Katherine Nichols's new book is Deep Water: From the Swim Team to Drug Smuggling.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: Why did you decide to write about the Coronado Company [a drug cartel that originated in Coronado, California, in the 1970s], and what did you discover in the course of your work on the book that especially surprised you?--Marshal Zeringue
A: Hearing tales of the Company was an inevitable part of growing up in Coronado, which inspired me to use the premise and create a fictionalized account. Based on that manuscript, Simon & Schuster offered me a contract for the nonfiction book. I did not expect to appreciate going beyond the criminal records of these multi-faceted men, and really trying to know them as human beings.
Q: How did you research the book, and were the participants usually willing to speak with you?
A: The research was difficult and elusive, so I tried to approach it in a structured manner by first obtaining archived court records. This required...[read on]