Blood in the desert Young pregnant women murdered at the border, their babies cut out alive Private eye Rico Morgan and his Mexican pal Mole look into the murders and suddenly become targets for killers. What do they know that puts them at risk? Rico's girlfriend Sally, a concert violinist and secret government agent, finds deadly danger on her concert tour in England. A half-naked girl on the highway is gunning for Rico...or is she? What are those Chinese scientists doing in Germany, and what's that nasty blue liquid? Can a Mexican drug lord help Rico and his friends? An Interview with Ray Ordorica:
How long did it take you to write this?
I wrote parts of it ten years ago. For a long time I wanted to get my fiction published, but first I had to do my job as Senior Editor for DBI Books, and contracted testing for a gun magazine to pay the bills. When my first book, The Alaskan Retreater's Notebook, came out the publisher expressed a strong interest in Border Caper, so I got it done. Then I found out about self-publishing on Amazon, looked into it, and it makes more sense to me than old-fashioned publishing. Amazon offers more benefits and far more control than conventional publishing, so here it is.
Er...the names Where'd you get the idea for those odd names?
Chester Gould, creator of Dick Tracy, used many odd names over the years: Rhodent, B.O. Plenty, Sam Catchem, E. Kent Hardly, and others. Even though Dick Tracy was a comic strip the action was sometimes deadly, bullets flyin'. By copying Gould's idea I could be fairly sure I wasn't using anyone's real name. Don't forget Pussy Galore, Holly Goodhead, Plenty O'Toole, Yurasis Dragon, and many others. Hence my extra disclaimer at the front of the book.
You mention some big numbers for drugs coming in to the U.S. Are they real?
Sadly, yes. The volume of drugs coming into the U.S. is staggering, as are the methods and personnel who bring it in. The mules are not always illegal border-crossers. 'Nuf sed.
What about Mexicans walking into the U.S. across the border in New Mexico?
Back a few years ago we used to hunt birds in the desert outside of Las Cruces near the border. It was common for us to offer water to the great many Mexicans who simply walked in across the desert. I'm sure that has not stopped.
You don't spend a lot of pages on descriptions of clothes, food and the like.
Some notable authors fill their books with page after page of what the scenes looked like, details of clothing colors, stripes, styles, types of haircuts, shoes, even the shoes' decorations. They describe what they had for dinner and even how they cooked it. I don't think my readers care a whole lot about what the people wore or what they ate, much less how they cooked it. That's nothing but filler material. By way of a good example, the Harry Potter books are entirely without filler and dead pages. J.K. Rowling knows her stuff. Like her, I prefer to stick to telling the story and keep the action content up.
Without giving away any secrets, what about the advanced research discussed?
The U.S., Russia, China, and undoubtedly other nations are in fact digging deep into the kinds of research mentioned in the book. Someday it'll help us all. Also, a new design of Mexican portable toilets is indeed in the news. Scary, eh?
How'd you come up with the name Rico Morgan?
As a kid I read many stories about the pirate Henry Morgan. I guess the name stuck with me, so my hero became Ricardo Henry Morgan, his first name making him somewhat more cosmopolitan.
What's next?
Rico Morgan Books 2 & 3, CARACAS CAPER and CASABLANCA CAPER, are out now. Rico's going to San Francisco in Book 4. Stay tuned.