Michael J. McCann's Blog: Open Investigations, page 19

The Rainy Day Killer

I'm very pleased to announce that I've finished the first draft of the fourth novel in the Donaghue and Stainer Crime Fiction series, The Rainy Day Killer. I'm currently doing a re-write before I send it to my beta readers. Also, I'm trying something new this time. I'll be posting the electronic version of the Advance Review Copy (ARC) on NetGalley at the end of August to generate early reviews. This is my first experience with NetGalley, so I'm hoping it's a positive one.

The Rainy Day Killer focuses on Karen Stainer and her upcoming marriage to FBI Special Agent Sandy Alexander. A serial killer preys on women in Glendale while Karen plans her wedding in Virginia. Will she still go through with it after the killer vows to make her his next victim?

Hank Donaghue leads the investigation with the help of FBI profiler Ed Griffin, who made a brief appearance in Marcie's Murder. Of course, Karen also works the case with partner Jim Horvath, but she's distracted by the arrangements she needs to make for the wedding. Needless to say, she struggles to get into the "bride-to-be" mindset.

The novel is set in both Maryland and Virginia, the venues for the previous novels. Karen's fiancé Sandy is originally from the Covington, Virginia area, and his family has agreed to stage the wedding on their property in Alleghany County.

Fans of Karen Stainer will meet her family for the first time and get a better understanding of her upbringing and the forces that shaped her personality. If you thought Karen was a handful, wait until you meet the Stainer brothers.

If you'd like to read and review an electronic copy of The Rainy Day Killer, please send an e-mail to llclark136@hotmail.com with "Rainy Day Killer" in the subject line and your return e-mail address, and we'll make sure you are on the list to have access to the ARC at the end of August.

An Interview with Dan Brown

There is an interesting interview with Dan Brown, who recently published Inferno, in the June 20th digital edition of the New York Times. Brown talks about growing up without a television and how he became a “voracious” reader who was genuinely concerned about the fate of the imaginary characters in the books he was reading. Asked about his favorite authors, he spoke of Steinbeck for his sense of place, Ludlum for his complex plotting, and Rowling for having inspired so many young people to be “passionate” about reading.

Brown himself reads primarily non-fiction, although he enjoys the “thriller” genre when he does reads fiction. What is his idea of a good thriller? It is a novel that rivets his attention from the opening chapters and teaches him about the real world. The examples he cites are Coma (Robin Cook), The Hunt for Red October (Tom Clancy), and The Firm (John Grisham). He also talks about the need for an ethical debate or moral dilemma at the centre of the novel.

Sound familiar? I think we can assume he follows this same pattern in his own writing, judging from the popularity of his thrillers.

For the full text of the interview, please see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/boo....

Young Adults Love Libraries

The Digital Shift has reported the results of a new Pew Research Center study that shows that reading is alive and well for young adults. Those surveyed in the 16-29 years of age category read not only digital, but printed books. They also enjoy physical libraries, recognizing them as an important place to study, go online, and meet up with their friends.

Here are some highlights from the report:

(1) Compared with older adults, Americans under age 30 are just as likely to have visited a library in the past year (67% of those ages 16-29 say this, compared with 62% of adults ages 30 and older), but they are significantly more likely to have either used technology at libraries or accessed library websites and services remotely;

(2) Some 38% of Americans ages 16-29 have used computers and the internet at libraries in the past year, compared with 22% of those ages 30 and older. Among those who use computers and internet at libraries, young patrons are more likely than older users to employ the library’s computers or internet to do research for school or work, visit social networking sites, or download or watch online video;

(3) Almost half (48%) of Americans ages 16-29 have visited a library website, compared with 36% of those ages 30 and older (who are significantly less likely to have done so); and

(4)Almost one in five (18%) Americans ages 16-29 have used a mobile device to visit a public library’s website or access library resources in the past 12 months, compared with 12% of those ages 30 and older.

For the article, please visit http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2013/0.... The article contains a link to the full report.

Librify: A New Model

There is an interesting article in the June 22nd issue of Publishers Weekly regarding “Librify,” which is aimed at using the Book of the Month Club model to bring e-books to book club readers. Librify is the brainchild of Joanna Stone Herman, and is scheduled for beta-testing in July followed by a launch in the fall. According to the article, “Librify [is] a startup geared to book clubs and heavy readers that combines social reading, recommendations à la Goodreads, and a Book of the Month Club–style subscription service for one discounted e-book a month with a fully stocked e-bookstore that works across devices.”

If you're interested in reading the original article, please visit http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by....

You can also sign up now to participate in the beta testing at http://www.librify.com/.

It will be interesting for both authors and readers to follow the development of Librify as it tries to establish a new model for the book industry.

Forensic Research in Crime Fiction Writing

A discerning reader of crime fiction knows and appreciates when an author has gone the extra mile to ensure the accuracy of information in a novel. Forensic research is thus essential to a crime fiction writer.

Where to begin? There are numerous reference sources on guns, blood spatter, DNA and fingerprint analysis, pathology, and forensic psychology. Publications recommended by law enforcement agencies or which form part of forensic courses at colleges and universities are examples of credible sources. For an online list of forensic resources, see http://www.tncrimlaw.com/forensic/. The Scientific Testimony Online Journal at http://www.scientific.org/index.html has various tutorials and case law.

To ensure transparency, many law enforcement agencies post procedural information online. As an example, visit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives site at http://www.atf.gov/ and you'll find the relevant laws and regulations that govern these commodities, related reference tools, and even information on how an arson investigation is conducted. The FBI site at http://www.fbi.gov/ has similar information on their fields of investigations.

Other Internet resources include the Real Police site at http://www.realpolice.net/ that has an Ask-a-Cop feature allowing you to pose questions to police officers. The Gallery of Guns site at http://www.galleryofguns.com/ has a detailed description of firearms and their features.

There are also a number of websites geared to forensics for writers. See, for example, Tom Adair's site at http://forensics4fiction.com/.

As well, there are various articles and tutorials on forensic research. These include Hilary Conner's tutorial at http://www.writing-world.com/mystery/..., which outlines various steps and resources in forensic research.

The idea of course is not to overwhelm a reader with forensic detail, but to describe forensic procedures in layman's terms to make your story credible.

The Lighter Side of Clichés

There is innumerable advice on the Internet as to what clichés to avoid in order to be a successful writer. Some of these articles are so intense and proscriptive, they could singularly induce writer's block. I was thus happy to see a tongue-in-cheek look at clichés in crime fiction in a blog by John Brantingham, a crime fiction writer himself, as well as an educator.

For your reading pleasure, I'll recap four of his favorite clichés:

No one slows down on the freeway to avoid guns and smashing cars when the good guy chases the bad guy. Next time you're watching a car chase scene on television or in a movie theatre, look around and see all the drivers who aren't changing speed or trying to bail out to avoid getting shot.

The dying really want to reveal the killer. No one's calling an ambulance while the guy is bleeding to death on the sidewalk because the victim is more worried about fingering the bad guy than his or her own health.

No one takes a break in their work when talking to the police. They just don’t have the time. They go on stacking boxes or doing other important work while they are talking.

No one ever wants police protection because it will cramp their lifestyle. (Seriously? How about just until after the hit man is caught?)

For the full text of this amusing blog, see http://johnbrantingham.blogspot.ca/20....

I'd like to add one of my own personal favorites: The detective goes to have a chat with a person of interest. After the detective identifies himself (usually by shouting out his police affiliation before he even gets to the guy), the person immediately starts running away. (If the police didn't think you were guilty before, they sure do now.) If you're a fan of CSI: New York, watch how many times this happens to Flack, especially when he's wearing a new suit!

There's a fun side to clichés: they spark recognition in readers/viewers and can actually help draw them into the action.

Any personal favorites you'd like to share?

John Grisham: The Pursuit of Justice

In my blog on Erle Stanley Gardner (May 21, 2013), I pointed out the similarities between him and John Grisham in terms of their efforts in support of the wrongfully-convicted. I was interested to read in The Guardian that Grisham is working on a new novel entitled Sycamore Row, which will reprise the character of Jake Brigance, the young lawyer featured in his first book, A Time to Kill. The inspiration for the original story came when Grisham overheard the testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim.

A Time to Kill was rejected by various publishers before finally being published in 1988 with only 5000 copies being printed. The novel was subsequently reprinted once Grisham became a bestselling novelist with the publication of The Firm.

Although Grisham has refined his style and story-telling techniques since his debut novel, his themes have remained consistent as his often idealistic young lawyers encounter the realities of the legal system and attempt to find justice for those they defend.

For the full text of The Guardian article, please see http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/....

The Popularity of Scandinavian Crime Fiction

Recently in my research, I came across an interesting article about the popularity of Scandinavian crime fiction novelists, known as “Scandicrime” writers. The article is entitled “A Cold Night's Death: The Allure of Scandinavian Crime Fiction” and is written by Jeremy Megraw of the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library For the Performing Arts.

Megraw's article attributes the popularity of these novels to three main elements: the “dark knight” as detective who is stoical in nature, sometimes fatalistic, but also humane in his investigations; the “brooding landscape” whose darkness mirrors the thoughts of the characters; and the "we're all victims” theme incorporating larger social issues of inequality and intolerance into the narrative of police work.

Who's who in Scandinavian crime fiction?

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

This Swedish husband and wife team launched the phenomenon of Scandicrime fiction in the 1960s with a series of police procedurals featuring Inspector Martin Beck.

Stieg Larsson

This best-selling author's Millennium Trilogy contains one of the most unusual and intriguing characters encountered in modern fiction: Lisbeth Salander.

Henning Mankell

This Swedish author's books have been widely translated and outperform even Stieg Larsson's posthumous success. His protagonist is Detective Wallander who remains an “optimistic soldier in the war against injustice” despite the constant brutality with which he is confronted.

Karin Alvtegen

This Swedish author's thrillers are described as a psychological tour de force, and her novel Missing is highly recommended. It is the story of a homeless woman who is wrongly accused of murder.

Johan Theorin

This Swedish author's novels have strong psychological and supernatural elements and are set on the rugged coast of the Swedish island of Öland.

Håkan Nesser

This Danish author's Detective Van Veeteren series is described as “a good example of Nordic noir at its best.”

Karin Fossum

This Norwegian's Inspector Sejer novels are described as “procedurals with a soul” as the protagonist tries not only to solve the crime, but to understand the motives behind it.

Jo Nesbø

Another Norwegian author, his popular Harry Hole series is described as “clever, violent, and loaded with dark humor”.

Other novelists discussed in the article are Danish authors Peter Høeg (Smilla's Sense of Snow) and Jussi Adler-Olsen (Keeper of Lost Causes) and Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason (the Detective Erlendur series).

For the full text of the article, including chronological reading lists and pronunciation guide, please see http://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/01/14/s.... It's a well-researched article and an interesting take on Scandinavian crime fiction.

In Praise of Erle Stanley Gardner

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts that discuss novelists I admire and who have influenced my own writing.

The Legacy of Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner, best known as the creator of the Perry Mason novels, was a self-taught attorney who practised law for twenty-two years. Like Hammett and Chandler, he began his writing career by contributing short stories to the pulp magazines of the day. He was a regular and popular contributor to the Black Mask under the pen name Charles M. Green. During the Depression, he also wrote westerns for a penny a word. He was a prolific writer who set himself the goal of writing 66,000 words a week.

Gardner's first Perry Mason stories were The Case Of The Velvet Claws and The Case of the Sulky Girl, both of which were published in 1933.  He described the character of Perry Mason, a defence attorney who was willing to tackle hard cases, as “a fighter possessed of infinite patience”. Gardner drew upon his own experience in creating Mason: his love for trial work and his defence of the underdog. In fact, Gardner devoted thousands of hours of work to a project called “The Court of Last Resort” to review and, if possible, to reverse decisions where there had been a miscarriage of justice.

The Perry Mason stories became so popular that Gardner wrote more than eighty novels with this character. Most of these stories had a plot involving a client's murder trial in which Perry Mason was able to establish his client's innocence by implicating another character who then confessed. The character of Perry Mason was portrayed each weekday on a long-running radio series, followed by the television show that ran from 1957 to 1966 and starred Raymond Burr. There were also thirty made-for-TV movies based on this character. Interestingly, Gardner also wrote a series of novels in which District Attorney Doug Selby is the hero and crime solver while his opponent A.B.Carr is portrayed as a shyster whose clients are always guilty: a complete reversal of the Perry Mason stories in which Mason always trumps the hapless D.A. Hamilton Burger.

Gardner also wrote a series of detective stories under the name A.A. Fair with the private detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Bertha Cool is the larger-than-life widow and owner of an L.A. investigative agency while Donald Lam is her physical opposite: Bertha describes him as “a little runt but ... brainy.” Together they solve crimes and have lots of fun doing so. The novels are a pleasure to read even today.

What is Gardner's legacy? He is one of the best-selling authors of all times. His creation of a lawyer/crime solver in the character of Perry Mason laid the foundation for modern-day characters such as John Lescroart's Dismas Hardy and Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller. Gardner was also ahead of his time in creating a strong female protagonist as a private detective in the character of Bertha Cool. And readers familiar with the works of modern-day author John Grisham will see the parallel between this lawyer turned author and his involvement with the Innocence Project and Gardner and his work on “The Court of Last Resort” to overturn wrongful convictions.

Gardner's Influence on My Own Writing

What do I admire about Gardner's writing? His commitment to the hard work of writing is evident from his self-imposed weekly word count. In addition, I admire his ability to tell a story and to develop engaging characters that take on a life of their own.

Internet Resources

If you are interested in [re]acquainting yourself with the works of Erle Stanley Gardner, they are readily available on the Internet, including some offered as free downloads. In addition, there are several websites devoted to him.

Happy Reading!

Background to the Donaghue and Stainer Novels

Recently I had the privilege of being interviewed by Omnimystery News regarding my crime novel series. Below are some excerpts from that interview that you may find interesting if you have been following the Donaghue and Stainer series: Blood Passage, Marcie's Murder, and The Fregoli Delusion.

When I began developing the characters of Hank Donaghue and Karen Stainer, I wanted them to come from different backgrounds, have different personalities and different approaches to law enforcement, and live separate lives. I spent a great deal of time developing their back stories so I'd have a very strong sense of who they were and where they're going. As a result, when the reader starts a new Donaghue and Stainer novel, they're greeted by two characters who jump off the page and lead them into a world they haven't experienced before.... Each novel reveals a little more of their backgrounds and motivations, but only over the course of the series will their full stories be told.

The city of Glendale which is the backdrop to the novels is a product of my imagination, but I've located it in Maryland (somewhere south of Annapolis), and I do my best to create an environment people in Maryland wouldn't find laughingly unrealistic. Maryland's prosecutors are called state's attorneys, they use the medical examiner system and not the coroner system, and they have the death penalty, for example. They're divided on whether they're a northern or a southern state, but not a lot of them like the compromise of being "Mid-Atlantic".

I research everything I can think of, including the regulations for tinted glass in automobiles and the windshield stickers issued by the DOT. I can do whatever I want with Glendale — because it doesn't exist — and more or less get away with it, but at the state level I'm hoping to achieve a certain level of verisimilitude. I still have to try the crab cakes, though.

The Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novels are police procedurals. The stories are told almost exclusively from the point of view of the homicide investigators working the cases at the center of each novel. When I'm giving a reading or a presentation I explain up front, for example, that the dialogue is realistic. Cops sometimes get excited when they do their job, and suspects sometimes get a little hot under the collar when they're being interrogated, and their choice of words is often less than polite. As well, when someone's shot to death or a body is examined on the autopsy table, the description needs to convey a realistic sense of what's happening. I don't indulge in graphic violence for shock value, and there are no scenes involving sex, but the narrative still might be a little upsetting to someone who prefers reading cozy mysteries.

I write the stories in such a way that a wide range of readers will enjoy the characters, they'll find them compelling, funny, mysterious and dynamic in turn, and they'll want to come back for more. High-quality writing should contribute something to the marketing of books, shouldn't it? It's certainly worked for Michael Connelly, at any rate.

To read the full interview, please see http://www.omnimysterynews.com/2013/0....