A Ghostly Rise To Fame By Merle Temple

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A ‘Ghostly’ Rise to Fame
By: Kayla Carpenter

Merle Temple is a product of small town Mississippi.

In fact, the southern community where Temple was raised is named for his great –grandfather, Temple. Fresh out of Nettleton High School, Temple hopped on a train in Corinth and headed to Washington D.C. to become a crime fighter.

However, after years of working as an undercover agent for the FBI, a campaign organizer, making it through an ambush alive and then being held hostage, Temple decided to stop fighting crimes and start writing about them.

After working for the FBI as a finger print technician for a year, Temple decided to move back home and get a degree in Criminal Justice. He received his Bachelor’s degree followed by a Masters in Criminal Justice from The University of Mississippi in 1971.

Straight out of college, Temple went to work for the newly formed Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN).

“I was clueless as to what I was getting in to,” Temple said. “I was young and naive.”

Temple served as an undercover agent during the wake of the first war on drugs.

“I ...

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