Environmental researcher Don Carr returns to hometown Sioux Falls to launch his first novel, ‘The Midnight Rambler’
Don Carr has a story to tell about crime, politics and the environment, and it’s a timely and important one.
Carr, 54, is a Sioux Falls native, and he will be back in his hometown today to sign copies of his first novel, “The Midnight Rambler.” He will be at Remedy Brewing Company, 401 E. Eighth St., Unit 120, from 1-3 p.m. Carr will offer a few remarks and reflections as well.
The novel (boxed copies of it are shown above in a photo from Carr’s Facebook page) is an action-filled environmental crime thriller. Carr based it on his own experiences studying and exposing some of the most blatant polluters in the nation. He has pursued and exposed environmental criminals from the gas fields of North Dakota to the “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Don became interested in environmental crime when a biofuel fraud whistleblower approached him with a wild story — the owners of an Indiana biofuel plant he worked at were stealing millions from a federal renewable fuels program. For 18 months, Don investigated what one EPA official called ‘the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the environment,’” his website states.
“Once his investigation was published, Don immersed himself in the world of EPA special agents and environmental crime. After spending a month in southern Italy where he personally witnessed the burning of toxic waste on Mount Vesuvius, ‘The Midnight Rambler’ was born.”
The central character is Sophie, a tough and experienced environmental investigator who comes across an incredible scheme hatched by organized crime figures to dig profits out of toxic waste dumps.
“I spent a month in Positano and while I was there, I learned The Rolling Stones wrote ‘Midnight Rambler’ there,” Carr told me. “It is about the Boston Strangler. When I got back I did an investigation into biofuel fraud and interviewed a bunch of EPA special agents. I was inspired. I wanted to do something over the top. It all came together.”
William Kent Kreuger, a New York Times bestselling author who has produced the “This Tender Land,” “Ordinary Grace” and the “Cork O’Connor” mystery series, says Carr has produced the goods in his first book.
“With his debut novel ‘The Midnight Rambler,’ Don Carr delivers a story that’s not only a joyride of a thriller but is also wrapped around an important environmental message,” Kreuger wrote. “Set in Italy and full of lush location details, ‘The Midnight Rambler’ is an utterly masterful interweave of compelling characters, relentless action, and swift, unpredictable plot twists. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from the first page to the last. Mark my words, Don Carr has everything it takes to become our next Robert Ludlum.”
Doug Parker, who was the Environmental Protection Agency’s director of criminal investigations for 25 years, digging into the DeepWater Horizon disaster and the Volkswagen emissions scandal among others, also endorses “The Midnight Rambler.”
“As a former special agent with EPA’s Criminal Investigation, it was great to dive into ‘The Midnight Rambler’ and be entertained by the adventures of Agent Grant,” Parker wrote. “Well done, Don.”
Carr credits his wife Elesha Peterson Carr for pushing him to succeed.
“When I wanted to quit, she wouldn’t let me. She has supported my writing at every level, including working a full time job while I wrote! Now, she’s put all of her energy into making the book launch as good as it can be,” he wrote online. “‘The Midnight Rambler’ is dedicated to you, EMoney. I could not have done it without you.”
Carr’s work has appeared in Politico, Sierra Magazine, the Washington, D.C. City Paper, the Huffington Post, Grist, Civil Eats and the Food and Environment Reporting Network, and he has appeared on “The CBS Evening News,” Bloomberg TV, NPR and Fox News.
He lives in Minneapolis and works as the media director for the Alliance for the Great Lakes. In the past, he was a senior communications and policy advisor for the Environmental Working Group and a senior communications manager at the Environmental Defense Fund.
I met him when he was working for the Democratic National Committee and the South Dakota Democratic Party from 2006-07. It was part of a 50-state campaign launched by Howard Dean when the former Vermont governor was in charge of the DNC.
Dean is best remembered for his outburst of emotion after finishing third in the 2004 Iowa Democratic Caucuses as Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin stood on stage with him.
“Not only are we going to New Hampshire, Tom Harkin, we’re going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we’re going to California and Texas and New York. ... And we’re going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then we’re going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeah!”
His campaign fizzled out and he became head of the DNC from 2005-09, where he espoused the belief that there were Democrats and persuadable voters in all 50 states. Carr was one of the staffers carrying out Dean’s mission.
Some Democratic leaders did not see the wisdom in trying to compete in traditionally Republican states. Rahm Emanuel, who has been a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton, an Illinois congressman, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, mayor of Chicago and now ambassador to Japan, was a critic. He wanted to focus resources on swing districts.
Paul Begala, who turned his success as a campaign consultant and senior advisor to Clinton into a career as a TV talking head, took a cheap shot at Dean and his idea of actually trying to win in every state.
“Yes, he’s in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it’s a long-term strategy,” Begala said on CNN. “But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That’s not how you build a party. You win elections. That’s how you build a party.”
Begala later apologized. But that attitude, that flyover states like South Dakota are lost causes, is one reason Republicans are so dominant here now. It’s worth recalling, in 2008, Obama ran a relatively close race in the state against Sen. John McCain.
But that’s a different story for a different time. When I met Don Carr, he wasn’t merely inspecting the interior of his nostrils. He was a person who cared deeply about the causes he believed in, while also realizing the absurdity of life and politics in general.
I have followed his career as an environmental activist and reporter for more than a decade. Carr knows what he is talking — and writing — about.
I look forward to buying and reading his book. Still looking for a last-minute Christmas gift? Stop by Remedy Brewing this afternoon, or order “The Midnight Rambler” in all available outlets, both brick and mortar and online.
Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states and contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets.
