Lincoln County holds mystery for Nevada author

Bruce Borgos’ latest Nevada-based novel has all the fixings for a good story — murder, drugs, hackers, cartels and a sprinkle of foreign espionage.

The Nevada-raised mystery writer embarked on a book tour this past week for his new tale “Shades of Mercy” with his first stop at Copper Cat Books in Henderson. Borgos, 64, is spending the next three to four weeks traveling through the Southwest sharing breadcrumbs from the second installment to his four-part series, which started with 2023’s “The Bitter Past.”

“Shades of Mercy” follows a Lincoln County sheriff as he faces one of his biggest challenges yet.

Borgos talked to us about his writing process, why he based the series in rural Nevada and what to expect from his new novel. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Las Vegas Review-Journal: How did you get into writing?

Bruce Borgos: It was something I always wanted to do. I had very good English teachers that really inspired me to love the English language. And while I didn’t immediately act on that — it took me a few decades to jump back into writing after doing a normal job and having a normal career — but it was something I wanted to do, and I always thought I could do. So, finally, when I was in my 50s, I started to seriously pay attention to storytelling and diving into how to become a writer. … I’m just somebody who loves to sit down and do nothing but create a completely fictitious world.

What was the catalyst that made you want to write full time? As I got into my 50s, I had this nagging feeling. I read a lot of books, and I love reading, and I always thought, ‘Gosh, I think I could do this. I could crank something like this out.’ So that’s when I started to get serious about it and decided to give it a try.

Why are you drawn to mysteries and thrillers? I’ve always loved thrillers and mysteries and historical thrillers as well. So, it kind of just came to me naturally.

Is there any genre you have no interest in writing? I have absolutely no interest in writing romance fiction, because I would be no good at it. It’s probably very hard to write that stuff. I struggle with writing sex scenes into my books, but it’s a necessary part of storytelling, but I’d probably be horrible at that.

What inspired you to write books based in Nevada?

The first novel that I wrote is about Nevada, and it’s based on some real things that have happened in Nevada. My second book takes place, primarily, in Africa in South Sudan, in the middle of their civil war. So, I wasn’t glued to Nevada. I didn’t feel like I had to write about Nevada, but our history here in Nevada, especially our atomic history, was always fascinating to me. I knew that I didn’t want to write a nonfiction book about our atomic history, because there are plenty of those good history books out there, but it always fascinated me.

Can you walk me through your writing process?

I am a plotter. I sit down when I get an idea for a story, and I start just throwing paint up on the wall to see what sticks and what it looks like. Then I get into a very detailed outline of the story, and I map out all my characters, give them some life and some biography and some past and little quirks here and there. I get everything in a row. After all of that’s done, and that typically takes me a couple of months, then I get through my research for that story. It’s usually about six months before I can actually start writing anything. Then most of that comes pretty easily to me when I start actually writing chapters because I’ve done a pretty good job, normally, of planning out every single thing that’s going to happen in the book.

What’s the biggest challenge you face in the writing process?

It’s probably just making sure that all my major characters are unique, and that they are relatable. Even my bad guys in the story have something; they have some redeeming qualities. They are people that maybe you even want to root for to some extent. The biggest challenge is trying to make characters that people are going to find likable, easy to read and enjoy, and that takes a lot of work to do.

Where is “Shades of Mercy” going to take readers?

“Shades of Mercy” is a continuation of the series with the same major characters. It involves some more secretive stuff that goes on out in the desert. It starts with the sheriff trying to figure out why so much fentanyl is flowing into Lincoln County, and how it’s getting there through the dark web. Then there’s some pieces like remotely piloted aircraft that the Air Force is testing and that actually get hacked and hijacked over Lincoln County on the night of July Fourth, and that drone is used nefariously to do some things. So, there’s some high-tech hacking going on by somebody, and they have to find out who that hacker is. There’s also some Mexican drug cartels and the Chinese government.

What’s your favorite book?

It’s such a loaded question, God, because I have 1,000 I’d want to tell people. But I suppose if I had to go to a desert island, I could only have one book to read over and over, I think it would probably be “Catcher in the Rye.”

Contact Ella Thompson at ethompson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @elladeethompson on X.