Suspense Radio podcast

27:11

Here’s the thing about the South—if you can’t tell a story, they won’t feed you. They’ll simply deposit you behind the barn and let you wither away. That doesn’t happen often because everyone down there can spin a yarn. Some better than others, but a story is a story. This is a rich tradition and congers up names like William Faulkner, James Dickey, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Conner, Tennessee Williams, Mark Twain, Harper Lee, Truman Capote (who spent much of his childhood in Alabama), James Lee Burke, and the list goes on and on. Where did this tradition come from? Since much of the South was settled by Scotch- Irish immigrants, they transported their storytelling skills across the pond. Ever hear of a Scotsman who couldn’t reel off a story over a few glasses of whiskey? Me, either. Plus, the South was rural, poor, and with fewer resources, so much of society revolved around the farm, and hearth and home. Books were a luxury, meaning that family entertainment came from stories told by the fireplace. I grew up in Alabama. Huntsville to be exact. Not your typical southern town. Sure we had acres of farmland, churches on every corner, enough pickup trucks to cause a traffic jam, and a cacophony of country music, but we also had a space program. Snuggled up to the city is NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center where Werner von Braun and cohorts built the rockets that sent men into orbit and eventually to the surface of the moon. Made for an interesting soup of folks. Rednecks and scientist, all dining on barbecue and biscuits, and of course pecan pie. So, what is it that makes Southern storytelling so compelling? It’s the many facets of the area. You can’t write about the South without considering country music, the blues, country stores, cornbread, sweet tea, and the weather. Weather : Weather is a character in Southern stories. The rain, the hair-raising electrical storms, and, of course, the heat and humidity conspire to alter everything in life. The cracking of lightning puts nerves on edge while the sauna-like air wilts your clothing, slows your walk, and stretches out your drawl like back strap molasses creeping over a mess of hotcakes. In his famous “Ten Rules of Writing,” Elmore Leonard admonished authors to never start a story with the weather. He forgot to tell that to James Lee Burke. His Dave Robicheaux series moves around the swamplands of Louisiana, a place where weather is most definitely a character. Don’t believe it. Read the first paragraph of his Edgar Award-winning Black...…

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Interview with Marcia Clark 21:04

16 weeks fa21:04

21:04

We are so honored to bring you ex-criminal prosecutor and current bestselling author Marcia Clark. She joins us to talk about her latest book, TRIAL BY AMBUSH , her first True Crime novel. Marcia Clark is the best selling author of nine legal thrillers and one memoir, starting with four bestselling legal thrillers featuring prosecutor Rachel Knight: The Competition , Killer Ambition , Guilt by Degrees , and Guilt by Association . TNT optioned the books for a one-hour drama series and shot the pilot, which starred Julia Stiles as Rachel Knight. Her most recent series features criminal defense attorney Samantha Brinkman and includes Blood Defense , Moral Defense , Snap Judgment , and Final Judgment . Marcia’s latest thriller, released in September 2022, The Fall Girl , was a standalone featuring two leads with alternating chapters. Marcia narrated the audiobook along with TV writing partner, Catherine LePard.…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 25: Stroll Through Forensic History 35:19

16 weeks fa35:19

35:19

SHOW NOTES: FORENSIC SCIENCE TIMELINE Prehistory: Early cave artists and pot makers “sign” their works with a paint or impressed finger or thumbprint. 1000 b.c.: Chinese use fingerprints to “sign” legal documents. 3rd century BC.: Erasistratus (c. 304–250 b.c.) and Herophilus (c. 335–280 b.c.) perform the first autopsies in Alexandria. 2nd century AD.: Galen (131–200 a.d.), physician to Roman gladiators, dissects both animal and humans to search for the causes of disease. c. 1000: Roman attorney Quintilian shows that a bloody handprint was intended to frame a blind man for his mother’s murder. 1194: King Richard Plantagenet (1157–1199) officially creates the position of coroner. 1200s: First forensic autopsies are done at the University of Bologna. 1247: Sung Tz’u publishes Hsi Yuan Lu (The Washing Away of Wrongs), the first forensic text. c. 1348–1350: Pope Clement VI(1291–1352) orders autopsies on victims of the Black Death to hopefully find a cause for the plague. Late 1400s: Medical schools are established in Padua and Bologna. 1500s: Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) writes extensively on the anatomy of war and homicidal wounds. 1642: University of Leipzig offers the first courses in forensic medicine. 1683: Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) employs a microscope to first see living bacteria, which he calls animalcules. Late 1600s: Giovanni Morgagni (1682–1771) first correlates autopsy findings to various diseases. 1685: Marcello Malpighi first recognizes fingerprint patterns and uses the terms loops and whorls. 1775: Paul Revere recognizes dentures he had made for his friend Dr. Joseph Warren and thus identifies the doctor’s body in a mass grave at Bunker Hill. 1775: Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786) develops the first test for arsenic. 1784: In what is perhaps the first ballistic comparison, John Toms is convicted of murder based on the match of paper wadding removed from the victim’s wound with paper found in Tom’s pocket. 1787: Johann Metzger develops a method for isolating arsenic.…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 24: Common Writing Mistakes 23:50

16 weeks fa23:50

23:50

SHOW NOTES: Writers, particularly early in their careers, make mistakes. Often the same ones over and over. Here are a few pitfalls to avoid. OVERWRITING: Too many words Too cute by far Strained Metaphors Purple prose DIALOG: Tag alert Characters all sound the same Inane conversations “As you know” chatting SHOW VS TELL: DESCRIPTION: Not too much Not too little Just enough—the telling details SCENES: In and Out quickly—in medias res Leave question/tension at end POV: Stay in one at a time Except Omniscient—hard to do PACING: Fast but not too fast Vary pace BACKSTORY: How much? When? ENTERTAIN:…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 23: Apollo 11 and Me 27:07

16 weeks fa27:07

27:07

SHOW NOTES : It’s hard to believe that it’s been 50 years. Exactly 50 years. This show has nothing to do with crime writing or the science of crime. It is rather a step back in world history. And in my personal history. Yes, I was there. Inside the gates of the Cape Canaveral Space Center. July 16, 1969, 9:32 a.m. I remember it like it was yesterday. Please indulge me and join me for this trip down memory lane. The above picture is more or less the view I had of the launch. The sky was clear, the tension thick, and not a dry eye to be found.…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 22: Common Medical Errors in Fiction 24:36

16 weeks fa24:36

24:36

Too often, fiction writers commit medical malpractice in their stories. Unfortunately, these mistakes can sink an otherwise well-written story. The ones I repetitively see include: Bang, Bang, You’re Dead: Not so fast. No one dies instantly. Well, almost no one. Instant death can occur with heart attacks, strokes, extremely abnormal heart rhythms, cyanide, and a few other “metabolic” poisons. But trauma, such as gunshot wounds (GSWs) and blows to the head, rarely cause sudden death. Yet, how often has a single shot felled a villain? Bang, dead. For that to occur, the bullet would have to severely damage the brain, the heart, or the cervical (neck) portion of the spinal cord. A shot to the chest or abdomen leads to a lot of screaming and moaning, but death comes from bleeding and that takes time. Sometimes, a long time. Ask any emergency physician or nurse. GSW victims reach the ER with multiple holes in their bodies and survive all the time. This is particularly true if it’s Friday night (we called it the Friday Night Knife and Gun Club), during a full moon (yes, it’s true, a full moon changes everything), or if the victim is drunk. You can’t kill a drunk. That’s a medical fact. They survive everything from car wrecks to gunshots to falling off tall buildings. The family van they hit head-on will have no survivors, but the drunk will walk away with minor scratches, if that. Sleeping Beauty: I call this the “Hollywood Death.” Calm, peaceful, and not a hair out of place. As if simply asleep. Blood? Almost never. Trauma? None in sight. The deceased is nicely dressed, stretched out on a wrinkle-free bed, make-up perfect, and with a slight flutter of the eyelids if you look closely. Real dead folks are not so attractive. I don’t care what they looked like during life, in death they are pale, waxy, and gray. Their eyes do not flutter and they do not look relaxed and peaceful. They look dead. And feel cold. It’s amazing how quickly after death the body becomes cold to the touch. It has to do with the loss of blood flow to the skin after the heart stops. No warm blood, no warmth to the touch. Sleeping Beauty also doesn’t bleed. You know this one. The hero detective arrives at a murder scene a half hour after the deed to see blood oozing from the corpse’s mouth or from the GSW to the chest. Tilt! Dead folks don’t bleed. You see, when you die, your heart stops and the blood...…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 21: Autopsy of a Thriller, The Terminator 25:53

16 weeks fa25:53

25:53

SHOW NOTES: A scene-by-scene analysis of The Terminator Each scene is either good (+), Bad (-) or Neutral (0) for Sarah Conner, the protagonist. Watch the movie and rate each scene. You will see that through the first 2/3s of the film things don’t go well for Sarah but she overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to win in the end. This is how a good thriller is plotted. The Terminator (1984) T = The Terminator R = Kyle Reese S = Sarah Conner…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 20: Elements of a Thriller 28:35

17 weeks fa28:35

28:35

SHOW NOTES: Elements of a Thriller Open with a Bang or a Chill or a Compelling Question Establish the 4 Ws Early-------Who, What, When, and Where Inciting Incident---Sets the protagonist’s story in motion Establish the Story Question—What does the Protagonist want/need? Rising Tension Who/What opposes the Protagonist and Why? What does the antagonist want/need? Establish a Time or Situation Endpoint Scenes advance or obstruct the protagonist’s attaining goal Each power scene poses a question and ends with: Yes------------------------------Weak No-------------------------------Better Yes, but------------------------Strong No, and further more———————————-Strongest Convergence of Space and Time—“Life in a Trash Compactor” Epiphany---Protagonist grasps the solution Personal Jeopardy---Protagonist must fear for personal safety Mano a’ Mano---Protagonist must confront antagonist “face to face” Resolution---all major story questions are resolved…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 19: SUNSHINE STATE is coming 15:45

17 weeks fa15:45

15:45

From Publishers Weekly: In Lyle’s ingenious third mystery featuring retired major league pitcher Jake Longly (after 2017’s A-List ), Jake, who runs a restaurant in Gulf Shores, Ala., is again roped into working for his father Ray’s PI firm. An attorney has contacted Ray on behalf of Billy Wayne Baker, a convicted serial killer. Though Baker pleaded guilty to strangling seven women, he insists that he killed only five of them, and wants that assertion validated. When Jake meets Baker in prison, the murderer refuses to name the other killer, claiming that doing so would lead to accusations that Jake’s inquiries were biased. The investigator’s task is made even harder by Baker’s not even identifying which of the dead women were killed by someone else . (To his credit, Lyle makes this complicated scenario credible.) Along with his girlfriend, Jake travels to Pine Key, Fla., the scene of three of the strangulations, where the couple pretend to be researching a documentary examining the impact of the killings on the small community. The clever plot twists will surprise even genre veterans. This entry is the best in the series so far. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-60809-336-6…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 18: Gunshot to the chest 26:39

17 weeks fa26:39

26:39

SHOW NOTES: Gunshot wounds (GSWs) come in many flavors and those to the chest can be particularly dicey. Yet, a chest GSW can be a minor flesh wound, a major traumatic event with significant damage, or deadly. If you have a character who suffers such an injury, this podcast is for you. Here are few interesting questions about chest GSWs: Could a Person Survive a Gunshot to the Chest in the 1880s? Q: My scenario is set in 1880. A man in his early 20s is shot in the back by a rifle. He loses a lot of blood and is found a couple of hours later unconscious. Could he survive and if so how long would it take him it recuperate? Also, would it be possible to bring him to consciousness long enough for another man to get him into a buggy. Is any part of this scenario possible? A: Everything about your scenario works. A gun shot wound (GSW) to the chest can kill in minutes, hours, days, or not at all. The victim would be in pain and may cough and sputter and may even cough up some blood. He could probably walk or crawl and maybe even fight and run if necessary. Painful, but possible. He would likely be consciousness so could even help get himself into the wagon. If all goes well, he should be better and gingerly up and around in a week or two. He would be fully recovered in 6 to 8 weeks. After surviving the initial GSW, the greatest risk to his life would a secondary wound infection. Since no antibiotics were available at that time, the death rate was very high---40 to 80 percent---for wound infections. But, if he did not develop an infection, he would heal up completely. How Is A Gunshot To The Chest Treated? Q: I have a few questions regarding a gunshot wound that my poor character will be sustaining later on in my story. Supposing it's a fairly small caliber bullet (typical handgun fare, not buckshot or anything) and it hits near the heart without puncturing anything important, how long might his recovery time be? He's a strong, kinda-healthy guy in his thirties, although he drinks a fair amount and used to smoke. He'll be rushed to a high-quality hospital immediately and receive the best care throughout recovery...what's his outlook? When will he be allowed to go home, if all goes well? How long before he's healed to normal? When will it be safe for him to walk around, drive, have sex, etc.? A: In your story, what happens to your shooting victim depends upon what injuries he received. A gunshot wound (GSW to docs and cops) can be a minor flesh wound or can be immediately deadly or anywhere in between. It all depends on the caliber and speed of the bullet and the exact structures it hits. A shot to the heart may kill instantly or not. The victim could die in a few minutes or survive for days or could recover completely with proper medical care and surgery. It’s highly variable but ask any surgeon or ER doctor and they will tell you that it’s hard to...…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 17: DNA and Twins 24:41

17 weeks fa24:41

24:41

SHOW NOTES: For years it was felt that the DNA of identical twins was indeedidentical. Since they come from a single fertilized egg, this would seem intuitive. But, nature likes to throw curve balls—and the occasional slider. After that first division of the fertilized, and after the two daughter cells go their way toward producing identical humans, things change. And therein lies the genetic differences between two “identical” twins. LINKS: One Twin Committed the Crime—but Which One?: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/science/twins-dna-crime-paternity.html The Claim: Identical Twins Have Identical DNA: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/health/11real.html The Genetic Relationship Between Identical Twins: https://www.verywellfamily.com/identical-twins-and-dna-2447117 Identical Twins’ Genes Are Not Identical: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/identical-twins-genes-are-not-identical/ Rare Australian Twins Are “Semi-Identical,: Sharing 89 Percent of Their DNA: https://www.inverse.com/article/53633-semi-identical-twins-share-78-percent-of-dna…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 16: Arsenic: An historical and modern poison 20:00

17 weeks fa20:00

20:00

From HOWDUNNIT:FORENSICS Toxicology is a relativelynew science that stands on the shoulders of its predecessors: anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and medicine. Our knowledge in these sciences had toreach a certain level of sophistication before toxicology could become areality. It slowly evolved over more than two hundred years of testing,starting with tests for arsenic. Arsenic had been a commonpoison for centuries, but there was no way to prove that arsenic was the culprit in a suspicious death. Scientist had to isolate and then identify arsenic trioxide—the most common toxic form of arsenic— in the human body before arsenic poisoning became a provable cause of death. The steps that led to a reliable test for arsenic are indicative of how many toxicological procedures developed. 1775: Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786) showed that chlorine water would convert arsenic into arsenic acid. He then added metallic zinc and heated the mixture to release arsine gas. When this gas contacted a cold vessel, arsenic would collect on the vessel’s surface. 1787: Johann Metzger (1739–1805) showed that if arsenic were heated with charcoal, a shiny, black “arsenic mirror” would form on the charcoal’s surface. 1806: Valentine Rose discovered that arsenic could be uncovered in the human body. If the stomach contents of victims of arsenic poisoning are treated with potassium carbonate, calcium oxide, and nitric acid, arsenic trioxide results. This could then be tested and confirmed by Metzger’s test. 1813: French chemist Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila (1787–1853) developed a method for isolating arsenic from dog tissues. He also published the first toxicological text, Traité des poisons (Treatise on Poison), which helped establish toxicology as a true science. 1821: Sevillas used similar techniques to find arsenic in the stomach and urine of individuals who had been poisoned. This is marked as the beginning of the field of forensic toxicology. 1836: Dr. Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806–1880) developed the first test for arsenic in human tissue. He taught chemistry at Grey’s Medical School in England and is credited with establishing the field of forensic toxicology as a medical specialty. 1836: James Marsh (1794–1846) developed an easier and more sensitive version of Metzger’s original test, in which the “arsenic mirror” was collected on a plate of glass or porcelain. The Marsh test became the standard, and its principles were the basis of the more modern method known as the Reinsch test, which we will look at later in this chapter. As you can see, each step in developing a useful testing procedure for arsenic stands on what discoveries came before. That’s the way science works. Step by step, investigators use what others have discovered to discover even more. Acute vs. Chronic Poisoning ...…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 15: Introducing Characters 23:45

17 weeks fa23:45

23:45

SHOW NOTES: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. The same is true for your fictional characters. So, make them vivid and memorial. How do you do this? There are many ways. Let’s explore a few of them. Riding the Rap--Elmore Leonard Ocala Police picked up Dale Crowe Junior for weaving, two o’clock in the morning, crossing the center line and having a busted tail light. Then while Dale was blowing a point-one-nine they put his name and date of birth into the national crime computer and learned he was a fugitive felon, wanted on a three-year-old charge of Unlawful Flight to Avoid Incarceration. A few days later Raylan Givens, with the Marshals Service, came up from Palm Beach County to take Dale back and the Ocala Police wondered about Raylan. How come he was a federal officer and Dale Crowe Junior was wanted on a state charge. He told them he was with FAST, the Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team, assigned to the Sheriff’s Office in West Palm. And that was pretty much all this Marshall said. They wandered too, since he was alone, how you’d be able to drive and keep an eye on his prisoner. Dale Crowe Junior had been convicted of a third-degree five-year felony, Battery of a Police Officer, and was looking at additional time on the fugitive warrant. Dale Junior might feel he had nothing to lose on this trip so. He was a rangy kid with the build of a college athlete, bigger than this marshal in his blue suit and cowboy boots -- the marshal calm though, not appearing to be the least apprehensive. He said the West Palm strike team were shorthanded at the moment, the reason he was alone, but believed he would manage. The Long Goodbye--Raymond Chandler When I got home I mixed a stiff one and stood by the open window in the living room and sipped it and listened to the groundswell of traffic on Laurel Canyon Boulevard and looked at the glare of the big angry city hanging over the shoulder of the hills through which the boulevard had been cut. Far off the banshee wail of police or fire sirens rose and fell, never for very long completely silent. Twenty four hours a day somebody is running, somebody else is trying to catch him. Out there in the night of a thousand crimes, people were dying, being maimed, cut by flying glass, crushed against steering wheels or under heavy tires. People were being beaten, robbed, strangled, raped, and murdered. People were hungry, sick; bored, desperate with loneliness or remorse or fear, angry, cruel, feverish, shaken by sobs. A city no worse than others, a city rich and vigorous and full of pride, a city lost and beaten and full of emptiness. It all depends on where you sit and what your own private score is. I didn’t have one. I didn’t care. I finished the drink and went to bed. Trouble Is My Business—Raymond Chandler (Marlowe meets Harriett Huntress—Chapter 3) She wore a street dress...…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 14: Rules of Writing 24:58

17 weeks fa24:58

24:58

SHOW NOTES: Somerset Maugham: There are three rules for novel writing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. Terry Brooks Rules Read, Read, Read Outline, Outline, Outline Write, Write, Write Repeat Dave Barry: Don’t Be Boring Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing 1-Never open a book with weather 2-Avoid prologues 3-Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue 4-Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” 5-Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose 6-Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose 7-Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly 8-Avoid detailed descriptions of characters 9-Don’t go into great detail describing places and things 10-Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip LINKS: Elmore Leonard: “What a Guy,” says Jackie Collins https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/21/elmore-leonard-what-a-guy-jackie-collins Writers On Writing: Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points, and Especially Hooptedoodle by Elmore Leonard https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-especially-hooptedoodle.html Jack Kerouac’s 30 Tips: http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/kerouac-technique.html 6...…

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Criminal Mischief Episode 13: Alice In Wonderland Syndrome 18:34

17 weeks fa18:34