Someone Had to Lie: A New Mystery

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Someone Had to Lie: A New Mystery

Someone Had to Lie by Jack Luellen

Guest Post + Book Excerpt + Book & Author Info + a Giveaway!

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Someone Had to Lie
Someone Had to Lie by Jack Luellen

THE JAMES BUTLER MYSTERIES
Some cases never let you go.

Reeling from the sudden death of a close friend, James Butler and Erica Walsh are pulled back into the shadow world of Mexican cartels and the CIA. Seeking to avenge the murder of their friend with only his haphazard notes to guide them, they puzzle through the possible connections searching for anything concrete. As they investigate his murder, and his notes, they find unsettling links between drug trafficking, American gangs, the CIA, and the opioid epidemic.

Determined to find the truth hidden among cases they thought were long closed, Butler and Walsh call on friends and colleagues to help them survive the crosshairs that got their friend killed. With the threat spreading across more of their contacts, they must uncover the truth before they are buried in lies.

The James Butler mysteries from Jack Luellen seamlessly weave fact with fiction, introducing nonfiction material in the midst of fast-paced murder mysteries.

Praise for Someone Had to Lie:

“Jack Luellen crafts an intriguing tale, interwoven with proven facts about the deadliest drug in our society, Fentanyl. Someone Had to Lie takes the reader on an educational journey into the biggest cartels and Narcos in the world and provides a behind the scenes glimpse of cartel operations through his lead character James Butler. Gripping storytelling! A must read!”
~ Leo Silva, Author of Reign of Terror, Former DEA Supervisory Special Agent

Book Details:
Genre: Crime; Mystery
Published by: Torchflame Books
Publication Date: March 11, 2025
Number of Pages: 294
ISBN: 9781611533705 (ISBN10: 1611533708)
Series: The James Butler Mysteries, Book 2
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Torchflame Books

Someone Had to Lie
Guest Post by Jack Luellen

On February 7, 1985, DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena left the American Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico to go meet his wife for lunch. Before he could reach his truck parked across the street, Agent Camarena was abducted by assailants working for what later became known as the Guadalajara Cartel. Agent Camarena was then tortured, interrogated, and subsequently killed.

In 1990, I was a summer associate at a Los Angeles law firm and was assigned to work with a group of lawyers representing a defendant in a federal court criminal trial relating to Agent Camarena’s murder. Little did I know at the time, the case would consume a large part of the next decade and remain a part of my life for more than 30 years.

In around 2018, the Camarena case received renewed attention with the debut of the series Narcos: Mexico. As I watched the series, I started pulling out boxes of documents that I had moved with me for many years.

Ultimately, my research and some other publicity regarding the case led me to decide to write a non-fiction book on the case. As I began the process of writing the book, I realized the story was so compelling it warranted a larger audience than a nonfiction book might bring forth. At that point, I turned my nonfiction book into a creative nonfiction novel.

Starting the writing process with no experience or training, or really a good plan, I began to write Someone Had to Die and created the characters and scenes to tell the Camarena story and even more.

Unexpectedly, I fell in love with the creative process and found myself eager to write and consistently thinking about the characters and the plot. At the same time, I was committed to revealing facts and information I had gathered from years of research, investigation, and interviews. The scenes I write nearly always are rooted in real locations. By accident, I found a balance between factual accuracy and creative license.

Once Someone Had to Die was finished and in the publication process, I assumed my time as a writer would end. Instead, I found the characters I had created were living within me and provided a voice to share more of the Camarena case and tell more related stories.

Those characters compelled me to write a sequel, Someone Had to Lie. Building on the established themes and characters, I set out to examine the fentanyl crisis in America with a foundation in well-researched facts and a desire to provide a face paced narrative. Follow James Butler, an accomplished litigator, and Erica Walsh, his paralegal and wife, as they seek justice for their murdered friend and try to stay safe from a vortex of threats, including Mexican cartels, U.S. gangs, and even the CIA.

Read an excerpt from Someone Had to Lie:

“Is that music playing in your office? You never listen to music at work?”

“I do on rare occasions.”

“That’s Alice Merton. How are you even aware of her music?” Erica asks, gobsmacked.

“I’m not, but I met Detective Torres at a Starbucks this morning and it was playing, and I liked it. I asked a Gen Z barista who the artist was and played it when I got in,” James says.

“I’m in shock.”

“I’m evolving,” James says, his words interrupted by the playing of the Johnny Rivers hit “Secret Agent Man” from his cell phone. “Alexa, off. Tim, hi, thanks for calling back. Erica is here with some information to share.”

“Hi, Erica. What’s going on?” Tim says.

“After we left the jail today, I went back to the office to work, and a few minutes ago, Belmonte called me to tell me that the DEA had been quote, ‘Requested,’ end quote to refrain from investigating or prosecuting Javier and that Javier was being moved to a different facility. Belmonte said the directive apparently came from the DNI. He called me from a burner phone and suggested we keep the circle of information as small as possible,” Erica explains.

“Holy crap,” Tim says.

“Any idea who could have that kind of juice?” James asks.

“None in particular,” Tim says.

“You didn’t tell anyone about meeting Javier?” Erica asks.

“Of course not,” Tim replies.

“Then how did anyone—” Erica begins.

“I have no idea,” Tim interrupts.

“One thing seems certain,” James says. “Aguilar was spot on. It is bigger than we knew.”

***

Someone Had to Lie Author Jack Luellen

Jack Luellen is a Denver, Colorado, attorney with more than 30 years of experience. In practice, Jack has tried cases to courts and juries, and has written hundreds of briefs, motions, and memoranda, to state and federal courts, including federal courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court.

In 1990, Jack first started working on cases related to the 1985 kidnapping and murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena and has investigated the case in the years since that time. Jack’s investigations have taken him to foreign countries and included interviews with witnesses both notorious and infamous. This work has been the background to Jack’s upcoming novel Someone Had to Die.

Jack is the proud parent of an amazing daughter and is a weekend warrior on the tennis courts.

To learn more about Jack, click any of the following links:

LuellenWriting.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub
Instagram – @luellen_writing
Threads – @luellen_writing
X – @jack_luellen
Facebook – @Luellen Writing

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