Some Tips for Mystery Writers

This week, we welcome novelist, Marilyn Meredith to our blogging team!

For my first post, I decided to report on some of the things I learned at the Public Safety Writers Association’s conference. Most of the people who attend are either connected to law enforcement in some way or writing mysteries.

The first panel consisted of police officers and a prosecuting attorney who talked about what bothered them with what was portrayed on TV, movies and in books.

Several mentioned procedural problems such as using lights and sirens when going to the scene of an ongoing crime, like a bank robbery. Nothing like letting the bad guys know it’s time to scoot.

Not knowing the difference between the police and sheriff's departments, parole and probation, and using the terms interchangeably drove another police person nuts.

Though it happens often in movies and TV, lieutenants don't go to the crime scene or do the leg work, they take care of the paperwork and procedure.

CSI people never walk all over the crime scene nor do they go into the evidence room. One woman hated to see ties with short-sleeved shirts.

The lawyer said that police don’t continue questioning a suspect after the attorney gets there–once the attorney arrives, questioning is over.

A big bugaboo was female cops with long flowing hair and not wearing bullet-proof vests, and female detectives wearing high heels.

Lack of research by authors concerning the use of guns was another problem mentions such as a magazine is put into the gun, not a clip; a .38 has no safety; and no one in police work has an empty chamber in his or her gun.

Every state has different laws--but constitutional law is always the same.

A non-officer gathering evidence is against the law like what happens on The Mentalist.

In the '70s and '80s, cops didn't wear bullet-proof vests.

A former undercover cop confessed that one had to be half-psycho to be undercover, no one knows what you're doing or where you're going, often the other cops don't even know who you are.

An author needs to use the correct jargon for the area he or she is writing about. There is a big difference between the words used--on the East Coast cops make a collar, West Coast cops make an arrest. Number codes are different within jurisdictions too.

Because suspects talk different depending upon the time period, don't use too many slang words.

One of the funniest comments was when a cop was asked if he used his flashlight to check out an indoor crime scene at night. The answer was, "No, I turn on the lights." How many times have we watched the CSI team on TV doing their entire crime scene investigation using only flashlights?

What I learned most from this panel was to make sure to check out anything that I wasn't sure about and never ever depend upon TV or movies for your research.

Another speaker was Steve Scarborough, a forensic expert who served with the Las Vegas P.D. and also was an expert witness in numerous case for the police department and the FBI.

Here is what he had to say:

Forensic Evidence can narrow the leads and eliminate suspects.

Forensic facts can make your story come alive, but you need to be careful.

You should know the direction your story is going before you do the research.

Fingerprints are the most conclusive form of forensic evidence though fingerprinting and DNA should get equal billing.

It's hard to get fingerprints off of towels, the sofa, etc., metal and glass works better.

Ballistics evidence depends upon certain conditions of the bullet.

Other types of evidence are hair, fiber, glass fragments, ABO blood types, and shoe prints.

Everything is circumstantial evidence except an eye witness.

What you must have is Means, Motive and Opportunity.

It's a myth that anything can be done--nothing is proven quickly, and some of the science seen on TV is make-believe.

You can't tell race or sex from fingerprints.

There is no such thing as a three point or four point match in fingerprints.

Detectives don't follow the evidence to the lab.

And the labs don't have everything they need in forensics. The smaller the place, the less they will have in the way of crime labs.

I found all of the above fascinating and thought what I learned might help out other writers.

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Marilyn Meredith is the author of over twenty-five published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Kindred Spirits from Mundania Press. Under the name of F. M. Meredith she writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series; No Sanctuary is the newest from Oak Tree Press.