“Laguna Heat” eventually landed on the New York Times bestseller list and was made into a movie for HBO in 1987. Since then, Parker has penned 16 more novels.
The author will return to the Scape Gallery in Corona del Mar this month to sign copies of his latest novel, “Iron River,” part of which is set in Costa Mesa.
“It’s a story about a federal agent who spends too much time undercover with tragic results,” Parker said.
The title of the book is law enforcement slang for the stream of weapons that flows across the U.S.-Mexico border, fueling the Mexican drug cartel wars.
“Iron River” follows Deputy Sheriff Charlie Hood as he joins the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to try and stop the cross-border flow of weapons and money. The son of a drug cartel ringleader ends up dead when a law enforcement stakeout goes bad, leaving Hood and his team to deal with the aftermath.
The book also details the problems that the illegal weapons trade causes for law enforcement in Southern California.
For the novel, Parker did extensive research on the weapons trade across the border, visiting gun stores and talking with ATF officials.
During his research, Parker was surprised to learn about how easy it is to obtain ammunition and weapons in some cases. He incorporated what he learned into the book.
“I was flabbergasted you could pick up a telephone and/or go online and have 50,000 rounds of ammunition in your garage in two days,” Parker said.
One of the main characters in “Iron River” lives in Costa Mesa, near South Coast Plaza, the last of a dying breed of Southern California gun makers, who provide cheap weapons for Mexican drug lords.
