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Stirring Up a Mess of Trouble

An Interview with Carl T. Smith

by Joyce Dixon

Carl T. Smith captures the Lowcountry personalities -- natives and transplants. There is a laid-back quality as well as class structure to the community. Carl and his wife, Archer Lee, live on Fripp Island, South Carolina.

Raised in Danville, Virginia, Smith was the son of a North Carolina carpenter and a Swedish mother -- thus great genes for storytelling, dark plots, and modeling! Smith has had careers in songwriting, singing, theatre, professional speaking and consultant, and educator on the secondary and college levels. After becoming a full-time writer, Smith wrote Nothin' Left to Lose, a novel about the entertainment industry. Lowcountry Boil is the first book in a trilogy.

Lowcountry Boil is loosely based on real events from the 1970's in Beaufort County, SC. Was this group so drunk on power, that they thought they were above the law? Could a smuggling venture work today on the SC coast?

I think a good many people involved in the ‘70’s conspiracy were innocents’. Sure they knew what they were doing was against the law, but people are masters of rationalization. Maybe rather than innocents’ naïve would be a better word. I don’t, by any stretch of the imagination, equate these people with the heroin, cocaine and crack dealers we read about in the paper today. They were not violent. Above the law? I don’t think so. Fear is stimulating to many people (roller coasters, driving race cars, etc.) and money certainly aids one in the decision to take risks.

The men in The Company already possess wealth and power, so they are smuggling for the "rush" of adventure and risk. Is this a type of mid-life crisis for them?

I’m not sure it’s a mid-life crisis, as far as these men are concerned. Of course the ‘rush’ of living-on-the-edge is one of their primary motivations; however, there are other things driving them: the camaraderie of being an integral part of a very exclusive team lends a feeling of superiority, the money, to a degree, even though they are wealthy (as Charley Clay says, “Money is the greatest addiction.”, and at this point in their operation, they have gotten in over their heads, a situation which makes it difficult to ‘get off the track’.

Charles Clay is the puppetmaster of the group. At one point he remarks, "...having nothing to lose makes me dangerous."  How has he trapped the others into his game? Is he more villian than innocent?

I don’t believe Charlie ‘trapped’ anyone to join the endeavor. Perhaps I should have explained how they got involved, but, as you know, seven hundred page novels are hard to market, so I had to set limits on what I wrote. My concept was that probably in college someone bought someone else a nickel bag and it grew from there. Fun and games. Although what they are doing is not innocent, I believe they are innocents’ or at least were in the beginning. They have obviously become educated as time went by. It’s easy to get carried on by a swift moving current, especially when one is successful.

Charley Clay a villain? Perhaps more selfish than villainous. The ‘dangerous’ line is more for intimidation than a description of the man. He is at times appalled at what he is doing and so states, but is addicted to the thrill and is simply a bored, sad man, who has become ambivalent to anyone else’s interest, welfare and needs other than his own. Is he a bad guy? Probably not.

Morgan Hannah is a rich widow in her 30's who is enjoying her freedom and sexuality. Does the Lowcountry lifestyle promote self-gratification to the point of dropping a moral code of conduct? OK, I have to ask -- Did you name her "Hannah" after the song, "Hard, Hearted Hannah. The Vamp of Savannah, GA?"

And “No” -- never even thought of hard-hearted Hannah. Don’t think she is particularly

hard-hearted. I did have a model in mind, but won’t disclose who that might be. 

How would you compare Skeeter Crewes to Cedrick Hamilton? 

Cedrick Hamilton is corrupt. He has very few values, if any, other than his own greed, ego and

love of power. I find few, if any, redeeming qualities in the man. He is a weak man in a

powerful position he did not earn. He plays the ‘race’ game and pretty much uses everyone

he comes into contact with to his own advantage. 

    

Skeeter Crewes is noble. He has “made peace with himself between his ambitions and his

limitations” (Teahouse of the August Moon) He has never turned his back on the values he

was taught or those he promised his wife, and has steadfastly refused, no matter how times

are, to become a stereotype. I would like him as my best friend. 

 

Cedrick Hamilton is an interesting character as the school superintendent desperate to

refill the school district funds before an audit.  You use the quote -- "Power corrupts,

and absolute power corrupts absolutely." How does the quote define your book?

 

Power eliminates, to a great degree, restrictions. A lack of restriction can invite personal anarchy,

feeling above the law, allowing the ego to eliminate fear and, in Cedrick’s case, feeling for anyone

or anything save one’s self. That leaves few if any redeeming qualities.

 

I don’t think it defines the book. One or two characters might be defined by that. The rest have

redeeming, if not heroic qualities. Sometimes only the willingness to ‘face the music’.

How does your knowledge of theatre and music aid your craft as a writer? My theatrical background is probably the most helpful in my writing. IN theatre, one is taught to be consciously observant, to find primary sources—real-life people who physically or emotionally fit the character one is portraying, or, in this case, creating on paper. This penchant for observation has had a great influence on the dialogue I write. Real people seldom speak glibly all the time, and I detest books with overdone glib dialogue. One exception: Robert Crais, who uses it in a self-deprecating manner for his hero. Also, in all my observations from the Southern U.S. to South Philly and New York, I have seldom heard people, even of the lowest classes use profanity as their choice for every other word.

Carl Smith with Brewster Robertson at a Lowcountry event.

Tell us about your next Sam Larkin mystery. Will Karen Chaney return?

The next book (untitled) is the second in what I conceived as a trilogy. It does feature Sam

Larkin and Karen Chaney; however, there are a number of new characters introduced that

may well appear in the third book. Although the new book begins with Sam in the Lowcountry,

the story takes him to Mississippi and Louisiana. It is not a ‘back story’, but it is a mission into

his past. The third will be in the Lowcountry exclusively.

Do you still take speaking engagements? What topics?

I no longer take speaking engagements other than those concerned with my books and writing.