Today TKZ welcomes acclaimed Aussie author PD Martin, for an in-depth discussion of why crime fiction authors make the most stimulating dinner companions…
Like most crime fiction authors, I do a great deal of research, everything from handwriting analysis and lockpicking to forensics and police/FBI procedure. It’s part of the job and a part that I love doing.
However, sometimes getting into the mind of an author can lead to some bizarre conversations. For example, I was away on a writing retreat doing some edits when I came to a crucial part…I had to finalize my killer’s MO and signature. I wanted to bounce some ideas off someone, so I rang my husband. This is how the conversation went:
“Hi, honey. Do you think my victims should be raped pre- or post-mortem?”
Silence, then: “Hang on, I’ll just take you off speakerphone.”
I’d called him on a Sunday and he was at a local football game (Aussie Rules, that is) with our one-year-old daughter and a group of our friends and their children. He’d seen it was me calling so had immediately hit the loudspeaker button on his mobile (cell) phone expecting a lovely chat. Maybe he should have known better.
A more recent example that comes to mind happened last year. I was in the States for Bouchercon and then headed to LA for some location research. While you can find pretty much anything on the Internet, nothing compares to actually seeing a location first-hand. And certainly for me, living in Australia and setting my series in the US has some challenges. Anyway, through my online research I’d picked out a body dump site and crime-scene location for the book – Castaic Lake – and decided my characters would live and party in Santa Clarita. However, Santa Clarita wasn’t what I’d envisaged. It was way too clean cut and “suburban” for my characters and when I drove through it I couldn’t see a bar in sight. That night, as I had dinner with the family friends I was staying with in LA, I was asked:
“So what did you do today, Pip?”
To which I replied in between mouthfuls: “Checked out a couple of body dump sites.”
There was an initial stunned silence, and then we laughed. I guess it’s not your usual tourist trail for Aussies in LA. When I explained my problem with Lake Castaic and that I had to find a new location, my host said:
“I’ve got the best body dump site, ever. Have you checked out Temescal Gateway Park?”
And so, after a dinner conversation about potential body dump sites in LA, I had the crime-scene location for my fifth novel. Isn’t that what everyone talks about over dinner?
PD Martin – Phillipa Deanne Martin – is an Australian author with a background in psychology. She has written four novels featuring Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson, of which the first two are currently available in North America – Body Count and The Murderers’ Club. Her third novel, Fan Mail, will be released in North America in July this year. See www.pdmartin.com.au for more information.