Before moving to Amsterdam, I knew very little about the restitution of artwork stolen by the Nazis during World War Two, a topic that plays a central role in my novel, The Lover’s Portrait: An Art Mystery. Sure, I’d read about controversial cases in newspapers and wondered why museums didn’t hand over the artwork immediately when legitimate claimants appeared on the scene, but also why it took the relative of the legal owner so long to submit a claim.
Category: Contributor Article
Crime Division: How to Achieve Accuracy by Stephen Bentley
There is nothing so annoying as reading a book or watching a movie and finding inaccuracies in things like police and courtroom procedures. I am not a pedant but I prefer accuracy in my own writing and that of others, whether the result is within the pages or up on the screen.
As a former UK detective and a barrister, trial counsel to Americans but we got to wear those wigs and gowns, I have an advantage in my own writing to portray accuracy.
So how does a crime writer without the same advantage set about achieving accuracy?
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I Have this Great Idea By Catherine Dilts
You introduce yourself as an author. Maybe mention a writing credit or two.
“The third book in my series is being released next week,” you say.
Instead of asking where they can purchase your novel, your new acquaintance hits you with an all-too-familiar line.
“I have this great idea for a book.”
Admit it. You’ve been on the receiving end of this conversation, or perhaps you’ve been the person delivering the germ of an idea destined to become a NYT bestselling novel. Whichever role you played, the end result was Awkward.
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Historical Division: Marie Silk on Historical Fiction Writing: Life in America 100 Years Ago
Someone recently asked me, “What is ‘historical fiction’?” I never realized it was a confusing phrase until I really thought about it and concluded that it sounds like an oxymoron. Here, I will do my best to explain historical fiction and the process that goes into writing it.
Writer’s Craft: Managing Tension With Peaks and Troughs by Rayne Hall
Tension is good. It makes the reader turn the pages. However, constant high tension soon gets dull. The readers can’t sustain continuous scared excitement, and after a while, instead of roused, they become bored.
It’s like the waves on a stormy sea: the peaks are only high because of the troughs between them. If there were only continuous peaks without any troughs, the sea would be flat.
Your job as writer is to create not just the peaks, but the troughs which make the peaks look high.
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Historical Division: How I learned to love reading mysteries by Sally Allen
The first mysteries I fell in love with were Agatha Christie’s novels. I was in middle school and had recently been upgraded to my brother’s old room. Among the items he had left behind were a substantial collection of worn paperbacks. I spent hours lying on the plush navy carpet devouring The A.B.C. Murders, And Then There Were None, and Murder on the Orient Express, among others.
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Historical Division: How Mysteries have Changed Over the years by Zaheera Walker
From as early as the Charles Dickens of the 19th Century to the modern day Jeffrey Archer, mystery writers are swimming well in the mainstream.
Today these writers can choose any direction they please because the market is increasing. No matter which era you find yourself in it is clearly evident that people love the roller coaster thrill of mysteries. It is a safe adventure that allows them to visit exotic or interesting places. They get to experience the dark side of some characters but they take comfort in knowing that justice prevails in the end. The Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell, Dan Brown, James Patterson, Stephen King and Jodi Picoult (my favourite mystery authors) allow us to relate to their characters. Through their expertly woven words, the reader is given a platform to play amateur detective and be part of the solution. Cool hey? This puts them on the winning team that captures the bad guys and helps to right the wrongs. Now who doesn’t want to be part of that team?
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Crime Division: Suspending Disbelief in the Age of Digital Wonders by Heinrich Bohmke
I cast an idle eye over the TV in my landlady’s living room. A handsome cop in a car enraptured her. The cop radioed his partner back at HQ to tell his wife he’d be back late that night.
‘That’s rude’, I mumbled, ‘… text her yourself’.
The camera shot widened and, from the shape of the car, I saw the era predated the mobile phone. My landlady snorted.
“OK then”, said I, leaving the rent money on an expectant table. Fingering the remote, she turned the volume up as I edged out the door.
Photo: Pinterest: Fargo Season 2
Historical Division: America’s Legacy of Child Soldiers by Suzanne Adair
One of the most haunting images of war around the globe is that of children holding semi-automatic weapons. In the United States, these images shock a belief system. Children should be in nurturing home environments, enjoying the company of friends after school, taking clarinet lessons, playing softball. They should be allowed to be kids and dream.
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Historical Division: RAGING FALCON: Intrigue, terrorism, taboo romance, and CIA! by Stephen Perkins
Research for a fictional novel can be daunting. However, before I started writing my debut novel Raging Falcon, I was already intimately familiar with the subject matter. But, in the spirit of originality, I endeavored to create a twist on the traditional fictional tropes one encounters in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Readers of this type of action adventure story are familiar with the dashing hero who saves the world, and at the end always gets the girl-all the while sipping martinis, ‘shaken not stirred’.
Mystery Thriller Week 