Artist Recovery Podcast

CURRENTLY ON HIATUS NOT BOOKING AT THIS TIME

Artist Recovery Podcast is Bringing Light to the Darkside of Art. I’m Rich Wright, your host — and here we're redefining recovery as Renewal, Resilience and Creative Transformation. Because for artists, it’s more than survival… it’s Remembering.
This show is about the real journey of being a working creative — the highs, the lows, the pivots, and the reinventions that shape who we are. Together we’ll explore how setbacks can spark transformation, how loss can open new paths, and how resilience fuels the heart of every artist’s story.
If you’ve ever faced doubt, setback, or the call to reinvent yourself, you’re in the right place. Let’s recover — and create — together.”

Want to be a guest on Artist Recovery Podcast? Send Rich Wright a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/artistrecovery

All Episodes

Artist Recovery Podcast

Artist Recovery Podcast S2 Ep. 40 | The 2 A.M. Idea That Became a Crime Trilogy: Rodney Carpentier

October 02, 2026 • Rich Wright • Season 2 • Episode 40

0:00 | 2:16:47

Rodney Carpentier is a New York sheriff's lieutenant, a former criminal investigator, and the crime fiction author R.L. Carpentier III, creator of The Overlook Trilogy and the small-town murder mystery Our Lady of the Overlook. At 2 a.m. on a double shift, one question hit him: what if a DNA test revealed that the birth mother you never knew was the unidentified victim of a cold case homicide? That question launched a police procedural series set in the rural Catskill Mountains and a new life as a self-published novelist.

Rodney joins host Rich Wright for an in-depth author interview on writing a novel while working full time in law enforcement, turning real police experience into fiction, and building an author platform from scratch.

THE STORYTELLER BEFORE THE BADGE:
Raised in a mobile home park in Coeymans, New York, by a welder and pipefitter father and an early COBOL programmer mother, Rodney was the kid who invented stories alone in the woods and wore a suit on ordinary school days. At SUNY New Paltz he earned a BA in English and played guitar in the pop punk band Gone Ashley, named after a line in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake about the phoenix rising from the ashes.

FROM LA TO LAW ENFORCEMENT:
Three days after marrying Laura, his partner of more than 27 years, he drove cross-country to Los Angeles, where a "Join the LAPD" banner on Sunset Boulevard sparked a law enforcement career. Back in New York came the CSX rail yard, New York State corrections, and the county sheriff's office in 2008. As a criminal investigator he worked insurance, welfare, check, and wire fraud cases with state and federal agencies, then rose to sergeant and lieutenant. From a prison yard tower, he filled notebooks planning a novel he wasn't yet ready to write.

HOW REAL POLICE WORK BECOMES CRIME FICTION:
The English major who chased Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald once looked down on genre fiction. Years of interviews, fraud cases, overnight shifts, and grief quietly built what he calls a garden of material. His protagonist, rookie officer Mike Ellis, is surrounded by composite characters drawn from the real cops who mentored him.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
~How a DNA test premise became a cold case mystery trilogy
~Writing authentic small-town policing without CSI-style resources or backup
~Turning family history and father-son grief into character depth
~Self-publishing lessons from a rushed first launch and letting Patreon readers name book two
~Book marketing for introverts: street fairs, book events, and one reader at a time
~How to present yourself as an author before you feel ready
~Why law enforcement fiction can tell a human story without a political agenda
~Balancing a demanding career, family, and finishing book three
~"If you want people to experience it, you have to let people know it exists." - Rodney Carpentier

For crime fiction readers, aspiring authors, first responders who write, and every creative with a story that has lived in their head for 20 years.

Connect with Rodney:
Website: https://www.rlcarpentierwriter.com
Instagram: ‪https://www.instagram.com/rlcarpentier
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088602104002

Connect with Rich:
Website: ⁠⁠https://www.theartistrecovery.com
⁠⁠Linkedin: @richwrightunltd
Facebook: @richwrightunltd
Instagram: @richwrightunltd
FB: @theartrec
Instagram: @theartrec

Artist Rich Wright’s WOW Essential Spirit Paintings: ⁠⁠https://www.theartistrecovery.com/whi...

Support and Shop Art Rec Merch: https://www.artrecshop.com

Join Podmatch: ⁠https://www.joinpodmatch.com/artistre...
Dyslexia Classes: ⁠https://www.skool.com/dyslexia-classes⁠

#RodneyCarpentier #RLCarpentierIII #TheOverlookTrilogy #OurLadyOfTheOverlook #ArtistRecoveryPodcast #RichWright #CrimeFictionAuthor #PoliceProcedural #ColdCaseMystery #SmallTownMurderMystery #LawEnforcementAuthor #CopTurnedWriter #SheriffLieutenant #WritingANovel #SelfPublishing #IndieAuthor #AuthorInterview #CreativeRecovery #PopPunkBand #GoneAshley #FinnegansWake #JamesJoyce #CatskillMountains #NewYorkAuthor #SUNYNewPaltz #WritingInspiration #AuthorPlatform #BookMarketing #IntrovertAuthor #DNATestMystery #TrueCrimeInspiration #WritersPodcast #CreativeCareerChange #SecondActCareer #GenreFiction #MysteryThrillerBooks #richwrightunlimited #richwrightunltd #richwrightartist #beaguest #podmatchguest @PodMatch_com