Interview: January 9, 2025
DEADLY REDEMPTION is the 10th and latest entry in Warren C. Easley’s mystery series featuring small-town lawyer Cal Claxton. According to Jeffrey Siger, the internationally bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series, the book has “a never-saw-it-coming ending resolving long-haunting memories and guilt. It’s a not-to-be-missed work of literary art.” In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House, Easley talks about why he changed settings for this installment, how he developed Cal’s backstory, the benefits and drawbacks of editing his own work, and the feedback he has received from readers.
Question: In sending Cal Claxton back to Los Angeles for the case that propels DEADLY REDEMPTION, you’ve uprooted him from the Oregon setting that has been his calling card since the series debuted nine books ago. What inspired you to employ this dramatic change in setting?
Warren C. Easley: You're right to note that the Oregon setting is a popular character in the Claxton series, so I did worry that some of my readers, particularly those in the Northwest, would be put off by a book set in L.A. However, the plot concept dictating the change in scene was so utterly compelling that I decided it was well worth the risk.
And although Cal finds himself back in the city he left 13 years earlier, I made sure that plenty of Oregon scenery --- it was spring in the wine country --- found its way into the book by way of descriptions in passing from his friends and associates.
Q: Being a resident of Oregon yourself, writing a novel with Los Angeles as the story’s location must have posed some challenges. Did you have to conduct any special research to carry off the L.A. setting?
WCE: Full disclosure: I was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, just northeast of L.A., so I have a pretty good handle on the locale. As an avid surfer back then, I spent a lot of time on the coast, so I put Cal and his Australian shepherd, Archie, in an Airbnb in Santa Monica. Cal doesn't learn to surf, but he and Arch spend time jogging on the beach and watching the surfing.
My impression of L.A. now compared to when I lived in SoCal is that, although the mild weather and casual lifestyle are still pluses, a lot of the drawbacks have intensified. The traffic, once a nuisance, is now white-knuckling. As one of the characters in my book put it, “L.A. is like an anthill on steroids.”
Skid Row, the notoriously blighted, 50-square-block area in the center of L.A., plays a key role in the story. I had only a vague impression of the scene, which, of course, has changed immensely since I left California. Fortunately, someone had driven around Skid Row with a camera and posted a video online. The raw, unedited, unnarrated video is over an hour long and very moving. I watched it several times before I felt competent enough to describe Skid Row in the book.
Q: Twelve years ago, when you were just launching the first Cal Claxton book, could you have envisioned yourself guiding Cal through 10 entire novels? That’s a milestone that many mystery series never reach.
WCE: I'm deeply gratified that there are now 10 Cal Claxton books out there and thankful for the reception they've received. Like most writers, my goal at the outset was to get my first book, MATTERS OF DOUBT, published. It turned out that I was offered a three-book contract, so I knew there would be at least three books in the series. Once I finished that first book, Cal, Archie, private eye Hernando Mendoza and accountant Gertie Johnson had taken up permanent residence in my head!
I've been advised that long-running series can become a bit top-heavy, but I'm still flush with new ideas for Cal and the gang, and life in the Oregon wine country is as alluring as ever.
Q: The storyline of DEADLY REDEMPTION reveals aspects of Cal’s past that haven’t been known to your readers. Have you always had that information about Cal’s backstory in mind, or did these ideas come to you more recently?
WCE: The main backstory for the first nine books in the series was with me from the beginning. Cal Claxton, once a hard-charging, take-no-prisoners prosecutor for the city of L.A., moves to Oregon in the aftermath of his wife's suicide. He finds refuge in an old farmhouse in the wine country and opens a one-man law practice. Carrying guilt for missing the signs of his wife's depression, he's a changed man, drawn now to the defense of the less fortunate among us.
But there was always a niggling thought in my head that there was more to the story that needed to be told. The idea for book #10 hit me like the proverbial Newton's apple, and it meant Cal would return to L.A. in order to right a wrong and confront the ghosts of his past. I was so excited by the concept that I wrote the first three chapters in one sitting, and they remained unchanged throughout the book's production. I had a clear vision of the ending, too, but I couldn't figure out how to get there.
Finally, the path through the labyrinth I’d created occurred to me one morning last August, and I wrote steadily for about three weeks until I finished the manuscript. There aren’t too many better feelings than having completed the first draft of a novel!
Q: Do you now function as your own editor on these books? If so, what is the single biggest element you miss that an outside editor provided? And what do you see as the biggest gain in going solo?
WCE: My editor for books one through eight was Barbara Peters at Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks. I couldn't have asked for a better editor. After book #8, Sourcebooks and I parted company, and I decided to publish book #9, FATAL FLAW, on my own. I found an excellent graphic designer and used IngramSpark as publisher/distributor. The process was efficient and seamless, and I found the experience highly satisfying in that I controlled all aspects of the production and advertising.
I do miss having a pro like Barbara advising me, but I compensate by having a bevy of first readers, a great critique group that I've been a member of for 14 years, and my wife, Marge, who helps immeasurably with final line and content editing. When I finish a manuscript, we sit together at a big screen and edit line by line, paragraph by paragraph, page by page. I don't recommend this unless you have a strong marriage!
Q: What is the single best piece of feedback you ever received from a reader?
WCE: I value all the feedback I get, positive or negative! And I’m particularly interested in comments from lawyers and cops, because I know full well that I’m playing in their sandbox. I’m a scientist by training with no real legal or law enforcement experience, so I’ve had to rely on the help of friends as well as research. This is a favorite that just came in the other day from a retired cop:
“I just finished MATTERS OF DOUBT and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I absolutely loved the fact that Cal wasn’t some ready-to-fight martial arts expert in his off time, but that he was just a guy who could hold his own. Also, as a retired cop from an area with a lot of homeless, I really identified with the problems presented to them in this novel. Thank you.”
