Becky Levine is a writer, freelance manuscript editor, and book reviewer. Her first children’s mystery is currently doing the agent hunt, and she is the co-author, with Lee Lofland (yes, that Lee Lofland) of The Everything Kids I Want to Be a Police Officer Book, for Adams Media. As an editor, Becky helps other writers with their projects, critiquing and copyediting both fiction and nonfiction works. Becky lives in California’s Santa Cruz mountains with her husband and son. You can read more about her at her website, http://www.beckylevine.com/, and her blog, http://beckylevine.livejournal.com/.

Becky Levine:

“I…do not approve of murder,” says Hercule Poirot.

In that one line, you have Poirot’s motive, his reason for investigating and solving any murder that comes his way. Yes, he was a police officer, and he is now a private detective, but his real reason for catching killers is that they offend him.

For Agatha Christie, and for her hundreds of thousands of readers, that has always been enough. We don’t need anything else; murder is Poirot’s, and Miss Marple’s, job, and we’ll follow them through any number of pages with pleasure.

So, of course, what works for Christie can work for us, right? Wrong. First, Christie was a genius. Most of us aren’t. Second, she started producing books over fifty years ago, gathering her first fans from a very different set of readers than the ones we’re writing for.

Today’s readers and, I’m guessing, today’s agents and editors, want a stronger motive for crime-solving than an abstract sense of justice. They want a specific reason why a detective gets involved in a case.

Okay, let’s back up a minute. I can hear you now. “I’m not writing about an amateur detective. My protagonist is a police detective. She has to solve crimes.”

Sure she does. She’s collecting a salary, she’s wearing a badge–when her boss says to go investigate, she goes.

It’s not enough.

These days, your readers want a second story thread. They want a detective, whether he’s a professional or the curious boy next door, to have a concrete, personal motive for stepping in. They want the detective to have something at stake.

So what do you do? Well, there are the standards: The victim is a personal friend of the detective. The detective’s brother is the primary suspect. There’s a child involved. And you can use these. I firmly believe there are few, if any, new plots, but the most familiar plot can be made new by individual details and captivating specifics.

Why not push yourself, though? Sure, it’s possible every idea has been used once, but you haven’t read them all. Go for something you haven’t seen on another page, a problem you haven’t watched a hundred times on the big screen. Maybe the murder was committed with an historical artifact that was stolen from a museum where your detective is the guard. Maybe the killer left a “treasure” map leading to another body, and the “X” is marked on your detective’s great-grandmother’s farm.

 

Maybe your detective’s prime suspect is her own chief-of-police, and she wants to be the one to a) prove him innocent or b) hang his badge from the nearest yardarm. Maybe, as my son would surely suggest, you throw in a space alien or two!

Just make sure you pick something. Set up your hero with a strong, solid goal, one that is his alone, and help him pursue it. Throw up obstacle after obstacle, so he’s tested, and give him the tools to push through all the barriers and get there in the end. Weave this personal thread in with the professional, mystery-solving one, and you’ll keep your reader hooked. He’ll read the book cover to cover and, when the story is finished, he’ll get to see your detective solve the crime.

Does that detective solve her personal problem, too? That’s up to you. Maybe it’s time to write that sequel!

Comment away-I’ll be checking in all day and will get back to you. For more thoughts on writing, books, and life, check out my blog at http://beckylevine.livejournal.com/. Come on over this week, and enter my first blog contest http://beckylevine.livejournal.com/37253.html: a chance to win a signed copy of Terri Thayer’s mystery, Wild Goose Chase.

 

New York Times Bestselling Author Allison Brennan is a former consultant in the California State Legislature and lives in Northern California with her husband and five children. Her eighth romantic thriller, TEMPTING EVIL, is on sale 5/20/08.

Truthful Fiction

I make-up stories. My books are fiction and I’m an expert at nothing. I know a little bit about a lot of stuff, which is both a blessing and a curse.

I’m keenly aware that I don’t know everything (please, do not tell my children this fact!) I did a bit of research for my first three books-just enough, frankly, to realize that I had become dangerous-to myself.

There are two mistakes beginning writers-many of whom are published-make. The first is to not do any research and make up everything, stretching credibility. I’m willing to suspend disbelief if the story and writing is good enough, but some things I have a hard time forgiving. The other extreme is putting in too much information. You learn something new, become an “expert” on-for example-how internet feeds can hide their location. Then you show-off your knowledge to your readers, often resulting in long, boring passages. And unless you ARE a computer expert, you’re going to get something wrong.

I received some great advice from two published author friends of mine. The first is married to a retired cop. She laughs at errors in books related to law enforcement. She told me, “Less is more.” Don’t over-explain because unless you’ve walked the beat, you really don’t know much about being a cop. My other friend, a retired FBI Agent, said, “You’re writing fiction. You can make it work.”

Yes, I write fiction and therefore I can break and bend a lot of rules. But because I really want my stories to have a flavor of reality, I want them to be as accurate as possible. I’ve become addicted to research.

Right now, I’m in the middle of the FBI’s Citizen’s Academy. This is the most fun I’ve ever had learning something new. The reason I wanted to do this was because I’m launching an FBI series in early 2009, but in my current “Prison Break” trilogy I have FBI agents as either major or secondary characters.

The premise of my series is the “best of the best” Evidence Response Team members form a unit at Quantico to handle high-profile and complex cases, like multi-jurisdictional serial killers, mass murderers, and kidnappings. I’ve done a lot of research on ERT and am fascinated by their dedication and training. ERT members train and specialize in different areas, like firearms, bombs, forensic anthropology, etc. They are full Special Agents, but have an added skill or talent and are sent out to crime scenes to collect and process evidence like a traditional local criminalist would do. One high-profile case they worked near where I live was the Yosemite murders. The ERT unit processed the burned car where two of the victims were found. They are used on federal cases or when local law enforcement requests help-particularly helpful in smaller districts who can’t afford their own crime scene team.

 

I was very happy with my premise, until I talked to the PR guy at my local FBI office and learned that the beauty of the ERT program was that each of the 56 regional offices has an ERT and the purpose is to be able to respond quickly to a crime scene. Having a national unit sort of defeats the purpose of the program.

I was a bit upset learning this. But, because this is fiction, I figured I would just go with my original plan. I’ll admit, I’d lost a little love I had for the series and was considering coming up with a completely different idea.

My first night at the citizen’s academy, we learned the priorities for the FBI. After 9/11, the number one priority is counterterrorism. No brainer there. Protecting our country from another terrorist attack, foreign or domestic, is crucial to the health and safety of the public.

 

The second priority is counterintelligence. Then Cyber crimes (which includes online child pornography.) Then public corruption. Followed by civil rights, criminal enterprises (RICO), white collar crime, and finally . . . violent crime.

 

Violent crime was at the bottom of the list. This doesn’t mean that the FBI won’t get involved in a case when asked by local law enforcement-they will. But it means that the violent crime squad has fewer staff and resources than the other units. This is largely because violent crime generally stays within local law enforcement jurisdiction, and local cops are well trained to handle robberies and homicides and other such crimes. If a life is in immediate danger-such as the kidnapping of a child-the FBI will make that the number one priority. But for all intents and purposes, violent crime is no longer a priority.

This actually works very well for my FBI series premise. Why? Because if violent crime is not a priority of the bureau, then having an elite team focused on violent crimes has merit. To be honest, I highly doubt that the FBI in this current global climate would create a national ERT unit to focus on violent crime. BUT I can make it work for my story-which is fiction.

In my book FEAR NO EVIL, a very small sub-plot revolved around the disappearance of Monique Paxton. We (the readers) know that she was murdered by the villain. What we learn near the end of the book is that her family never knew her fate. When one of the villains reveals the information about her murder and how her body was disposed, her father finally has closure. In one paragraph I created the backstory for my entire new premise without intending to do so. Jonathon Paxton, Monique’s father, ran for public office on an anti-crime platform after Monique disappeared. Over the years, he worked himself up into higher and higher offices, and is now a US Senator, all on a strong anti-crime platform.

We’re now getting into an area I know something about. After 13 years working in the California State Legislature, I know that lots of legislators come in with pet projects. If it’s something we don’t like or it only benefits their individual district, we call it pork. If it’s something we do like, we call it desperately needed legislation. So in my first FBI book, SUDDEN DEATH (4/09) I’m using Senator Paxton as the vehicle to get funding for a special FBI squad that focuses on violent crime-serial killers, mass murderers, missing and exploited children, and kidnappings.

My premise holds. Likely? Probably not. Plausible? Absolutely. I can sell the idea because Senator Paxton believes strongly in this, so strongly he’s willing to put his political future on the line to fund the program through a budget trailer bill. If his character is strong enough, I think all my readers will believe in not only the program, but that it could be done in real life.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the FBI and what they do (and don’t do.) Before 9/11, the FBI was a reactionary agency. A crime occurred, they investigated. Now, the FBI is proactive, hence the focus on counterterrorism and counterintelligence. They want to stop disasters before they happen.

 

Most of the successes of the FBI and the other national agencies are classified. We’re not going to read about them in the newspaper. Sleeper cells destroyed, terrorists taken out over seas, stopping an attack by having a strong presence at a major event. People become complacent when there’s nothing big or sexy being reported. They think, wrongfully, that terrorism isn’t a threat any more, or the terrorists who attacked on 9/11 were a few crazy idiots. But the threat is there, and it’s not going away, and our diligence and strength is keeping them at bay.

There’s so much more I could write about! I’ve had three classes (and a day at the gun range) and each day I came up with an idea for a book. One of them I’m really excited about because it centered around an informant whose motivations and conflicts were so clear in my mind that I could see her as a fully-developed character.

I’m going to wrap this up and visit again in a couple of weeks with more details about how the FBI operates and how to use it-or not-in fiction. But I thought I’d go on my bully pulpit for a moment and discuss the other night’s final presentation on cybercrimes against children.

The SSA in charge of this unit takes his job seriously. Child pornography is a widespread and devastating crime. We’re not talking about naked kids in a bathtub; we’re talking about violent and abusive sexual assault against children-the majority of them infants and toddlers. Yes, babies and small boys and girls. There’s a threshold that the FBI looks into-the child has to be 12 or under. Prepubescent. This isn’t to say that the FBI won’t get involved in a violent crime against a teenager, but because the breadth of this problem, they have to prioritize their resources to protecting and rescuing the youngest of the victims.

Those who prey on the most innocent of the innocent should be dealt with harshly, but unfortunately, as the SSA said: “There is not enough law enforcement in the country to combat this problem.”

If every cop in America focused on child pornography, they’d make only a dent in the distribution of these hideous videos. A recent law enforcement operation discovered 20,000 computers in Virginia alone with downloaded child pornography videos. Yes-videos of sex with young children that are downloaded off the Internet every minute of every day. Over 20,000 sick perverts who watched sexual violence against children.

One case study showed that it doesn’t take long for a adult porn addict to turn to child pornography. A 60-year-old-man was arrested for enticing a 15-year-old girl to commit sexual acts over a webcam. He’d been a legal adult porn addict his entire life, and in one chat room had an exposure to child porn. At first he rejected it, disgusted. But over a few months, he’d become desensitized to the adult porn that had satisfied his addiction for decades. He started looking at more violent porn, then child porn, then violent child porn, then he reached out to victims. This downfall took eight months. Eight months from exposure to child porn to attempted sexual assault.

These men and women who spend countless hours chatting with these men online in order to stop them, viewing child porn videos in the hopes of identifying the child in order to rescue him/her, need to be commended for their dedication and commitment. It is not easy to view the hideous and disturbing videos that are available online. Each child in these videos is a victim of violent, sexual abuse. Most of the law enforcement officers and support staff use their own time to track these predators, in addition to their regular jobs. Truly unsung heroes.

I’m happy to answer questions if anyone has them. I’ll post in a couple of weeks more information about the academy and how to use crime research in novels.

Lee, thanks so much for having me today!

You can visit Allison on her website http://www.allisonbrennan.com/

Allison also writes a weekly blog over  at Murder She Writes

http://www.murdershewrites.com/

***

Tomorrow – Scott Hoffman, Owner/Agent of Folio Literary Management

 

Joyce Tremel works for the Township of Shaler Police Department located just north of the City of Pittsburgh. She holds a second degree blackbelt in Taekwondo and volunteered as a trainee instructor for two years. She is a member of Mysterywrights (a critique group), and a member of Pennwriters. Joyce is a former Vice-President of the Mary Roberts Rinehart chapter of Sisters in Crime. You can visit Joyce on her website http://www.joycetremel.com/bio__links, or you can read her very popular blog every Thursday on Working Stiffs http://workingstiffs.blogspot.com/

Joyce Tremel:

For some reason, when I hear the question, “What does a police secretary do?” it makes me think of the song, “What Do the Simple Folk Do?” from the musical Camelot. Not Spamalot, people. Camelot. You know, Lerner and Loewe? Richard Burton and Julie Andrews? Oh, never mind.

Anyway, in the song, Arthur and Guinevere are pondering what their subjects might be doing. They get it all wrong.

The same holds true with the public and most police work. How many of you knew there was such a thing as a police secretary? Come on. Hold up your hands. Uh-huh. Thought so. We are so under appreciated. You never see us on Law and Order or CSI. One more thing they get wrong!

So, what does a police secretary do? The simple answer is pretty much anything. I work for the Shaler Township Police Department in Pennsylvania. Shaler Township is a suburb of Pittsburgh. Our population is around 30,000 people. (To get an idea of the calls we get look here: http://workingstiffs.blogspot.com/2008/04/statistics-again.html ) We have 27 sworn officers-this includes the Chief, two Lieutenants, one Sergeant, two Detectives, one Officer who handles juvenile cases, and the rest are Patrolmen. The two civilians are an administrative assistant, who acts as the Chief’s secretary and does, well, administrative things, and myself.

Shaler Township Police Department

I have my own office which consists of my computer station, a desk and file cabinets. I have a bullet proof glass window that looks out onto the reception area. If someone needs a copy of their accident report, etc, I pass it through the slot at the bottom. After they pay the $15.00 fee for a copy of the report, that is.

My office

My desk

 

One of my main duties is answering the phone. All the municipalities in Allegheny County have a single 911 dispatch center, so I don’t dispatch any calls. The calls that come into the office are usually people calling to talk to  a police officer, calling for a copy of an accident report, or people filing a complaint by phone. I also get a lot of calls from people who need to see an officer but didn’t want to call 911. I have to tell them if it’s important enough to dispatch an officer, they should hang up and dial 911. If there happens to be an officer in the station, I’ll give him the call, but they’re supposed to stay out on the road unless they’re writing up their reports. Many times, I’m the only one in the station. We do get walk ins (or 10-12s as we call them) and then I’ll get on the squad room radio and ask someone to “10-19 for a 10-12,” which translates to “get your ass in here and talk to this person.” Not literally, but you get the idea.

Squad room

My most important duty is entering the police reports into the computer. We use a software program called “The Informer.” The officers write a report up for every call they get and turn over all the handwritten reports to me the next day. I then make sure that none are missing and spend most of the day typing. We average about 10,000 calls a year, and a report must be filed for all of them. I type most of them with help from the administrative assistant. We always split up the weekend reports on Monday-too many for one person to do.

Someone asked me once why the officers don’t enter their own reports. The most important reason is they have to be entered correctly. For reporting purposes, there are certain things that have to be on the reports and most of the guys would take short cuts. Sometimes what they have written as the type of call is nothing like what it really is. For example, the officer might put “harassment” down where it says type of call, but it’s really a dispute between neighbors. Another reason the officers don’t enter their own reports is time. They would need to be sitting at a computer for hours instead of out patrolling. Even if they could do it from the patrol car, people complain that the officers are loafing if the car is parked somewhere.

Another duty is to enter all the traffic and non-traffic citations. Really, really boring. I also process requests from insurance companies for accident and police reports. They mail in a check and I record it and send them the report. Sometimes I get requests from attorneys for the same thing. I really like it when an attorney asks for a report because his client is suing the other party and it turns out his client is the one at fault. Or someone is suing for injuries and the report clearly states there weren’t any. Now that really amuses me.

I’ve also done things that aren’t in the job description. I’ve fingerprinted people who needed them done for their jobs when the detective who usually does them was out. I’ve done pat-down searches on females who have been arrested. I’ve watched lost children and lost dogs. I watched an arrestee when everyone had to leave on an emergency. I stayed over and helped out when we had a major flood after Hurricane Ivan. I did the same after 9-11 when we were in “lockdown.”

So, that about sums up the glamorous life of a police secretary. At least in Shaler Township. Oh, and did I mention that I only work part-time? I do all this working twenty eight hours a week.

***

* Tomorrow – World renowned professor of forensic psychology and bestselling author Dr. Katherine Ramsland.

Thursday – San Francisco Private Investigator Peter Gessner

Friday – Police Lt./Law Enforcement Historian/Author Monty McCord

I am a police dispatcher, and I work the graveyard shift in a small county in southern Colorado. Once the sun goes down, I am the only contact point for three law enforcement agencies, three fire departments, two ambulance garages, the department of social services, the department of mental health, the water, gas and sewer departments and the county road and bridge crews. I man eight phone lines, answer 911 calls, and keep track of six to ten law enforcement officers simultaneously.

Because I work for such a small county, there are times when nothing much is going on, but there are also periods of utter chaos, when multi-tasking is not just a word but an art form. In training, I was told only six percent of the population have the multi-tasking skills required to be a police dispatcher, and given the huge attrition rate for this profession, I believe it. Less than one in four of the people we hire make it through the training program, but it’s almost impossible to predict which ones. Until you are thrown into the chaos, I don’t think anyone knows if they have what it takes.

Let’s say 911 rings, and the caller reports that there has been a serious accident on the interstate. While keeping the caller on the line, and asking him questions about injuries and trying to gather all the pertinent information, I must also dispatch an ambulance and perhaps a rescue unit. I also have to advise State Patrol’s dispatch so they can send a trooper. Meanwhile, probably twenty other people have seen the accident and are also calling in to report it. I have to answer every one of those calls, and get details from all of them, because they may be calling in to report a different accident (which is very possible on one of our snowy Colorado days) or something else entirely. I now have every phone lit up, and four or five different people trying to reach me by radio. Somehow I must juggle all of this, while perhaps also running the license plates and names of all the people involved through NCIC/CCIC (National Crime Information Center/Colorado Crime Information Center) to determine if they are wanted, if the vehicles are stolen or if they have valid licenses. It can become overwhelming, to say the least.

On my desk, I have the 911 system, which includes a phone and a monitor, a computer which is always logged in to NCIC/CCIC, a radio console with 11 channels, another computer where I manually type in every phone call and every bit of radio traffic with the exact time it occurred, and a phone with eight lines. I have at least 20 binders filled with information-maps, security codes for gates and alarms, contact people for various businesses, city and county government officials, bee keepers, taxidermists, animal rescue, cattle owners, etc.-and I need to know where everything is and find it in a matter of seconds. I probably have at least 200 phone numbers memorized. The cops, firemen and paramedics I work with expect me to have the answer to every question they ask me, and they want the answer now.

As a police dispatcher, I get to live vicariously. Nearly every day brings some new situation I’ve never dealt with before. My job can be terrifying and stressful but is always challenging and rewarding. I have to be the calm, comforting voice that sends help when someone’s life is falling apart. That’s not always easy, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.

***

Tracy Seybold has been a police dispatcher for five years. To prove her multi-tasking skills, she is also the award-winning author of nine historical romances under the pen name Diana Bold, is an editor for Cobblestone Press and has three teen-aged boys. Her first book, THE MAIL ORDER BRIDE was nominated for both the 2006 CAPA Award for Best Historical Romance and Ecataromance’s Best First Book of 2006. You can visit her website at http://www.dianabold.com/ or email her at Diana@dianabold.com if you have any questions about police dispatching or small town sheriff’s departments.     

 

Our guest expert today on The Graveyard Shift is Dr. Denene Lofland. Dr. Lofland received her PhD degree in pathology from the Medical College of Virginia, and she’s a trained clinical microbiologist. She has served as the Director of Clinical Laboratory Sciences at Wright State University, and has worked in biotech/drug research and development for many years.

Denene has worked on drug development programs for the U.S. government’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).  She contributed to the FDA approval of the gemifloxacin (Factive), an antibiotic for the treatment of bacterial pneumonia, a drug that is now on the market and prescribed by physicians worldwide. She recently served as Manager of North Carolina Operations for a company that conducts high-level research and development in areas such as anti-bioterrorism.

She also supervised several projects, including government-sponsored research which required her to maintain a secret security clearance. Denene has published several articles in scientific journals and recently contributed to the thirteenth edition of Bailey and Scott’s Diagnostic Microbiology. She currently serves as Associate Professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Touro University.

Microscopic Murder

What’s so interesting about microbiology? Microorganisms were here before man walked the Earth, and they’ll be here after we’re gone. Actually, you would find it difficult to survive without them. Some bacteria, called commensals, live in and on our bodies to our benefit, protecting  us from invading pathogens (disease causing germs), and they produce vitamins.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the bad bugs. They’re responsible for more deaths than cancer, heart attacks, and war. They can disfigure, eat flesh, paralyze, or just make you feel so bad you wish you were dead.

There are four major types of microorganisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. They can cause damage directly, or they can release toxins that do the dirty work for them.

HIV virus

E.coli bacteria

Aspergillus (fungi)

Loa loa (parasite) in eye

So, how can your antagonists use microorganisms to kill? They’ll need a fundamental knowledge of microbiology, such as information that’s taught in a basic college course. Next, the bad guy will need a source of bacteria. Microbiology labs all over the world contain bugs of all types.

Biological safety hood for the safe handling of bacteria

Most of these laboratories are locked, so a little B & E would be in order. Or, maybe your antagonist has a connection with a person who has control of the bug of interest. If so, the evil-doer could make what’s known in the trade as a V.I.P. trip. He’d fly to the friend’s lab, place the bug in a plastic vial, hide the vial in his pocket (V.I.P.), and get back on the plane for the trip home.

Once the antagonist has the bug, he has to keep it alive and reproducing. Bacteria are grown on agar plates (food for bugs) in an incubator. In general, bacteria double in number every 20 minutes. So, if you start with just a few bugs, let’s say 10, and allow them to grow overnight…well, you do the math. Once the killer has enough of the bug, then it’s time to deliver it to the intended victim.

Picking up bacteria from agar plate. The brownish-red material is the agar. The grayish coloring at the top of the agar is E.coli bacteria.

Now for a true story. It wasn’t murder, just an unfortunate accident that involved a woman, some green beans, and a home canning jar. Canning jars have lids designed to exhibit a slight indentation in their centers when food is fresh. If the indentation inverts (pops up), the vegetables may be contaminated, and should be discarded.

A woman was preparing dinner for her family and decided to serve some of her home-canned green beans that evening. She picked up a jar of beans, but thought the pop-up didn’t look quite right. So, to satisfy her curiousity, she opened the jar, touched her finger to the bean juice, and tasted it. It tasted fine to her, so she cooked the beans, and served the steaming hot dish to her family. The next day, the woman died, but her family survived. The beans contained botulism toxin, produced by the bacteria, Clostridium botulinum. C. botulinum lives naturally in the soil.

Botulism toxin is one of the most powerful neurotoxins known to man. About 10 ounces could kill everyone on Earth. It works by paralyzing its victim. Why didn’t the other members of the family die? The toxin is inactivated by heat.