James C. Wilson is Emeritus Professor of English and Journalism at the University of Cincinnati and a former journalist for two Santa Fe newspapers. He is also the author of more than twenty books, both fiction and nonfiction. His novel Dancing with Dennis Hopper’s Ghost (Sunstone Press, November 2025) is the newest installment in the Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mystery series set in northern New Mexico. Look for Jim on Facebook, and find his books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
In a few sentences, distill the story you tell in Dancing with Dennis Hopper’s Ghost.
Ghost-ridden and on his death bed, a professional assassin by the name of Jack Lacy arrives in Santa Fe and enlists his old Marine buddy Antonio Blake and former Santa Fe Police detective Fernando Lopez to help him obtain a burial site near his friend Dennis Hopper’s grave in Jesus Nazareno Cemetery outside Taos. Blake and Lopez take Lacy up to the haunted Mabel Lodge Luhan House in Taos and arrange for a local curandera to conduct a crossover ceremony so Lacy can join the ghost of Dennis Hopper. After the ceremony Lacy’s body disappears, snatched by a couple of local hoodlums who try to ransom the body. Blake and Lopez have to use all their wits—and brawn—to retrieve Lacy’s body and give it a proper send-off at Jesus Nazareno Cemetery. But under the mystery plot, the ghosts and the crossover ceremonies, the book is really a simple story of human mortality and end-of-life issues.
How did the book come together?
Dennis Hopper’s Taos years coincided with my Santa Fe years. Indeed, I spent a couple of afternoons at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House when he owned it, though I don’t remember seeing him there. Typical of his/my generation, Dennis was as wild as a tornado and often as destructive, but he found something in Taos that meant a great deal to him. Sure, he occasionally ran afoul of the Taoseños because of his behavior, but many years later that something brought him back to Taos to be buried in the humble Jesus Nazareno Cemetery. Likewise, that something brought me back to New Mexico after thirty years of teaching at the University of Cincinnati.
Santa Fe in the 1970s was where I became who I am. It’s where I discovered what I valued and what I wanted to do with my life. Because of this I owe Santa Fe a great debt and it’s why I consider myself a Santa Fe writer. All the characters in my Fernando Lopez Santa Fe Mysteries are based on people I knew there in the 1970s. I consider my mysteries love letters to Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico.
Dancing with Dennis Hopper’s Ghost took about six months total to come together, for first draft, a content edit, and a copy edit.
Tell us about your main characters and why they will intrigue readers. Did your characters surprise you as you wrote their newest story?
To me, characters are the most important element in any story, mine included. I subscribe to the classical theory that character IS plot. In addition, I believe that characters need to be both vivid and engrossing. I can’t read (or watch) any fiction (or movie) where the characters aren’t vivid and engrossing. The characters in my 15-volume Santa Fe Mystery Series are all based on people I knew in Santa Fe during the wild and wicked 1970s. All were larger than life. Fernando, Ruby, Blaine and my other characters come out of that era and are very dear to me, like family really. And the thing is, I know them so well that once I get started and set the mystery in motion in my first chapter, I can turn the plot over to the characters and let them carry the story. As we say about people, my characters will do what they will do. Sometimes I have no control over them. However, in editing, if I decide that a character took a wrong turn or didn’t act in character, I will rewrite. In some of the mysteries I have no idea who did the ugly deed until the very end. I like it that way because it’s more fun to keep writing if you don’t know how it will end.
Why is New Mexico the perfect setting for the book (and the series)?
It’s an ancient haunted landscape overlaid with Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures—perfect for a mystery series.
Is there a scene in your book that you’d love to see play out in a movie?
I find the last scene, set at Jesus Nazareno Cemetery in Ranchos de Taos, very moving. That would be interesting to film.
What was your favorite part of putting this project together?
Revisiting my 1970s years, which included Dennis Hopper and the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos.
Of all your novels, which one was the most challenging to write?
The first, Peyote Wolf, was the most difficult, because I was working with a New York agent who kept telling me to add more violence and sex (I kid you not). He wanted violence on every page and non-stop action, which wasn’t what I wanted to do. I was much more interested in the culture surrounding the characters. Anyway, that’s why Peyote Wolf is different from the mysteries that followed. I said goodby to my agent and wrote what I wanted to write!
What are the key issues in writing a series to keep readers coming back for more?
Vivid, engrossing characters and great opening chapters to draw the readers in.
Who are your favorite authors?
Well, my favorite authors are the classic modernists: Faulkner, Joyce, and old Hemingway (whose advice to writers is still invaluable). My favorite mystery writer is Raymond Chandler, and his The Long Goodbye is one of my favorite novels.
What writing projects are you working on now?
My next mystery in the series is more political. In fact it could be called a political novel: Fire and ICE at World’s End, which involves Fernando’s response to ICE terrorizing Santa Fe.
KL Wagoner loves creating worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Her current work in progress is The Last Bonekeeper fantasy trilogy and short stories in the same universe. A member of SouthWest Writers since 2006, Kat has worked as the organization’s secretary, newsletter editor, website manager, and author interview coordinator. Kat is also a veteran, a martial art student, and a grandmother. Visit her at klwagoner.com.
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