Jennifer Chase's Blog, page 44

Two Women in California Fight Off Intruder

As I was skimming through the news during a quiet moment of the holiday celebrations this week, I found a story out of my home state of California that caught my interest. In Harbison County, a small town in the San Diego area, two women decided that they would not fall victim to an armed intruder.

A man, later identified as 24-year-old convicted felon Charles Keller, kicked open the door of a home in which the women were residing. He claimed to be looking for someone and then demanded money....

The Next Big Thing — Dead Burn

Thanks to a fellow author friend Carolyn Arnold for tagging me in this fun blog feature for new or in-the-works novels.

Here are a quick ten questions about my latest book Dead Burn, which will be released early 2013.

1. What is the working title of your book?

The current working title is Dead Burn and it will most likely stay that name. It seems to fit with the other books in the Emily Stone Series.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

With my academic background in forensics and crimino...

Serial Killer was Addicted to Pleasure of Hunting and Killing

When a young man sits in a police interrogation and admits to killing multiple people, one of the questions naturally raised from such a confession is – Why? The search for this answer is what drives criminal psychologists to further their research. This simple, three-letter word drives a lot of my personal study and forms the basis for my novels.

Maybe we want some reassurance. If we can pinpoint the reasons that violent predators murder time and again and not see those characteristics in our...

Thriller Thursday Guest — Author C.J. West

Aside from the weekend, Thriller Thursday is my favorite day of the week. Today, I have a special guest, C.J. West, with his latest book Dinner at Deadman’s. A great read with a quirky main character, lots of humor, and a mystery to boot.

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SYNOPSIS:

Lorado Martin has loved junk since his grandparents took him bottle digging in the backwoods of New England when he was a boy. The search for antiques and collectibles led him to a unique hobby: digging through the estates of the newly deceased, a...

These Shoplifters Take Requests

Photo credit: MySecuritySign.com

As a criminology academic, I love learning about new ways that criminals are using technology to commit their illegal deeds and, concerning more noble pursuits, how law enforcement is using some of these same advances to bring the criminals to justice.

Emily Stone, the protagonist in most of my novels, is an expert with the most impressive of surveillance tools. Her integration of mental strength and basic intuition with the finest products of the digital age is...

Are You a Word Wrangler or a Sentence Slinger?

We have an amazing language with an abundance of words. In fact, people who learn English as a second language often comment that was have so many words to learn and some have several meanings and spellings to certain ones. However, it seems our extensive lists of words are used sparingly in today’s casual language.

As a writer, I find that I am guilty of redundant words in my writing zone of safety and I usually catch them in rewrites. There are only so many words that describe the perils of...

Facebook Ordered to Remove Page that Tracks Pedophiles

One of the crimes that is featured in several of my novels, and that I believe all would agree is one of the most heinous acts of violence possible, is pedophilia. My lead character, Emily Stone, is on a vigilante crusade to bring the pedophiles, rapists, and murderers around us to justice and she does so using risky means of surveillance that go beyond the efforts afforded to uniform officers.

I wonder what Emily would think of a recent ruling in Northern Ireland regarding the privacy rights...

Don’t Forget to Tread Lightly

Impression evidence is the most common type of evidence found at any crime scene, whether the primary or secondary scenes, and it includes fingerprints, footprints, and tire marks. It’s one of the most interesting physical parts of a crime scene for me. Even though it is the most common, it can be difficult to collect and identify properly due to the partials, distortions, scene contaminants, and weather conditions.

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“…while footprints are common they are often left unused by forensic scient...

Do We Judge the Victims?

Violent crimes are sad no matter the victim, but perhaps the stories are even more disheartening when the victims are those who are deemed to be the most vulnerable, like young children, or perhaps considered most on the fringes of any involved community that would work to keep them safe. In Detroit, the bodies of four such young women were discovered burning in the trunks of cars. Now, their accused killer is being brought to justice.

James Brown was charged with first-degree murder for killi...

Fast-Paced Action with Serial Killers

Recently, I did an interview with Indie Author Land .

What make’s Emily Stone tick? How do I balance my research and educational background with creating fiction? What’s more difficult editing or promotion? Find out!

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Tell us about Dark Mind.

Vigilante detective Emily Stone searches for an abducted nine-year-old girl taken by ruthless and enterprising slave brokers. Following the clues from California to the garden island of Kauai, she begins to piece together the evidence and ventures deep i...