Today
we sit down for a chat with Letty Valdez, PI from mystery author CJ Shane’s
Letty Valdez Mysteries.
What was your life like
before your author started pulling your strings?
Shane doesn’t pull my strings. I took over almost
immediately and she writes down what I think and say and what happens to me.
Shane thinks she’s a medium. I think Shane is a little bit nuts. But maybe
that’s the way artists are. Who knows? I’m a PI, not an artist.
What’s the
one trait you like most about yourself?
I’m good at my investigative work and I make money
from my work. That means I can provide some financial support for my brothers
and sister and for my grandmother who still lives on the Tohono O’odham
Reservation west of Tucson. I must mention, though, that other people have told
me my best traits are my smarts and my courage.
What do you
like least about yourself?
I don’t know how to deal with the terrible things
that happened to me when I was a medic in Iraq. I still have these nightmares
about the war. My uncle thinks that I have PTSD. I decided to suck it up and
keep on going.
What is the
strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?
The strangest thing is that I rescued a dog that had
been dumped in the desert and then the dog, Millie, rescued my brother Will.
Also, I never expected to be working with a Chinese cop sent to Tucson by
Interpol.
Do you
argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
I tend to be a little shy and too humble about my
abilities. Shane likes me a lot. She writes down all the nice things that
people say about me. I get embarrassed. Shane thinks I’m humble because
I’m a six-feet-tall, dark-skinned Chicana-Native American who grew up poor and,
as a consequence, I don’t realize how terrific I am. Whatever.
What is
your greatest fear?
Having someone I love go into a war zone or having
the bad guys go after someone I love are my greatest fears.
What makes
you happy?
I like spending time with my friends. Hearing the laughter of those I love makes me happy,
especially my goofy brother Will who is eighteen years old. I like my dogs
Millie and Teddy. I like it that Teddy, my black lab, will find this man up in
a tree in my next book, Dragon's Revenge. The man is really charming and good looking. I keep
thinking about him.
If you
could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
I’ve come to the conclusion that it is what it is. We
just have to deal with life the way it is and just do our best.
Of the other characters in
your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
I don’t like the bad guys who try to push me
around. They piss me off. I have a lot of martial arts training and I’m willing
to use my skills. I’ll break their bones!
Of the other characters in
your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?
Seri the librarian is the one I’d like to trade
places with. She is around books and book readers all day. She deals with
ideas, not greedy or mean people with guns. I think it would be really nice to
work in a university library.
Tell us a little something
about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?
My author, C.J. Shane, is a visual artist and a
writer. When she was in the third grade, the school librarian gave her a Nancy
Drew book to read. She’s been a mystery fan ever since. She’s worked as a
newspaper journalist and a librarian like Seri. She’s traveled a lot and she’s
lived and worked in China and Mexico. She’s written several nonfiction books. One
day this idea came to here to write a mystery novel about a Mexican-American/Native-American
private investigator working in the Borderlands. That’s me. Her website is: www.cjshane.com
What's next for you?
In Dragon’s Revenge (coming in November
2018), Seri the librarian and I find a memoir that tells the story of two
immigrants, one Chinese and one Italian, who fall in love with each other in
Arizona Territory in the 1890s. The memoir has a big clue that will help me
solve a murder mystery that happens in contemporary Tucson. Then there’s
another book coming after that. It doesn't have a title yet, and Shane doesn't want me to talk about it. I'll just say that is has something to do with a crime involving money and also that man in the tree I mentioned earlier.
Desert Jade
A Letty
Valdez Mystery
Tucson private investigator and Iraq War veteran
Letty Valdez joins forces with an unlikely ally, Chinese police Detective
Inspector Zhou Liang Wei, in Desert Jade, a fast-paced mystery-suspense
thriller set in the Sonoran Desert.
We meet a migrant lost and out of water in the
desert, Chinese triad gangsters engaged in criminal activities on the
U.S.-Mexico border, a woman murdered in her backyard, a husband who vanished
with a large sum of money, and three abducted young women threatened with sex
trafficking.
There's a touch of romance, too, when cop Zhou
first meets one of Letty's friends. Don't forget Milagro (aka Millie), the runt-sized
female pit bull who performs a heroic act and saves a life.
Buy Links
4 comments:
Cool book title. Did Letty come up with it? Or the book's author?
Well...neither one, really. You can blame Zhou for the title. He became infatuated with Jade Lopez when she fell off the ladder and he caught her in his arms. The feeling of infatuation was mutual from the beginning. Jade is a precious stone that we typically associate with China. But Zhou found his precious Jade in the Sonoran Desert. He's the one who suggested the title. Letty thinks they are really sweet together and she approves of their romance. Btw, Zhou is a Chinese name that sounds like "Joe."
What were you like as a little girl? Who inspired you most?
Hi Valerina, I was very shy as a little girl. Everyone thinks I'm really tough but I am actually still rather shy. When I was little, I mostly lived with my grandmother on the reservation. She was very loving and very quiet and I was quiet, too. Sometimes when we visited my dad's Mexican-American family in Tucson, I became even quieter. That's because the Valdez family was noisy and there were so many of them. They loved music! Mariachi especially. They liked to dance cumbia and sing those canciones. They were very affectionate. I learned Spanish from them, too. My grandmother – mi abuela - gave me kisses and good things to eat. As far as inspiration, I think maybe my teachers and the school librarian inspired me. They were kind to me and gave me good stories to read which gave me big ideas. Shane says to tell you that you have an especially beautiful name, Valerina Quintana
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