ly after the court mediation as a self-
therapy, sitting down at her laptop in
an attempt to release some of her neg-
ativity. She wrote and wrote and
wrote, creating characters, birthing
and dying them, torturing and
redeeming them. At first the book was
literal, Garcia said, but it morphed and
grew and turned into the story it is
today. Eventually, in 2012, One Bloody
Shirt at a Time: A Deputy Ricos Tale
emerged from the ashes of Garcia’s
psyche onto bound paper with a cover
of Bee Mountain at dusk. “Through
that process, I was able to move on and
find forgiveness,” Garcia said.
Now, eight books and two awards
later*, Garcia still “gets away from it
all” by writing.
Diagnosed with an illness in her
thirties, it began affecting her a couple
of decades later. “I’m so grateful that I
an offshoot of The Reluctant
Cowboy, an earlier book
not based on Ricos. There
are five chapters, which at
the moment, exist without
a plot. “I’m just having fun
with the characters,” she
said. “I want to mess with
them, and they want to be
written
about.”
Sometimes her characters
get stuck and she has to set
them aside for a while.
Recently one of her char-
acters was stuck in
Monterrey, so Garcia left
her there for a while until
the way out was clear. At
other times, her dramatis
personae talk to her. “I
can hear them talking, and
sometimes I have trouble
sleeping at night. They do
come alive and shape the
story,” Garcia said. For
example, in Raw Deal, her
latest book, a skeleton of a
woman who disappeared
from a Chili Cook-Off 21
years ago is found, open-
ing a cold case. Garcia had
the murder pinned on one
character, but Ricos said
the killer was someone
else, not the one Beth had
in mind. This advice
ended the book the best
way possible. “It’s the
most fabulous feeling ever,
when I’m in the zone,”
photo courtesy of Rani Birchfield
Garcia said.
A self-proclaimed pro-
found writing; I don’t know how it
crastinator and an avid crossword puz-
would go if I didn’t write. It’s so great
zle addict, Garcia says she tries to write
to have the experience; writing allows
a little every day but has no set page
me to do all the things I can no longer
goal or time block to meet. “Since it’s
do, so I have great fun with it.
something I truly enjoy, I don’t have to
Sometimes I worry as the plots are
set a schedule,” she said. Sometimes
kind of way out there, pushing the
she just writes a little, but other times,
envelope of believability, but it’s so
she’s so into her created universe, she
fun,” she said.
sits for hours and hours, not getting up
Garcia is currently working on three
to eat or even for a bathroom break.
more novels. One is a Deputy Ricos,
The writing life isn’t all fun and
her most popular character. “I have
other worlds. One must travel back
lots of books in my head, but people
and forth between them on a regular
love Deputy Ricos,” she said.
basis for balance and forward progress,
Originally based on Garcia’s daughter,
at least in terms of getting a book com-
a helper in a time of need, Ricos
pleted. In the writing of Raw Deal,
evolved into her own person, thankful-
Garcia said she had some tough
ly for the mother-daughter relation-
months, which dragged on for over a
ship. Garcia is close to her daughter,
year. She didn’t feel well enough to
but that may have stretched the bonds
write and the story languished in the
a bit, Garcia said.
halls of her computer for long periods
Another of the works in progress is
of time. When she went back to it,
she’d have to reread everything all
over again. On the good days, howev-
er, Garcia loves when she’s “just in it.”
Her fan base is mostly right here in
the Big Bend region, but it is spreading
by word of mouth and through books
left in local AirBnBs for guests. She
sees an occasional sale from Spain or
Australia, gets emails from Alaska, and
has two fans in Ireland. “It’s hilarious
to me to be treated like I’m famous and
popular. I love it, I have to say,”
Garcia said.
One of Garcia's biggest fans is local
rancher Jean Larremore. Larremore
reads all Garcia’s books the minute
they come out, while her husband taps
his foot nearby, bugging her to hurry
so he can read it next. “My husband
only reads Westerns; he doesn’t read
mysteries, but he loves these,” Raines
said. She buys Garcia’s books and
ships them all over the United States to
friends and family, further spreading
the tales woven by the former river
runner.
Along with a growing fan base,
Garcia now has a full-time companion,
a sidekick who (literally) assists on her
desk. His name is Biggie, and he’s liv-
ing out the latter of his nine lives with
Garcia. Biggie is catching on quick;
within a week, Biggie was found cud-
dling the proof copy of “Raw Deal.”
As far as the Terlingua Youth Club
and the great and terrible happenings
of that time, Garcia says she has no
regrets. “It was the best thing I ever did
– I’m damned proud of it. Kids have
come up to me over the years and say
they went to college because of their
experience, or done a music program
or achieved a scholarship.” They tell
her she taught them about goal setting
and how to get there. And now the
books, the worlds she’s created…
Garcia had no idea she had it in her.
And that Deputy Ricos – who says
helpers on the journey have to exist in
this realm? “I’m so happy that so many
people read my books,” Garcia said.
“They give me so much love; it’s so
amazing. A lot of the love is aimed at
Deputy Ricos but it comes to me – I
feel all the love for my deputy.”
* One Bloody Shirt at a Time won
“Best Crime Novel of the Year” from the
Texas Authors Association for 2013, and
Border Ghosts won in 2015. The Trail
of a Rattler was selected as the best Crime /
Mystery novel in the Texas Authors, Inc. con-
test in 2017. Gracia is a Big Bend Winner.
Her books are available at Front Street Books
in Alpine, and at her website.
Cenizo
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