Thunder rumbles in the distance. Temperatures hover just below one-hundred.
The air thickens with humidity, insects, and the scent of mud, marsh, dead fish, and rotting vegetation.
Rain is on the way. A heavy rain.
A pre-storm breeze sends tiny ripples across a surface that moments ago was as slick and smooth as a sheet of new storefront glass.
Time to head home.
A turn into a canal reveals hiding places for the creepy, the crawly, and the slimy. Large S-shaped trails move slowly across the surface, then disappear. Alligators? Could be. They’re here.
The sky opens up, drilling the soil and fauna with sheets of shot-size drops of water.
But day after day of searing heat hasn’t allowed the rain to cool. The shower, warm like five-minute-old coffee, hit the sweltering earth leaving behind a natural sauna.
Then, as quickly as it arrived, the storm passes. The creatures of the dark waters return to make their primitive night sounds. Mosquitoes as big as bottle flies swarm in swirling clouds.
Something backs into the dark recesses of the banks.
It’s night again on the Ogeekee River. An armadillo ambles past the dock dragging its snake-like tail in the damp sand. It stops, looks around, and then disappears into a patch of poison oak. The dark green leaves sway from side-to-side in the animal’s wobbly wake.
The day is done and the rains have returned. Still steady, but much slower. This time, gently dimpling the water’s midnight-darkened surface. Drizzle tapping on the tin roof like the worried mother’s fingernails drumming on the coffee table when her child hasn’t come home on time.
Tap, tap, tapping into the night.
Irregular.
Out of synch with the steadiness of the wall clock.
Tap, tap, tapping.
It’s raining on the Ogeechee.
* * *
Attention: Writers’ Police Academy Breaking News!
Michael Cudlitz, star of TNT’s smash hit Southland, and of the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, will be attending the WPA as our special guest! So please do make plans to join us and meet this superstar of the best cop drama on TV.
The planning committee for the Writers’ Police Academy met yesterday at the High Point N. C. Public Library (one of our sponsors) to begin nailing down the final details for the event. Here’s a very brief update (sorry we can’t be more specific, but we want you to feel the same sense of wonder and trepidation experienced by real police recruits in the weeks prior to entering an actual police academy).
Okay, so everyone wasn’t there at this point, which meant it was time to catch up on news and gossip.
Nancy Metzner (she’s the person who cracks the whip and keeps us all on track) opened the meeting with information regarding…oh yeah, I can’t divulge that stuff. Top secret, you know.
Authors Mari Freeman and Samantha Kane are two of the original five committee members. Caution: Have plenty of ice water and a fire extinguisher on hand if you click through to their websites (and definitely no children). These two authors write some pretty hot stuff. I was blushing yesterday just listening to them talking about their latest releases! Ms. Freeman and Ms. Kane are in charge of…oh yeah, that’s a secret, too.
Jo Williamson and Julie Russell are both from the High Point library, and as you can see by the amount of notes they’d taken they’re hard at work at…shoot, I can’t say that either.
Not pictured are: Susan Greene, Lynette Hampton, Julie Goyette, Aislyn Denny, our West Coast member and co-founder Verna Dreisbach.
What I can say is:
– The short story contest will open this week, so sharpen your best pencils and drag out the ghouls. You’ll have 200 words to tell the tale and end it with a twisted Jeffery-Deaverish-style ending. Please check back on this site and on the WPA website for details. The winner will receive the prestigious Golden Donut Award!
– The Writers’ Police Academy will begin on Friday at 9 a.m. (registration opens at this time).
– Originally, the event wasn’t scheduled to open until noon, but we’ve added more great workshops and presenters!
– FATS training will run throughout the entire three-day event. Someone will be contacting you soon about your scheduled time to lock and load. You’ll be assigned a partner. If you have someone in mind (another academy attendee) who you feel absolutely comfortable with placing your life in their hands, then please contact me at lofland32@msn.com. I’ll see to it that you receive the backup of your choosing. You’ll be using real Sig Sauers and Glocks (modified exclusively for FATS training).
– Jonathan Hayes is presenting a fascinating two-hour session on autopsy in the auditorium. Dr. Hayes (NYC senior medical examiner) says he has designed and detailed this presentation especially for writers.
– There’s a wine and cheese reception on Friday night, complete with entertainment from Atlanta recording artist/writer Stacy Allen. By the way, Stacy just signed on with a very well-known literary agency. Her writing is wonderful. I know, because I had a chance to critique her manuscript last year at the Killer Nashville conference. Oh, we’re trying to twist Jeffery Deaver’s arm hoping he’ll bring his guitar and join in.
– Immediately following the reception I’ll be presenting a night owl session about a real homicide (complete with actual crime scene photos and other detective’s inside information not normally privy to the public).
Saturday opens at 8 a.m. with a real BANG!
– Workshops run the entire day at the campus. A box lunch is provided.
– A cash bar (at the hotel with assorted beverages) opens at 7 p.m.
– The banquet with Jeffery Deaver (Mr. Deaver will be attending many of the workshops throughout the event) begins at 7:30. Book signings to follow. Barnes and Noble will be operating a small book store at the hotel.
– Sunday will see more workshops and a debriefing session by the WPA faculty. Bring your questions!
– The WPA comes to a close at noon on Sunday.
The entire schedule will be posted this week on the WPA website. So sorry for the delay, but we’ve had a few last minutes changes and additions. Believe me, you’ll be pleased with those changes. Thanks for your patience.
*Some space is still available, so please do register soon. Also, please make sure you’ve secured your hotel rooms. We are only guaranteed a limited number, and we’ve almost reached that point.
Remember, no firearms and/or live ammunition are allowed by anyone other than law enforcement officers and other authorized academy staff. NO EXCEPTIONS. Leave your toys at home, please!
Ah, the mind of a mystery writer. Always contemplating the simpler things in life, like car chases, explosions, and murder.
Mystery, thriller, and suspense writers also come up with some pretty darn good characters and settings.
For me, there’s nothing better than to open a book and instantly feel as if I’ve been transported to another world, and I want the character’s emotions and senses to take me there. I want the black murky waters of James Lee Burke’s Louisiana swamps to fill my gut with a sense of foreboding. I want to smell the humid southern air after a crab boil. Those things are important to me as a reader, and they’re even more important to me as a writer. I want readers to see, feel, taste, and hear what I write.
As a reader I also pay a lot of attention to the names assigned to fictional characters and locations. Not only do they give us a bit of insight about the personality of the characters and locations, they also tell us a little bit about the author. Like the town names Hope and Despair that Lee Child used in his book Nothing To Lose. The road leading to Hope was fresh, new, and smooth ( as smooth as the author). The road to Despair was in disrepair, filled with potholes, and was totally worn out. Using those two simple words (Hope and Despair) was brilliant. Lee typed eleven letters and told us a story about two towns that some writers couldn’t have achieved in a dozen pages.
Now, speaking of appropriate names for towns in crime novels…how about the name in the photo above—Kilkenny Marina? Wouldn’t it be a great place to set a story? I suppose we’d need a few facts, first. Like, who’s Kenny? And why do the folks at the marina want to kill him? What exactly does one fish for at Kill Kenny (a tiny letter switch)? Hmm…and what exactly is the bait you’d use…pieces of Kenny?
Anyway, my wife and I stumbled across this little jewel of a place this week while exploring the back roads near Savannah. Instead of hanging a right onto Belle Island Road in Richmond Hill (south of Savannah) I kept straight, and this is the little slice of heaven we saw after passing through the opening in a stand of massive live oaks.
Who says you have to die to see the light at the end of the tunnel? Just visit Kilkenny Marina a few minutes before sunset and this is what you’ll see on your way out.
While conducting the research for Police Procedure and Investigation I had the pleasure of traveling all across the United States to visit police departments, sheriff’s offices forensics labs, morgues, courts, prisons, jails, shooting ranges, and judges chambers. I was also granted access to the private stomping grounds of many of the top experts in the country. I even tagged along on raids, arrests, and murder investigations. Here’s a quick behind-the-scenes peek at some of the fascinating people and places that made the book possible.
It’s 105 degrees in the shade and the tourists stampede the waterfront walkways searching for relief from the heat. The humidity is thick, like a syrupy mist suspended in midair. To escape the panting crowd I took to the back streets, alleys, and side roads. Here’s a part of Savannah that’s behind the curtain.
Two pelicans lounging in the cool, murky waters outside the city.
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting.
Oregon has some of the most breathtaking scenery in the country, and I’m awestruck each time I visit. So I was really pleased when Mary Quinlisk offered to send us some photos of the Oregon coast. Looking at these sort makes me homesick for the top left corner of the country and all our friends we left behind when we migrated east. I hope everyone enjoys the photos as much as I have. Thanks again, Mary!
* We’d love it if you’d like to share photos of your own weekend road trips with us. If so, please contact me at lofland32@msn.com.
* Don’t forget to stop by our Facebook page to see a photo of the author of the day!
Each year, workers at Young’s Dairy in Yellow Springs, Ohio clear the golf balls from their driving range in order to host the annual Easter egg hunt. The event is free, fun, and exciting for the kids who participate. After the hundreds of scattered eggs have been found, everyone can then enjoy homemade ice cream, the petting zoo, putt-putt golf, batting cages, or a quiet stroll around the grounds.
Enjoy the warm weather this weekend. And stay safe…
My friend, Paul Beecroft, has spent a good deal of his life in law enforcement, in England. He’s worked Foot Patrol, Area Car, Instant Response Car and also as a Police Motorcyclist. He’s currently a coroner’s investigator and has traveled all over England, Wales, Scotland and even Germany to investigate crimes.
Today, let’s leave the world of cops and robbers and join Paul as he takes us on a trip to The Cotswolds, in England. Please enjoy.
Paul – “A few years back I jointly wrote, with a friend, a biography about a Falconer from the past who was sadly KIA in France during WWII. On Monday last I went to an area of England known as The Cotswolds and visited the home where the person subject of the bio lived. The house is no longer owned by the family and is in fact split up into apartments. Very little though has changed, certainly externally. Although not obvious the current tenants have done a lot of work to try and preserve this huge old English house.”
Driveway leading up to the entrance.
House from a distance.
Side View
Rear view
Front
Chapel at rear of house. Built 1140-1150 but restoration has taken place over the years.
Inside chapel.
The old Kennels area.
Nearby stream.
It was also Lambing season.
Local views
Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers
