{"id":1178,"date":"2018-08-21T12:33:38","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T12:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/?p=1178"},"modified":"2018-08-21T12:33:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T12:33:38","slug":"back-story-happened-craig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/back-story-happened-craig\/","title":{"rendered":"Back Story: “What Happened in Craig”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The plan for “What Happened in Craig” was set in motion in early 1992, just after “Butcher, Baker” was published. In fact, Walter Gilmour and I pitched it to NAL\/Dutton after our too-fun-for-reality appearance on the Sally Jessy Raphael<\/a> show. Which, by the way, was an unmitigated disaster. [Another story for another time.]<\/p>\n

At lunch with our editor, Michaela Hamilton, I recounted the broad arc of the story: a mass murder on a fishing boat in the remote village of Craig, Alaska. A place so undeveloped that the only way to get there was by float plane or boat (there was a ferry from Ketchikan, of course, and roads too, but like most villages in southeast Alaska, the roads go practically nowhere).<\/p>\n

\"Happened\"
\nPhoto courtesy U.S. Corps of Engineers<\/em><\/p>\n

The crime first revealed itself as a fishing boat on fire. Initial thoughts were that someone had a bad season and had torched the vessel for insurance money. And then things turned grim. It wasn’t just a fire on board the fishing boat known as the “Investor.” There were bodies. Several bodies. Four bodies, to be precise. What started as a suspected arson quickly became a homicide investigation.<\/p>\n

As those first bodies were brought to shore, there were intimations of a crazed crewman gone off the deep end. Others thought it had to be a professional hit. Cocaine was mentioned. And, really, with a crime so heinous, the imagination quickly outran itself. Craig suddenly turned into the world’s greatest rumor mill.<\/p>\n

Ms. Hamilton was intrigued by all this, but she waved me off, determined that Gilmour and I be completely indoctrinated into her true crime mantra:<\/p>\n

“True Crime has to be about a high body count, or someone rich and famous,” she insisted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Butcher, Baker” surely qualified. So, too, did “What Happened in Craig.” We were off to the races. Little did we know that this book would lead Walter and I to different places. Our partnership suffered, then broke. As always, it was “Butcher, Baker” that brought us back together.<\/p>\n

But this author couldn’t let go of the story of Craig, Alaska, and the “The Investor.” Some stories are like that.<\/p>\n

Copyright Leland E. Hale (2018). All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

\n

Order “What Happened In Craig<\/strong>,” HERE<\/strong><\/a> and HERE<\/strong><\/a>, true crime on Epicenter Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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