Crossing the Writing Genre Barrier

My Posting on Marilyn Meredith's Blog

Anyone that’s published has discovered how hard it is to try and cross the genre barrier.  ‘Once a police procedural writer, always a police procedural writer.’  Or true crime.  Or romance.  Or private investigator.  Or…well, you get the picture.

The hardest thing a writer has to overcome is a publisher’s notion that policemen, and police women, make good sources for true crime books, and some can even write a true crime book, but very few can cross the line from writing true crime to writing fiction. I’ve been lucky enough to cross the barrier.

My first book, BLOOD TRAIL, is the true crime account of serial killer, Joseph Weldon Brown.  I had the good—or bad—fortune to have been the detective that caught him, and an editor from Kensington Books contacted me to co-author the book with their writer.   It was a hit!  

But it took Kensington Books two years to believe that I could write fiction.  I was asked to send them ‘something.’  Serial killer fiction preferably.  I sent them a synopsis and first few chapters of what later would become, THE CRUELEST CUT, and was signed to a two-book contract.  It was published in 2010. Publishing rights to THE CRUELEST CUT were purchased by German publisher Weltbild, and the book was translated and released in 2012.  Publishing rights were also purchased by Polish publisher Proszynski Media S.P. of Warsaw.  It will be translated and released in 2013.  

The second fiction book was part of a series, but written as a stand-alone.  That book is THE COLDEST FEAR, published in 2011, and is a blend of serial killer and family killer. 

 What gave me the idea for the book was an interview I did with real serial killer, Joseph Brown, while in Lebanon, Ohio lockup.  Joe needed a break, so I took him to the sheriff’s department garage and let him smoke and have a cup of coffee.  He took a drag off his cigarette, looked at me, and said, “It’s a good thing you caught me when you did. I wasn’t through yet.” 

He explained that he was on his way to kill his brother and his brother’s family for an imagined slight.  Then he was going to Alabama and kill his oldest sister.  And then he was going to kill himself. 

What he said made me curious and I began to research family killers.  Joe fit the profile.  Luckily for the brother, Joe was stopped by Ohio Highway Patrol in Lebanon, Ohio.  He was less than 10 miles from his brother’s house.  His sister address in Alabama was in his possessions. 

It is much easier to write fiction.  You don’t have to get ‘releases’ signed by fictional characters.  You can lie and it’s okay.  You can draw on your past experiences and feelings and the sight and smell of blood or a decaying body, and tell the story any way you choose.  You don’t have to go to court and testify about what you write.  In other words, “You get paid to lie.”

I hope you will stop by my blog site, http://rickreedblog.blogspot.com/. 

My web:  www.rickreedbooks.com

Rick Reed Bio

Rick Reed was a member of the Evansville Police Department and Vanderburgh County Sheriff Department for 30 years.  He worked in the Criminal Investigations Unit from 1987 until 2003.  During his career he served as a crisis management/hostage negotiator, handwriting expert, and violent crime investigator.

In 2003 he was promoted to Detective Sergeant and assigned as the commander of Internal Affairs.  It was a natural enough transfer for a detective that had investigated a multitude of ‘political hot potato’ cases.  As the Chief of Police said at the time of his transfer, “Everyone already hates you.”

Three years of being the most hated man on the police department were enough, and he retired from law enforcement in 2006 to become an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice program at Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana.  He retired again in 2011, and moved to the San Francisco area where he writes full-time.  

During his time in law enforcement he was lead investigator on numerous homicides, rape, and battery cases.  His acclaimed book, Blood Trail, is the true account of one of the homicides he investigated in 2000 that unearthed a serial killer who claimed the lives of fourteen victims.  In 2011, this killer strangled his cellmate and received another life sentence.  

He now writes serial killer-fiction for Kensington Books.  The first book, The Cruelest Cut, introduces detective Jack Murphy and his partner, Liddell Blanchard, as they chase a set of serial killers through the streets of Evansville, Indiana.  The most recent release, The Coldest Fear, is the second in the Jack Murphy series.  The Coldest Fear was released in September 2011.

"Go Get A Dummy"

The case is People v. Rivera, 133 Cal. Rptr.3d 721 (2011)

In a recent case, a man was accused of strangling his lover to death, but he told the jury he had done so in the heat of passion.  Heat of Passion is a defense or mitigating circumstance that would lessen his sentence.  

The prosecution came up with a creative way to show the jury that the defendant hadn't committed the murder in heat of passion.  The prosecutor asked the defendant to stand and pretend the prosecutor was the lover and the defendant should show the jury how he had strangled the victim.  

Of course the defense objected, but said it might be okay if the prosecution use a mannequin for the 'pretend murder.'  The judge agreed and ordered the prosecutor during recess to find a dummy.  

In the interest of justice, where will it all end.  Will we have defendants, or witnesses, dance with, or pull guns, and shoot at mannequins?  What if we ask the jury to learn some new rap lyrics and see if they are influenced by the violent rhymes?  

In a murder case in 1992 in Indiana, the suspect strangled a woman and then committed unspeakable acts upon the body.  He was on work-release at the time. Part of his defense was that he was insane because he had a sexual and emotional attachment to a store window mannequin.  That's right.  He loved his dummy! She was like a the dummy he never had.

Back then the judge gave him the death penalty and it was later overturned by the state supreme court and sentence was commuted to life in prison (25 years.)  Twenty five years later he was charged with several rapes committed in 1991 and sentenced to an additional 44 years.  So store dummies, wherever you are, you are safe.

I wonder if he would still be on death row if that prosecutor had brought a mannequin to court and asked the defendant to show his love of the mannequin?  Or would that be untrue to his one true love?  Would he be an dum-dulterer?  Would he be able to sue the city for becoming mannequin-depressive? 

This isn't quite the same as the Twinkie defense, but it's close.

Social Media Rights vs Time of Crisis

The 'oversharing' on social media has raised a few questions this week.  It's one thing to have a website and tell thousands of complete strangers every detail of your life.  It's another to use the social media to stalk, or possibly to commit crimes.  A good case in point is the recent You Tube video that caused the deaths in Afghanistan, and the following riots.  All because someone expressed a negative view of a religion.

Imagine the above on a smaller scale.  A barricaded gunman, holding their spouse or children hostage, and all it takes is a spark to ignite the violence.  As a Hostage Negotiator for the police, I had to deal with these situations, or where a subject was threatening to take their own life.  

It is law enforcements opinion that it is in everyone's best interest the police are allowed to do what they are trained to do, and not have the news reporters or a Facebook friend telling the person their opinions or reporting police movements, etc. This includes sealing off a subject, shutting off power to their house, or interrupting their ability to go on the Internet.  

There are those that would say we have an absolute right to free speech, including televising terroristic threats via the news media or You Tube, Twitter, or Facebook.  The result of that type of freedom of speech may cost lives.

What are your opinions on the police being allowed legally (or have the technical ability) to shut down a persons media contacts--telephone, computer, Internet, Face Time, Twitter, etc?