An interview with Jack Carston

A while back, there was a passing fad for writers to ‘interview’ their own characters – presumably to increase the feeling of authenticity about them. On my own blog, I said that I thought my policeman, Jack Carston, would be unwilling to waste time being interviewed by me since he’s not convinced I always understand him or represent his actions and motives properly in the books. Then the journalist/writer/publisher Sara Bain suggested he might respond more positively to her. It was an interesting idea, and this was the result.

SB:       Good morning, Jack. Can I start by asking about why you became a policeman? Were there any events in your youth which might have influenced your decision to join the force?

JC:       Well, first, it wasn’t any sort of vocation. Just one of several options. I come from a family of trawlermen so I was ready to try just about anything to avoid doing that. But blaming things that happen to you as a kid – I don’t think that’s the way things work. Back then, for me cops were people you were afraid of. Yeah, maybe that’s it. Maybe I wanted people to be afraid of me. I don’t think so, though.

SB:       What kind of policeman are you, then?

JC:       Not very good if you ask my boss, Ridley. I can see why he thinks that way, though. I don’t think writing stuff on bits of paper with boxes to tick gets things done. Yeah, you have to have it, but we should be more hands on, leave all that to the clerks and backroom people. OK, I stick to procedures – if I didn’t, it could mess up a whole investigation, defence lawyers would jump all over me – but when you’re dealing with people and their reasons for doing things, it’s not easy to make it all neat. I think I’m mostly honest. Try to be anyway. And, despite what Ridley thinks, I do take the job seriously. It upsets me when low-lifes get away with things. But worse than that is when nice, ordinary, harmless people have to be punished for doing something bad, when it’s not really their fault, or when you can see exactly why they did it. That hurts.

SB:       So what do you think about the idea of justice then? Do you still believe in it?

JC:       Big, big question. If you mean what lawyers and judges do – no, not really. It’s the ultimate way of putting people into boxes. The question they ask is just ‘Did he do so-and-so?’ If the answer’s ‘yes’, he’s guilty. Nobody bothers much about why he did it or what the other guy did first. Look at all the rape cases, or domestic abuse, they don’t often give the benefit of the doubt to victims who’ve retaliated. It’s a nasty part of the job.

SB:       So are you saying that the British criminal law system doesn’t really deliver justice?

JC:       No, I think it tries. The lawyers and the rest are all doing their jobs. Some of them are bent but that’s just a small minority. But they’re all such clever buggers. They’ll use the law to shine the light on some things but keep other stuff in the dark. In the end, like everything else, it comes down to the fact that, if you can afford the best, you’re more likely to be not guilty.

SB:       I can see how that might be galling for a detective. How important is it for you to ‘get your man’?

JC:       Hmmm. My first reaction is that it’s everything. No point doing the job otherwise. But then, I think back over some of my recent cases and … well, I wish I hadn’t. Found out who did it, I mean. Trouble is, I like the challenges of untangling the mystery but I don’t always like what I find.

SB:       Well, my next question was going to be about plea bargaining, but I’m guessing it’s not something you favour.

JC:       You’re right, but it depends. For example, nobody ever gives perps the chance to bargain for a lesser sentence just because the person they topped deserved it.

SB:       Have you ever broken the law yourself?

JC:       Of course. I bet you have, too. Be honest, there might be a couple of nuns somewhere who are still stainless but everybody’s done something. Last thing I can remember was shoplifting a biro. I picked it up, forgot I had it, and left without paying for it. Didn’t go back and tell them.

SB:       OK, breaking the law’s quite a wide expression. So let me ask what you think the worst crimes are.

JC:       Well, there are the obvious ones – kids, babies even – the things people can do to them … you wouldn’t believe it. Half the injuries don’t get reported. They’re that extreme. But I feel sick as well whenever it’s a case of somebody much stronger beating up on someone who’s basically defenceless. Domestics. Huge guys slapping around stick thin partners. But you know, there’s a different sort of sickness I feel, too – the sort when the people involved are in such hopeless, desperate situations and circumstances that you just feel helpless. There’s just nothing you can do. It’s not how bad the crime is, it’s the emptiness of their lives, the absence of any chances to make things better. I hate the job then.

SB:       Does that mean you’re still haunted by some of the horrific things you must have seen?

(At this point, Carston was silent for a while, his face betraying the fact that he was perhaps revisiting past experiences.)

JC:       In the end, each one just reminds you of how much evil there is – or, rather, how much potential there is for it. I push the individual ones down, way down. I can’t forget them, but they’re submerged. The only person who knows they’re there is Kath, my wife. She doesn’t say anything about them, but she knows when one of them is trying to resurface. I never get used to it.

SB:       All of which suggests it must be hard for you to stay objective. Is it easy to keep personal prejudice out of your working life?

JC:       If I could be objective about the sort of things I’m talking about, I’d be a bigger monster than any of the ones I’ve come across.

Good Cops, Bad Cops

The usual good cop, bad cop connotation in a mystery novel refers to the interrogation technique where one tough-looking detective tends to browbeat the suspect, while his more personable partner acts the good guy, seeking to gain leverage by taking the suspect's side. In my new Sid Chance thriller, there are basically two good cops and two bad cops. But their roles don't involve interplay with suspects.

In her review of The Good, The Bad and The Murderous at The Deepening, Sylvia Cochran  wrote:

"Another aspect that makes the storyline quite endearing is the topic of police corruption. It is tackled with respect for the profession but a candor that bespeaks a reality, which we frequently prefer to ignore. Although fictional, the frustration and anger that corruption at this level leaves behind is palpable in Campbell’s writings."

The primary good cops are members of the Miss Demeanor and Five Felons Poker Club, a small group that includes PI Sid Chance and his part-time partner, ex-cop/businesswoman Jaz LeMieux. The active duty officers are Metro Nashville Homicide Detective Bart Masterson and Patrol Sgt. Wick Stanley. Sid and Jaz run onto the shady cops, a pair of detectives, early in the story as they work to prove a young black man just out of prison for a murder he committed at age twelve is not guilty of a new homicide.

I hadn't considered this angle when I began writing the story. I don't plot ahead but follow where the action leads. I suddenly realized (as did my PI's) that something wasn't right about the way the detectives were handling the case.

As I was finishing the novel, I attended the Metro Nashville Citizen Police Academy and got a first-hand look at what goes on among the men in blue. I was struck by the dedication of the officers I met. During a ride-along with a patrol officer, I got a good indoctrination into the ever-shifting milieu that cops face on a continuing basis.

One of our presenters was the woman, a former trial lawyer, who heads the Metro Nashville Office of Professional Accountability, what most departments call Internal Affairs. She told of cases where they had investigated officers involved in variouas crimes. She also stressed that they represented only a small fraction of the city's 1500 sworn officers.

In the end I dedicated the book to "all the great men and women who carry the badge of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. They risk their necks day and night to keep us safe. We owe them more than we can ever repay."

The Perils of Plotting

Maybe perils is a bit melodramatic, but it's eye-catching. How about dilemmas? Okay, still a little heavy, but it carries the connotation of difficulty. Things don't always pan out the way we plan. Take my new book, whose cover appears here. As I've said before (likely too many times), I'm a "pantser" when it comes to plotting. I start with a basic idea and jump in feet first.

With this book, the second Sid Chance entry, I did a bit of cogitating and came up with the idea of building the story around the subject of Medicare fraud. I got the impetus from a CBS news piece about FBI agents in Miami tracking down storefront scammers who billed Medicare for durable medical equipment, like power chairs and such. It has been a lucrative business, but I didn't recall any mystery novels delving into it. I know, somebody will write that they've read a dozen of them, but I haven't.

Anyway, I researched the subject, learning the requirements for setting us an operation able to bill Medicare. I read about the new regulations aimed at making it more difficult for fraudsters. I learned that some drug traffickers were finding it more lucrative than selling dope.

Before I plopped down on my recliner with laptop on lap, the local paper ran a few stories about the problem of killers who are kids getting tried in Criminal Court and sentenced to prison. If they weren't genuine ciminals when they went in, they probably would be when they came out. In juvenile correctional facilities, they get guidance designed for people their age.

The main story featured Nashville's youngest murderer of recent memory, a black boy who shot a man during a drug deal at age twelve. He was released from prison at twenty-five after spending more than half his life behind bars. He vowed to lead a changed life now, though he hadn't been able to find a job. I read a few months later that he'd been arrested for beating up a girlfriend, but I already had my character who vowed to go straight.

My man, Djuan Burden, appears at a Medicare scam shop in the process of closing and ready to skip town. The owner had just been shot, causing Djuan to flee in panic. A pair of Metro Nashville homicide detectives with his description and license number, plus a paper he'd left on the desk with his fingerprints and his grandmother's address, promptly arrest him for the murder.

PI Sid Chance is hired by the grandmother, who had reason to believe in Djuan's innocence, to prove he didn't murder the shop owner. Sid and his sometimes partner, Jaz LeMieux, find evidence of Medicare fraud which the cops missed because they were only interested in the homicide. Sid turns it over to an FBI agent who is a key contact as the story progresses.

Great so far, but at this point the plot switches gears. Sayonara Medicare fraud. The story turns into a tale of bad cops and other villains involved in murder and revenge and similar nastiness. There are good cops, too, of course, including Homicide Detective Bart Masterson and Patrol Sgt. Wick Stanley, who along with Sid and Jaz are members of the Miss Demeanor and Five Felons Poker Club. While writing the book, I attended the Metro Nashville Citizen Police Academy. It prompted me to dedicate the book to the men and women who wear the badge and risk their necks day and night to keep us safe.

I suppose what happened with the plot to this book illustrates why I prefer the "seat of the pants" method of plotting. I had no idea things would turn out they way they did. It's exciting to learn what characters wind up doing and how they steer the story into new dimensions.

You'll find more about the new book here at my website.

Mystery Writers' Websites

By Beth Terrell

I'm always on the lookout for good websites, books, and other resources for writers--especially mystery writers. Today, in lieu of a long involved post, I'd just like to share some sites you might find helpful--or at least, interesting.

Crimespace at http://www.crimspace.ning.com: This is a social networking site, much like Facebook or MySpace, but specifically geared toward readers and writers of crime fiction. Each member gets a page, a Crimespace email, and access to the discussion forums. It's not an extremely busy site yet, but I always learn something new there.

Mystery Ink, at http://www.mysteryinkonline.com: This site has author interviews, book reviews, and a list of other crime fiction websites.

Mystery Writers' Forum at http://www.zott.com/MysForum: The forums include discussions on publishing, agents, crime fiction sub-genres, mystery writing contests, and much, much more. The site also provides a list of resource links for mystery writers, including topics like police, forensics, firearms, private detectives, and poisons.

Agent Nathan Bransford's website at http://www.nathanbransford.com: Nathan's blog is not mystery-specific, but it's one of the most comprehensive agent sites, complete with a blog and discussion forums. His regular Friday post on "the week in publishing" is a must-read for anyone who wants to keep up with the latest news from the publishing world.

Absolute Write at http://www.absolutewrite.com: Again, this is not a mystery-specific site, but the "water cooler" forums have a wealth of information relevant to writers of any genre.

Happy surfing.

Those Elusive Reviews

By Beth Terrell

Awhile back, Jean mentioned a famous author who sent out 50 review books. He attributed much of his book's success to this. Then Chester, one of my heroes, told me he'd done the same. Thus armed with advice from Those Who Are In the Know, I obtained 50 review copies and proceeded to search for 50 places to send them.

It's not as easy as it sounds. I got off to a quick start, because Chester kindly gave me a few names and addresses, and as always, I shamelessly dropped his name. Then I added to my list by Googling "mystery reviews" and "mystery reviewers" and also by offering ARCs (Advance Review Copies) to the first five people on the DorothyL list who emailed me asking for one. One, Theresa de Valence, wrote a lovely review and posted it to the listserve. Our own Pat Browning was kind enough to read a copy and give a review. My list grew, then shrunk as I went to review sites only discover that some were defunct, some only reviewed books by the BIG SIX, some only reviewed books published by Lulu or Createspace, some had long lists of reviews but no discernible way of submitting books, and so on. I searched for more, and my list grew again. I sent emails to some Amazon reviewers and one to a reviewer I found on Books'n'Bytes. All of them bounced, sending me scrambling for more recent email addresses. Many of the sites and reviewers I queried simply never replied. Maybe they have a backlog and will get to me eventually.

On the other hand, I checked back on the Thrilling Detective site and found my protagonist, Jared McKean, listed under "Detectives M-Z." That was a serious thrill, especially when I clicked on the link and read, a very nice review that began, "This Nashville cat just may be worth watching." Sending a thank-you note to the reviewer immediately went on my to-do list.

By the way, Chester's Greg and Jill McKenzie are there too, but Sid Chance isn't on the list yet.

Within a few weeks, I'm sure I'll have sent out 50 or more review copies. Will it make a difference? Well, it certainly couldn't hurt. With each online review, my search engine stock goes up. It's even better if I link to the reviews, and better still if I can find some kindly folks to link back to me. My husband thinks I'll be lucky if I ever reach a point where I make as much from my books as I spend trying to promote them. He may be right. Personally, I'd love to move comfortably into the black. But the only way to get there will be to build a readership one Tweet, one Facebook post, one review, one precious reader at a time.