Colleen Collins's Blog, page 6
July 18, 2015
Surveillance 101: Staying Legal, Dressing the Part, Prepping the Vehicle
Female PI on surveillance (image licensed by Colleen Collins)
During the ten-plus yearsthat my husband and I co-owned a private investigations agency, we conducted dozensofsurveillances, easilya hundred or more(I've never sat down to figure out how many exactly).Although I still work part-time as a PI, I don't conduct nearlyas many surveillances as I once did for the simple reason I got a bit, well, older. Itmight sound easy to sit in a car for hours onsurveillance, but actuallyit can be phy...
July 8, 2015
Don't Give Out Your Personal Email Address - Use a Disposable One Instead
The other day, I wanted to add my signaturefor a cause I care aboutvia an online petition. The site required people to submit their email addresses, so I entered a disposable email address.Otherwise, my personal email address could be spammed, added to mailing lists,or even sold by that vendorto other third-party vendors. The latter being one way people's personal email addresses end up in searchable databases.
But it's not necessaryto submit your personal email address to any online site tha...
June 11, 2015
Courthouse Dogs Provide Comfort for Victims
Today my husband was at the Arapahoe Courthouse. He passed by the courtroomwhere the James Holmes trial is taking place, and in thehallway were two courthouse dogs, a black lab and a Schnauzer. Several children and adults would occasionally hug or pet the dogs, whoare specially trained toprovide comfort to witnesses and others.
I first learned about courthouse dogs while writing the nonfiction book A Lawyer's Primer for Writers: From Crimes to Courtrooms. I was writing a section on players in...
June 8, 2015
June 8-10: Free Book on Private Investigations for Writers!
This is an amazing book and I’m very happy that I got it. The authors cover so much ground about a PI’s life and work, I’d find it hard to get a more thorough overview.— Allie R.
At my "sister" site Guns, Gams & Gumshoes, we're celebrating our 6-year blogiversary and giving away our nonfiction book for writers How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths. All kinds of info for #crimefiction and #mysterywriters, as well as anyone interested in the real world of private inves...
May 29, 2015
Homicide Investigation Basics
Welcome to thethird class, "Homicide Investigation Basics,"based on course material thatmy husband and I taught four years agoto Kiss of Death, the suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America. I haveupdated and added content for this post.
In this third class, we cover the basics of homicide investigations -- think of it as Homicide 101. We review thekey tasks conducted by law enforcement, including anoverview about estimating time of death andtypes of wounds.
We do not provide any graphic...
May 1, 2015
Private Investigators And Crime Scene Investigations, Part II
Welcome to the second part of "Private Investigations and Crime Scene Investigations," based ona series of classes my husband and I taught four years ago for Kiss of Death, the mystery-suspensearm of the Romance Writers of America.
As explained in the first class, PIs typically investigate crimes scenes after law enforcement/others have finished their investigations and re-opened the area back to everyday use. I gave several examples of re-opened crime scenes that my husband and I have invest...
April 22, 2015
Private Investigators and Crime Scene Investigations, Part I
Four years ago, my husband and I taught a series of classes forKiss of Death, the mystery-suspensearm of the Romance Writers of America. We focused our workshop on private investigations, a field we know well after being co-owners of a private investigations agency for years. In fact yours truly still conducts legal investigations for several law firms. My husband has since returned to the practice of criminal law, which he practiced for 18 years before we opened our PI agency.
This post is p...
April 15, 2015
In Honor of National Library Week: Keith Richards, Rock-n-Roll Librarian
Keith Richards, Rolling Stones Voodoo Loungue World Tour, Rio de Janeiro, 1995 (photo is in public domain, courtesy of Machocarioca)
When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equalizer.— Keith Richards The Rolling Stones'Keith Richards: Rockeroutlaw...guitar god...bookworm
This will either surprise you or makeyoujealous:Keith Richa...
April 10, 2015
Litigation Stress: How It Can Affect Characters in Your Story
Maximillian Schell, defense attorney in "Judgment at Nuremberg"
Writing a story revolving around a lawsuit, or you have a scene or two set in acourtroom? People in litigation, especially those under the stress of being the defendant or even the plaintiff, are often portrayed as "stressed" in such scenes, but their reactions and symptoms are more complex than that.
In fact, there's a term,litigation stress syndrome,for the symptoms people mightsuffer from intense, especially prolonged litigati...
April 1, 2015
#WritingTips Guidelines for Testifying in Court
I originally wrote this article for PI Magazine's December 2010 issue. Theseguidelines were written with private investigators in mind and provide handy info if you have a private eye character who must testify in court.
The section under "To be most effective when testifying" has tips for any character who's taking the standat a trial. Or turn a tip or two upside down and make a more conflict-filled situation in your scene!
by Colleen Collins, All Rights Reserve...
