Border Caper

Private eye Rico Morgan is hired to find out why pregnant women crossing from old Mexico into New Mexico are being killed, and why their babies are missing. Is it drug related? No sooner do Rico and his buddy Mole begin the investigation than they're attacked. The bullets keep on coming, but Rico's in the dark about why. What does he know that puts him, his friend Mole, and his violinist girlfriend Sally in mortal danger? Then the sexy CIA girl Roxy shows up, and things get tangled. They go to Mexico to set up a sting, but in the dark night in the desert things go horribly wrong. When Rico goes to England to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend the whole truth behind the Border Caper comes out.

An Interview with Ray Ordorica:

How long did it take you to write this?

It took several years of on-and-off work. I began the book some time ago, but because of my work as a professional editor I could not find time to complete it. When 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 liked it. Print-on-demand makes more sense than old-fashioned publishing, where you print a bunch of books, hope they sell, and the writer gets zip until they do. Amazon offers more benefits and more control than conventional publishing, so here it is. The second book in the Rico Morgan series was completed within four months, but the third book was delayed because of personal projects that kept me from writing.

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.

What about Mexicans walking into the U.S. across the border in New Mexico?

Back a few years ago my friends and I 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, types of clothing, colors, stripes, styles; types of haircut, shoes, even the shoes' decorations. They describe what they had for dinner and 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. 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 I'm sure other nations are 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 pirate Henry Morgan. The name stuck with me, so that's where Rico's name comes from. 'Ricardo' makes him somewhat more cosmopolitan.

What's next?

Rico's going to San Francisco.