My Life in Crime
l Smell Smoke! My Special Connection with DI Parker—Two Signature Scents
I suspect most mystery writers have something in common with their detectives. Multiple things actually. We can’t help it—real life informs fiction and leaches into it. Personally, I believe it’s necessary to connect with our main characters in deep and even intimate ways. Only then can we see and portray them as fully human. When…
Read MoreLooking for an Hour’s Worth of Bookish Fun to Watch?
Looking for an hour’s worth of bookish fun to watch this weekend? How about this . . . Goat communes, documentary film making, fire tornados, London’s 1-square mile and its 2 separate police forces, botany, women in academia in the 1920s, and how fully-formed characters have a life outside of detecting (even if some of…
Read More3 Fantastic Author Chats for Your Viewing Pleasure . . .
In the ten days since my debut crime novel released I’ve been chatting my head off! Maybe you’ve seen me (if so, thanks for tuning in or showing up), but maybe you haven’t had a chance . . . YET . . . THREE of my appearances were recorded. So, this weekend, you can settle…
Read MoreCrimeReads Interview with Dr. Cassandra Kuba: What its like to really stand over a dead body as well as helping creators of crime fiction get it right
This is too cool! Those of you who have a copy of And by Fire handy, pick it up and flip to the “author’s note” section. You’ll notice my thanks to Dr. Cassandra Kuba. Dr. Kuba punches WAY above my weight—she’s a PhD biological anthropologist, and a university professor focusing on the study of the…
Read MoreShow and Tells—Looking for Lies and Omissions in a Witness Interview
“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” If ONLY it were that easy to detect falsehoods. I mean seriously—there is no way even a rookie detective is going to miss flaming pants. Unfortunately, interviewing witnesses and gauging veracity is a more nuanced and trickier business. One I took a close look at when writing And By Fire.…
Read MoreArson—a crime you generally CAN get away with
Please don’t think I am encouraging you to a life of crime, but most arson is NEVER detected—*shudder*—let alone prosecuted. In the US, Fire Chiefs estimate the percentage of arsonists detected and prosecuted hovers between 15-20%. And serial arsonists . . . let’s just say they get to burn a heck of a lot of…
Read MoreHow Bodies Burn
So, this is the kind of stuff that sends waiters scuttling away looking worried if you discuss it with friends over lunch (yes authors do that), and that makes authors certain they will be arrested if a body is ever found near their home. BUT honestly scientists probably have the same concerns, especially Elayne Pope…
Read MoreThe City Has Eyes: CCTV in London
If, like me, you’re a Yank, living on this side of the Atlantic you have an expectation of privacy when you go out to stroll the streets of your favorite large American City. You don’t expect cameras to be watching.[i] Londoners KNOW they are. London ranks as the number one “most spied-on city” in the…
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