James L’Etoile book
DOSSIER: Is there anything else you’d like to reveal in your Dossier today? (We like headline-making breaking news and it gives our graphics department something to do other than play video games all day.)
L’ETOILE: The sequel to River of Lies came out in January and the publisher picked it up for a
third, titles Illusion of Truth (January 2026). The follow up to Served Cold drops in July 2025 and it’s titled Sins of the Father.
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