In a Family Way

After his cousin's daughter is kidnapped, Bill Damen is drawn into the world of embryo manipulation, where life, death, money, and power are chillingly intertwined. Working from his new office in a rundown warehouse at the foot of San Francisco's Potrero Hill, cinematographer-turned-detective Damen tracks one family's journey into the dark realm of reproductive engineering in their attempt undo the past and redeem a tragedy. He soon discovers that the circumstances of their daughter's birth have everything to do with her death.

James Calder comments:

In a Family Way is the third novel in the Bill Damen series and to me it feels like a big step forward. For one, Bill brings in the daring, smart, and quick-witted Clem as his new partner. She spices things up quite a bit.

This particular story is a crime novel, but it's also a family drama. It follows the descent of a couple (Bill's cousins) into some scary Faustian territory. The story takes on big questions about embryo manipulation, artificial reproduction, and stem cells. What's happening in these fields is pretty mind-boggling. I worked on the scenario with a UCSF embryologist and found out that techniques I thought were futuristic are quite plausible today.

In a Family Way is about the collision between one kind of parent-child dynamic - an age-old kind - and a new dynamic that's emerging thanks to techniques of nuclear transfer (cloning) and gene-splicing. The new technologies have the power to undercut the old dynamic in certain respects, yet on the other hand can magnify the ability of parents to shape and control their children in ways never previously imagined.

I'm not necessarily an advocate either for or against these developments. I'm just very, very curious about them. My novels are a way of envisioning where they're taking us and what kinds of temptation they offer - which also, I hope, makes for a good crime story.

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