Introduction:
A social worker, Carla Damron is also an award-winning fiction writer. Her latest book is Justice Be Done (Bella Rosa Press 2023). Her titles also include The Orchid Tattoo (National Indie Excellence Award) and The Stone Necklace (Women Fiction Writers Award, also chosen as One Community Read for Columbia, S.C.) BettyJoyce Nash writes fiction in Charlottesville, Va. She’s the author of the novel Everybody Here is Kin and a short story collection forthcoming in 2026. She met Damron in 2011 through the Queens University MFA program.
Justice Be Done, the latest in Damron’s Caleb Knowles series, opens when Knowles, a social worker, is called to visit a fifteen-year-old black child in jail for beating up a white shopkeeper. As events unfold, racial tensions flare and threaten to explode in the mid-sized southern city of Columbia, S.C.
Interview:
BettyJoyce Nash: Your books grapple with, and illuminate, social justice issues. Your characters seem to “grow” naturally, from the fertile compost of your experience in social work. How and when did your social work start seeping into creative projects?
Carla Damron
Carla Damron: Once a social worker, ALWAYS a social worker. I can’t NOT write about social issues, so each of my novels tackles a problem—mental illness, addiction, homelessness, or human trafficking. My profession connects me to a variety of human beings who let me into their lives. We connect in a powerful way and work together so they can recover and grow. Similarly, when I develop characters, I draw on my clinical work and live within them, imagining their experiences, beliefs, and ways of thinking.
For example, in the opening scene of Justice Be Done, Caleb visits a child on suicide watch in jail. I’ve done that interview. I’ve spent time with a fifteen-year-old, assessing his suicide risk. I’ve seen the horrible cell where he’s been placed, and felt his utter desolation as he considers his future. The Laquan in Justice is not that kid, but I drew on the my deep well of empathy as I wrote him. What’s wonderful about writing fiction is that I could then finish his story—dig deeper, exploring his connections, imagining what came next for him.
BJN: The novel takes place after the 2015 shooting at the Charleston Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Nine people died, including pastor and state senator Clementa V. Pinckney, to whom the book is dedicated. How closely do fictional events, including the racist “conglomeration” of white men, mirror racial tensions in Columbia, the state capital?
CD: This novel was very much inspired by the massive riots in Columbia after George Floyd’s 2020 murder in Minneapolis. I have vivid memories of watching chaos unfold on TV and agonizing over why these racial tensions continue. During the riots, a group of whites from an extremist group called the Boogaloo Boys escalated the violence. One member, Joshua Barnard, was described as a “catalyst” because he orchestrated property destruction and assaults. He eventually served prison time for his crimes. So, yeah, what happens in Justice Be Done is rooted in the real racism that flows, as an undercurrent, in Columbia and throughout the South. The assassination of Senator Clementa Pinckney—a hate crime spawned by extreme racism—affected me, and many others, profoundly. Sen. Pinckney must never be forgotten. His legacy is a crucial element in Justice Be Done.
BettyJoyce Nash
BJN: The narrative includes four point-of-view characters interacting professionally and personally with social workers, politicians, artists, spouses and children, among others, including a gun magnate itching to “make a killing.” Can you describe how you manage this large cast of characters, and keep them memorable in readers’ minds?
CD: I’m glad they are memorable in the readers’ minds because they are all very real to me. Character development is an involved process in my writing. I spend a great deal of time with each POV character, imagining their experiences, opinions, and their day-to-day lives. Eventually, they bloom into fully-realized human beings. Once that happens, I let them tell their own stories. That may sound odd—being a writer is odd—but that’s how it feels. My job is to be honest and fair in finding, then relaying, their perspectives. Hopefully, that makes for a richer experience for the readers.
BJN: The book opens as social-worker Caleb interviews Laquan, the African American teenager in solitary confinement. You portray Caleb in a moment when he wishes he could “step outside his own whiteness.” Laquan’s mother, Miss Pearl, even reminds Caleb: “Do you know how hard I’ve worked to keep him safe? To keep him out of trouble? No, you don’t. You aren’t a black man.” How do you approach writing outside your whiteness?
CD: The line “step outside his own whiteness” is also about me as an author. I have not lived the black experience. To pretend that I have would be both presumptuous and delusional.
In an effort to be as authentic as possible, I hired a sensitivity reader who studied an earlier draft. He pointed out problems and suggested ways to “fix” them. This was a huge help in portraying Black characters as realistically as I could—again, from my white perspective.
BJN: You call up the long-dead Benjamin “Pitchfork” Tillman in the novel’s “Red Shirts” paramilitary outfit. Tillman was a governor, and, later, U.S. Senator, who opposed civil rights for black Americans, led the “Red Shirts,” during South Carolina’s violent 1876 election. Including his “legacy” is effective.
CD: The legacy of “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman is a stain on my state. Seriously. He championed lynching and bragged about killing black Americans. That his statue adorns our statehouse grounds sickens me. I resurrected his “Red Shirt” campaign in Justice Be Done because what it stood for still exists. Tillman’s Red Shirts assaulted black voters and murdered Black politicians. I view the Red Shirt movement in the novel as a symbol of the centuries-old racial tensions that we can resolve if we, together, seriously search our hearts and souls.
I hope to see the day when Benjamin Tillman’s monument is removed from the South Carolina statehouse grounds, and Clementa Pinckney’s statue replaces it. That might be a sign of healing.
BJN: Like Orchid Tattoo, Justice Be Done defies genre. It’s literary fiction, thriller, murder mystery and more. Few novels can successfully juggle genres. Writing this way involves legal and psychological drama. Can you talk about your research?
CD: My main job, as a writer, is to entertain my readers. Period. I want my books to be “unputdownable.” Murder mysteries and thrillers engage readers, which is why I love writing in those genres. If there’s a literary thread in my work, it’s the psychological explorations of my characters—I make them complex, flawed, and three-dimensional humans.
I read a great deal (I spent way too much time studying Ben Tillman, for example), watch relevant footage, and interview people when needed. I’ve worked with hundreds of clients from all walks of life. I never write about specific clients because that would be unethical, but I draw from what they’ve taught me—be it the unhoused man with schizophrenia or the woman recovering from addiction or the human trafficking survivor-turned-advocate. They all helped expand my worldview and my capacity for empathy.
BJN: Characters feel alive and real. For instance, Mary Beth is a police officer struggling with childhood trauma. When a fellow officer rebukes her, she thinks, “He pushed in closer, his favorite bully technique. He had fifty pounds on her and liked to use his mass. She could smell his aftershave, some citrusy shit that made her stomach uneasy.” Nice aftershave detail. How did her story emerge and evolve?
CD: Mary Beth showed up one day, or at least, that’s how it felt. I had an immediate picture of her and could sense her struggles as a trauma survivor navigating a very difficult job. Writing is a game of what if? What if Mary Beth’s buried trauma resurfaces at a pivotal moment? What if it affects how she responds to a work crisis? Those questions led me to her story, and to her road to recovery. She was a fascinating character to explore.
BJN: What’s your next novel about?
CD: Several characters in my novel The Orchid Tattoo, about a teen caught in the web of human traffickers and a social worker who strives to save her, have stayed with me. I wondered what happens next for them. The Weird Girl (tentative title) begins after Orchid and follows the two main characters as they adjust to huge changes in their lives. This novel explores the fentanyl crisis. It’s with beta readers now. I’m excited about it!
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