Peter Rozovsky of Detectives Beyond Borders is an all round fabulous guy who is a genuine delight to be around. This is what happens when you give this crime fiction loving art aficionado lots of gin and a picture frame.
When it comes to authenticity in a novel, it’s all down to research, research, research and at times some expert advice. Not everyone knows where to look, so today formerDCI Stuart Gibbon, is talking to lifeofcri.me about his transition from writing factual police reports into helping write fictional police procedurals.
FROM HELPING FIGHT CRIME TO HELPING WRITE CRIME
My name is Stuart Gibbon and I’m a former police DCI turned Writing Consultant.
My story began in the early 1980’s when I travelled from my native north-east of England down to London at the ripe old age of 16 to join the Metropolitan Police as a cadet. A couple of years later I passed out (fortunately not literally) from the police training college at Hendon as a fully-fledged Police Constable. For the next 18 years I worked in uniform and CID on the streets of north-west London.
In 2000 I transferred to the East Midlands where my police career continued with promotion through the ranks to Detective Chief Inspector (DCI). As a large part of my police career was spent as a Detective I was able to gather lots of experience in crime investigation and detection. As a Senior Detective I was in charge of Murder and other serious crime cases.
On retiring from the police service in 2012 I still wanted to help people and had always maintained an interest in reading books. I decided to set up GIB Consultancy to offer advice to writers to ensure that their work is not only procedurally accurate but also authentic. I contacted the Crime Writers’ Association and circulated my details where possible. Since then I have been working with a number of writers across a diverse range of topics from standard police procedure, missing persons and Coroner practices to forensic evidence, kidnapping and Murder investigation.
My first written acknowledgement arrived courtesy of Tammy Cohen as a result of my advice for her novel Dying For Christmas published in 2014. I have recently advised C.L. Taylor on her massive hit The Missing and I’m currently working with her on her fourth psychological thriller which is due out next year. Although the majority of requests for advice are from crime writers, I have helped writers of other genres who may wish to include something police-related in their story.
In addition to the advisory service I also talk with Writing Groups and at festivals/conferences on the subject of ‘Murder Investigation’ and the challenges facing a Senior Detective in charge of such cases. The talk/workshop is designed to give writers ideas for their work and to ensure that any procedures are realistic.
My new ‘career’ is every bit as challenging and rewarding as my previous one. It’s great to be able to play a part in helping to produce something which is going to be enjoyed by so many people.
I have a website at http://www.gibconsultancy.co.uk and would welcome any writers who would like any advice or just the odd question or two answering to contact me as I am sure I would be able to help.
This weekend is CrimeFest 2016 and I’m super excited because it’s the first festival I’ve been able to attend this year, if you are there, come and find me and my LifeOfCri.me groupies in the bar for your exclusive photo opportunity!
As part of the blog tour for the latest Geraldine Steel novel ‘Murder Ring’ Leigh Russell talks to LifeOfCri.me about where some of her inspiration came from.
My inspiration for Murder Ring
Inspiration comes from all sorts of places, in various guises. Agatha Christie famously said that the best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. Even though nowadays most of us have dishwashers, we all know what she meant. I can be sitting at home, or out and about, when an idea occurs to me and off I go. Ideas can come from anywhere. It might be a person I’ve noticed who sparks off a story, or an atmosphere in a strange place, or just a large suitcase, large enough to hide a body…
The inspiration for Murder Ring came about in a slightly unusual way for me, more calculated than in my other books. Usually I’m inspired to write about something that interests me, but this time, ironically, my starting point was a topic that didn’t interest me at all. In the fourth book of the series, Geraldine Steel moved to London. By the time I started to think about Murder Ring, the eighth in the series, I decided I couldn’t continue setting a detective in North London in the present day without ever mentioning guns. The problem was that not only did I know nothing about guns, they aren’t a topic that inspires me at all. Nevertheless, in the interests of authenticity, I decided to bite the bullet, if you’ll excuse the pun. So tackling the issue of gun crime was a conscious choice, rather than an idea that inspired me.
One of my advisors is a police ballistics expert, but his information was not what interested me the most once I began to look into the subject. My research led me in a different direction, looking into the kind of people who were likely to be in possession of guns in London. Most of them are not criminal masterminds, but dysfunctional people. Older teenagers in gangs frequently give their firearms to young siblings to look after in order to avoid detection, knowing the children are too young to be prosecuted if found in possession of a gun. It was in the news recently that children as young as ten were among fifteen hundred children held over alleged firearm offences in the UK in the three years to January 2016. Such statistics are worrying, and are only likely to worsen as guns are so readily available.
The more I looked into the subject, the more I realised that while guns themselves don’t interest to me, what they represent fascinates me as a writer of crime fiction. People often use self-defence as an excuse for owning guns, but guns are essentially a means of exerting power. And for a crime writer, villains seeking to control or eliminate their victims is always interesting. So although guns in themselves are merely mechanical instruments of death, introducing them into Murder Ring opened up new possibilities for creating villains. Because what makes guns frightening is not the weapons themselves, but the people who use them.
If I can keep up my current pace I’m on target to beat my 2016 reading goal, all I need to concentrate on then is keeping up to date with the reviews too, (although I do have a plan!)
I’m fifty books read for the year so far with I Know Who Did It by Steve Mosby marking the half century.
The hardest crimes to acknowledge are your own…
Charlie Matheson died two years ago in a car accident. So how is a woman bearing a startling resemblance to her claiming to be back from the dead? Detective Mark Nelson is called in to investigate and hear her terrifying account of what she’s been through in the afterlife.
Every year Detective David Groves receives a birthday card for his son…even though he buried him years ago. His son’s murder took everything from him, apart from his belief in the law, even though the killers were never found. This year, though, the card bears a different message: I know who did it.
Uncovering the facts will lead them all on a dark journey, where they must face their own wrongs as well as those done to those they love. It will take them to a place where justice is a game, and punishments are severe. Nelson and Groves know the answers lie with the kind of people you want to turn and run from. But if they’re to get to the truth, first they’ll have to go through hell…
Detective Inspector Helen Grace is no stranger to tragedy. But when a body is found in a Southampton nightclub, the death cuts too close to the bone.
Hiding her personal connection to the victim – and a double-life which must remain secret at all costs – Helen becomes a woman possessed, working her team around the clock to chase down every lead.
As the killer strikes again, the investigation takes its toll not only on Helen but also her senior officers. Tempers flare, friendships fray and Helen faces an impossible choice.
Confess her sins and lose control of the case? Or keep living a lie, protecting her darkest secrets, and risk getting trapped in this tangled web?
But whatever she does, this killer will not stop until the truth is revealed: there are some fates worse than death . . .
Absolutely amazing….. ’nuff said……
OK so first things first. Little Boy Blue has a big part of its plot line based around the BDSM community. There is nothing truly shocking in here, but to those who find these subjects making them feel a little red faced? Be warned.
Next up, Little Boy Blue is the fifth in the DI Helen Grace series, so the biggest question is, if you’ve not read any previous novels can you read it as a standalone novel?
Yes, of course you can. It’s cleverly written with enough back story to the characters to tell you all you need to know to enjoy the book, but to avoid spoiling previous books.
That said, Should you read it without reading the first four books? In my opinion, it’s one big definitive NO, read them all, in order, and do it now. You’re already missing out on some amazing books.
I say this because as a reader you develop an intimate relationship with the characters throughout the course of a series, and many of the characters that appear in Little Boy Blue, we have met before, and it is these past relationships that enhance the impact of this latest novel.
The “love it” moments that make you flick the pages faster, and the “oh no, how dare you!” moments that make you want to through the book down in frustration are all the more emotional with the understanding of Helen’s back stories. I honestly felt every pang of guilt, frustration, anger, and confusion that DI Grace goes through as the story unfolded and ultimately making the sting in the tale the most difficult ending to a book I’ve had to bear in a very long time.
It’s definitely Arlidge’s best yet, a book that will constantly keep you guessing as the storyline untangles, and with a killer you will not see coming.
There is one thing I guarantee with Little Boy Blue, as you close the final pages,you will be shouting
“hurry up and write the next one already!”
all whilst googling the release date for Hide and Seek and getting your pre-orders in now.
Quentin Bates was born in England and through a series of coincidences found himself working in Iceland for his gap year. One year turned into ten, plus a wife and children. After a move back to the UK he began work as a nautical journalist and editor of a commercial fishing magazine. His Gunnhildur Gisladottir series was born through the author’s own inside knowledge of Iceland and its society, along with the world of exploring crime.
Thin Ice is the fifth installment in the Officer Gunnhildur series and is available now.
As part of the Thin Ice blog tour, today Quentin takes the LifeOfCri.me 12 word challenge.
Rules
Answers should be complete sentences, and completed in no more than 12 words (unless otherwise stated)
Contractions count. It’s = 2 words.
LOC: You’ve just released Thin Ice, the fifth in your series featuring Officer Gunnhildur, what can you tell us about it?
QB: Two villains, two kidnapped women, a bag of cash and no petrol.
LOC: Gunnar has an interesting home life, is this typical of an Icelandic lifestyle, and to the more European lifestyle, or as unplanned for you as it was for Gunnar & Gisli?
QB: It just evolved, but she copes with everything I chuck at her.
LOC: What’s the most challenging part of switching between writing your own novels and translating those of others?
QB: No problem. It’s the same toolbox but a different set of tools.
LOC: How would you describe your writing process?
QB: There’s plenty of swearing and watching the kettle boil.
LOC: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learnt in your writing career?
QB: I never imagined a gang of crimewriters could be so much fun.
( LOC: Ooh… crimewriters, not crime writers? That’s skating on “Thin Ice” with the word count…. 😉 )
LOC: What’s the best book you’ve read in the last twelve months?
QB: Jonathan Dark or the Evidence of Ghosts by AK Benedict
LOC: Why?
QB: Tough choice, but this book is bonkers, magnificently imaginative and just enthralling
LOC: Describe your perfect day
QB: Distant mountains, sounds and smells of the sea, fish for dinner.
and finally just for laughs……
LOC: Thanks to authorLeigh Russellyou have just woken up to find yourself on stage in front of the judges of Britain’s Got Talent, with a stick of celery, a top hat and a panda. What do you do?
QB: Bribe panda with celery to wear hat for winning Fred Astaire impression.
Snowed in with a couple of psychopaths for the winter…
When two small time crooks rob Reykjavík’s premier drug dealer hoping for a quick escape to the sun, their plans start to unravel after their getaway driver fails to show. Tensions mount between the pair and the two women they have grabbed as hostages when they find themselves holed upcountry in an isolated hotel that has been mothballed for the season.
Back in the capital, Gunnhildur, Eirikur and Helgi, find themselves at a dead end, investigating what appear to be the unrelated disappearance of a mother, her daughter and their car during a day’s shopping, and the death of a thief in a house fire.
Gunna and her team are faced with a set of riddles but as more people are quizzed it begins to emerge that all these unrelated incidents are in fact linked. And at the same time, two increasingly desperate lowlifes have no choice but to make some big decisions on how to get rid of their accidental hostages….
As part of the Thin Ice blog tour, here’s an exclusive extract to whet your appetite for more.
‘I will not get over it!’ Erna yelled at the top of her voice. ‘What’s going on? Why are we here? I don’t even believe that’s a real gun and I’ve a good mind to just walk out the door this minute.’
‘Go on,’ Össur hissed, ‘try it. See what happens.’
Erna stood up and stalked towards him, her hands on her hips, glaring down at him from the extra height two inches of heels gave her while Össur sat still, looking up at her from under heavy lids.
‘I don’t believe you. I think you’re a petty, thieving conman, and I don’t believe for a second that you’d dare carry a gun if it was real. I’ve half a mind to give you a slap and go to that phone in the lobby and call the police.’
The report was deafening, and as the smoke cleared there was a rattling of metal from one of the cupboards. Össur had fired without taking his eyes from Erna’s face and he watched her expression dissolve from fury into disbelief as her hands went to her mouth.
‘God . . .’ she whispered.
They looked to see a hole punched neatly in the cupboard door while Erna gradually sank to the floor on her knees.
‘I think the lady . . .’ Össur said with a sneer. ‘The lady has had a shock. So maybe she’d feel better if she went to lie down for a while?’
My name is Stuart Gibbon and I’m a former police DCI turned Writing Consultant.
Detective Inspector Helen Grace is no stranger to tragedy. But when a body is found in a Southampton nightclub, the death cuts too close to the bone.
Quentin Bates was born in England and through a series of coincidences found himself working in Iceland for his gap year. One year turned into ten, plus a wife and children. After a move back to the UK he began work as a nautical journalist and editor of a commercial fishing magazine. His Gunnhildur Gisladottir series was born through the author’s own inside knowledge of Iceland and its society, along with the world of exploring crime.
Snowed in with a couple of psychopaths for the winter…
Life of Cri.me 