Murder Down the Street

This week has been an INSANELY busy week for me. I've been exhausted because of it. Even so, on Monday afternoon, as I was heading home from an appointment, my curiosity was piqued by a site: a police car sitting in the driveway of a house about a half mile from my own.

My first thought: why would they be running radar from there, and did they get permission from the homeowner?

See, it's across the street from a parking lot where I FREQUENTLY see cops running radar. No big deal to me--I'm always turning onto the road a block away, and there's no way I've even come close to reaching the 35 MPH speed limit by the time I pass the radar-gun carrying officer.

But this Monday was different. As I was watching the evening news, I learned there'd been a murder in my town which had been discovered after a welfare check. The neighborhood looked like mine--I hadn't caught the address.

Sure enough, it was the house I'd observed earlier in the day.

I didn't know the victim, may not have ever seen him. And I'm not in fear for my life. Sure, the area of town I live in is slightly more likely than other areas to have violence of this sort, but this is only the 5th murder in my city this year--and three others made the national news because they were a mass shooting at the Jewish Community Center.

But, that's not what I'm writing about, and I most certainly am not trying to insert myself into this tragedy.

As a mystery writer, I've been fascinated to watch the happenings at the house this week. Because of appointments and vacation Bible school for my daughter, I've had reason to go past there every day. I've also been very perplexed in my drive-by observations.

For instance, I've observed crime scene vans on sight for three days (Monday on the news, and Tuesday and Wednesday in person.) I've also spotted up to six vehicles on scene--some from the local PD, but others from the Sheriff's office. More interesting, there's always a police car parked in the driveway of the house, I presume protecting the scene.

This all has been making my little writer's brain click away the last few days. I hope the police find the killer, and he or she is punished appropriately. But I can't help but be a little grateful for this chance to observe from a distance.

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Did you know I've redone my mailing list? In an effort to get ready for the release of my first novella, I'm doing some cleaning up and tweaking. As such, I've started a new mailing list through MailChimp. If you would, please look to the right and enter your info for my mailing list. (As you've scrolled down this far, you'll need to scroll up in all likelihood.) I'll be using the mailing list for keeping you updated on new releases, specials, and giveaways. Also, when the time comes, guest appearances at other venues. I'll only be sending out an e-mail every month or so, so no worries about getting a bunch of junk!

Sign up for the mailing list, and you'll be the first to know about new titles, specials, and appearances.

Until next time...

Crime Pays Better

from Wikipedia.org

After being told by many, many people that I should watch ABC's Castle, I recently started catching it on Hulu. I love the line from the opening: "There are two kinds of folks who sit around planning how to kill people--psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the kind that pays better."

That line alone drew me into the show.

From the time I became addicted to Nancy Drew, I've had a bit of a fascination with crime. Maybe that's why I tend to write mysteries over any other genre (even my science fiction stories are primarily mysteries, the setting puts them into the sci-fi category). I can spend hours reading the news about murders, robberies, carjackings. Sometimes, I come across a story that boggles my mind.

And despite the fact that I can, in theory, understand where the criminal is coming from as a writer, as a human being, I find myself wondering "how could they do that?"

Even though I write almost daily about murder and mayhem, I'm still relieved that I haven't been desensitized by my own research and can shake my head at what others do.

From =Falln-Stock at DeviantArt.com

For instance, a few years ago, there was a pregnant woman killed relatively nearby (within 100 miles of where I live). Her unborn baby was cut from the womb. The perpetrator had told her boyfriend or husband that she was pregnant, and after a while, needed a baby to "prove" things. As a writer, the story fascinated me. As a woman, it made me sick to my stomach, especially since it was around this time that my husband and I had started trying to have children.

Quite honestly, I think this split in my personality may make me a better writer. And I know for a fact it's led to some of my story ideas.

So even though crime may pay, I'm relieved that the only kind of crime I'll ever be paid for is the fictional kind. I'll just continue reading about the real-life crime, and leave the perpetrating to the idiots psychopaths criminals.

And because I love Castle's theme song so well, here's that ditty just for your own amusement. Enjoy!

Until next time,

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