I like serial killers because I want to know why people do the things they do—specifically the really bad stuff. How can someone be so twisted up in their head they can torture another human being, especially a child? What happened to us in adolescence shapes who we are as people, and that’s definitely the case for some serial killers. But not all serial killers are equal (and not all are psychopaths) but they are all unique. This is essentially the basis for the hit Netflix show MINDHUNTERS, based on John Douglass’s book. The main characters are based on Douglas and another pioneer in the behavioral science unit, Robert Ressler. And please note, there are MANY more key profilers who helped create the BSU, including Robert Keppel and Roy Hazelwood. In the 70s, talking to people like Ed Kemper—having a real conversation with him without showing any disgust for his crimes—was unthinkable. But the profilers pressed on and changed how we catch and study criminals. The show is amazing. Highly encourage you to watch if you haven’t already!

But the crux of the show and their research is this: what are these killers thinking, and why did they do those horrible things? Kemper’s issues go back to his mother—when you hear his stories, it’s not a huge shock he became a killer. Others are wired that way. Gary Ridgway/The Green River Killer told psychiatrists he wanted to see what killing felt like, although he also had a serious lack of confidence around women and saw prostitutes as trash; Bundy wanted to control and frighten, and he wanted private time with the bodies; Jeffrey Dahmer had a substance abuse problem and issues with his sexuality but he had a normal upbringing and no specific triggers in his background. BTK was a family man who deftly compartmentalized his life into specific boxes, keeping careful not to allow his killing box to intersect his personal life, until his ego got the best of him. If you’re interested in Radar, read Katherine Ramsland’s book on him, CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL KILLER. She spent several years interviewing BTK, and the information comes straight from the source.

We know all of these things (and a whole lot more I don’t have space for) because of guys like Douglas, Ressler, Keppel and Hazelwood, and many more. We can never truly understand these people because we don’t know what it’s like to live in their heads. But we can certainly study and try, and that helps law enforcement catch them. And it helps writers come up with seriously scary villains.

Every one of my bad guys—including my Ripper character—is inspired by research into the dark and twisted. I certainly don’t compare what I do to the likes of Douglas and his cohorts, but I do try and understand as much of the bad guy’s psyche as possible before I start writing. The antagonist—and in my case, usually the killer—drives the plot. Everything the protagonist does is really in reaction to whatever the villain is doing, so it’s crucial to understand every little detail about him before I start writing. 99% of that backstory doesn’t make it into a novel. But it still shapes the entire story.

Have you read KILLING JANE? Reviewers are love!

Some of you may have seen my posts on my Facebook Author Page about how Grace loves watching Cops with me. JAIL: Las Vegas is another favorite. She’s nine, by the way. She also enjoys Bones, and she’d watch The First 48 and Hoarders if her father would allow it. I suppose some would say sitting with my daughter, watching a police officer chase down a drunk after a car chase, is bad parenting. But it’s not like they show any sort of real blood and guts, and it’s an inside look at the real world. It’s a way for her to understand how foolish people look–and how easily drugs and alcohol can pull a good kid right off track.

The First 48 is a different story, because even with the human remains blurred, she’s still hearing about murder and rape and everything bad. I think that’s probably too much at this point, but she’s very interested in why people do these bad things. Aren’t we all?

As a kid, I remember watching police shows with my dad, and it definitely paved the way for my interests today. Grace is smart and inquisitive, and if we can watch the bad things together and talk about why these things are happening and what we can do to keep ourselves safe, is that really a bad thing? If we can talk about the mental illness of hoarding with compassion and understanding, isn’t that teaching her vital skills for life? And at the end of the day, it’s really about communication. She and I are doing something together, and we’re both getting something out of it. We’re bonding, and as she gets older, that is probably going to happen less and less. So I suppose I cling to it, no matter the subject.

What about you? What shows do you watch with  your kids and why? Are there any you absolutely forbid?

ALL GOOD DEEDS was chosen as the January Book of the Month for the Goodreads group Psychological Thrillers. It’s a large group, and the members loved Lucy Kendall so much they bought the second book and started a new thread for that. Talk about being humbled! Seeing readers discuss my work and being invited to chime in has been absolutely amazing and very gratifying.

Since the Lucy Kendall Series deals with some dark topics, one of the constant themes of the discussion has been whether or not readers agree with Lucy’s belief that killing child molesters is right. Now, those who know Lucy probably realize her problems go far beyond this vigilante agenda. Killing these horrible people might just be a vehicle for something far more sinister. But you’ll have to read the series to find out.

Like many authors, bits and pieces of my own personality have wormed their way into my characters. To be honest, Lucy is more like me than any other character I’ve created. I promise you I’ve never killed anyone, but her intolerance for child molesters mirrors my own. Our system is broken, and these people are released into the streets way too often. I have no problem with a one strike law for them. Do I agree with Lucy’s choice to kill them? From a mother’s perspective, yes. If it were my child, I don’t know what I would be capable of, and if someone like Lucy took the bastard who hurt my kid out, I’d probably throw a party. From a realistic perspective, I’m not sure. Taking the law into her own hands makes Lucy just as bad as anyone else, even if she’s ridding society of the scum of the earth. But were I to meet Lucy in real life and find out what she’s been doing, I think I’d turn the other cheek and walk away.

What would you do? Would you allow someone to keep taking the law into their own hands if it meant your children were safe? Or would you step up and report them?

Newsflash! DEAD WRONG, book 2 in the Cage Foster series, hits the e-shelves today. Keep an eye out for it!

It’s finally here! Living Victim, the first Cage Foster/Delta Detectives Novella, is available NOW! Click on the picture to go to the book’s buy page. Now, onto the post!

So if you haven’t guessed by my various social media feeds, I have an interest in all things law enforcement. It takes a special kind of person to be a police officer, and while there are always going to be people who take advantage of the situation, there are FAR MORE good guys who put their lives on the line day in and day out. I can’t imagine being brave enough to walk away from my family knowing I might not come back (and this goes for firefighters, the military, etc).

Until last fall, most of my knowledge of law enforcement came from true crime and a lot of online research. One of the main reasons I’d chosen NOT to take the character of Cage Foster any further was because I believed I just didn’t know enough or have enough connections to make his police work authentic. That all changed in September when I attended the Writer’s Police Academy. I met real cops, firemen, deputies, secret service agents, undercover cops – the list goes on. I learned more than I ever dreamed about procedure, but also about their mindset and character, which is much more interesting to me. I also learned a lot about being a medical examiner, which is going to come in handy very soon, but more on that later.

I was lucky enough to go on a ride-along with a Sheriff’s Deputy, and that night was a game changer for me. I learned that southern hospitality is very real, and I got to witness firsthand how police deal with death. Our main call was a suicide, and the boy was found by his parents. When we arrived (lights blaring), my deputy and his sergeant rushed into the house, only to return a few minutes later. Their hunched shoulders and holstered guns made it clear the self-inflicted gunshot wound did its job.

I spent several hours watching officers work the scene, but the part that sticks out in my mind is the deputy who brought out the deceased boy’s pet cats. They were in separate carriers, and he put them all in a circle facing each other so they wouldn’t be as upset. And then he offered me half his snack and a water. Watching the process was sobering, and I stayed in the cruiser out of respect for the family, but I learned so much by just observing. Speaking with the deputy afterwards gave me precious insight on how these officers deal with things the rest of us can only imagine. And every bit of that was fodder for my character.

Suddenly I realized I could do this if I wanted to. I’m not interested in writing a nitty gritty police procedural, but I wanted to bring Cage back to life. I wanted to show his struggles as a Criminal Investigator while juggling family and personal life. I wanted to explore him constantly walking the thin blue line, because those are the things about law enforcement that really interest me.

So Cage is back, and I have to say, I am so damned happy about it. I worried that after writing so much darkness with Lucy Kendall I’d struggle to find Cage’s voice, but he was there instantly, with so many stories to tell I realized I had a series on my hands. The Delta Detective Novellas show Cage as cop and a human being, struggling to do the right thing when his professional and personal lives entwine. They also introduce some new characters, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of those characters in the fall!

First up is Living Victim, followed by Dead Wrong. Three more novellas will be released in February and March, and if you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get an exclusive serial novella featuring Summer Jordan. Inspired by the medical examiner I met at WPA and my experiences with the Deputy State ME of Mississippi, Summer is an exciting new character who will be getting her own series in the fall. Signing up for the newsletter means you get to read her novella for FREE.

In the meantime, check out this EXCLUSIVE TEASER of Cage in Living Victim:

Cage threaded his way through thick underbrush, careful to avoid the thorn bushes. A throng of willow trees bordered the property. He smiled, thinking of the giant willow in his parents’ yard. He and his sister Lana used to play house beneath it, using the thin, whip-like branches as doors and walls. But these willows were so overgrown they looked like a mutated wall of green, branches of one tree entwined with the overgrown branches of the next. They provided a macabre sort of border, as if protecting Mark’s hoarding from the county outliers.

Red flashed between the tangled masses of green. A tent, Cage realized. Set up in the middle of the wild forest. His hand drifted to his gun. The daughter said a barbed wire fence bordered the property. Unless the foliage had taken it over as well, Cage saw no sign of it. The tent was on the property.

He edged closer. The adrenaline started in his fingertips, a tingling that shot up his arms and into his chest. The air thickened, the breeze slowed, as if the trees themselves knew Cage was trying to keep quiet. He touched his shoulder mic.

“McKay, request backup. Found a tent in the woods just northeast of the house.”

He approached slowly, the dry grass crunching beneath his feet. A bramble tugged at his uniform. He jerked his arm away just in time to keep from snagging his skin and leaving unnecessary blood evidence. The tent was fairly small, maybe eight by eight. More five-gallon buckets like the one in the house were placed haphazardly around the campsite. The shifting wind brought the smell of feces and urine mixed with a much headier scent Cage couldn’t place.

A small fire pit was dug into the ground, with a rudimentary grill and a few iron skillets off to the side. Next to the tent sat a black, plastic toolbox with wheels. While the outside of the tent was marred with dirt and streaked with a dark, dried liquid, the toolbox was pristine, as if it had been recently wiped down.

Ice dripped down Cage’s spine as fresh sweat broke out across his forehead, dampening the roots of his recently trimmed hair. He wiped his sweaty palms against his pant leg.

Withdrawing his gun, he edged closer to the site. “This is Investigator Cage Foster with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. Like to have a word with you.”

Living Victim (Delta Detectives #1)

So what does this have to do with being a thriller author? One word: distraction. I don’t know how it works for authors of other genres, but writing about all things dark and twisted takes its toll on a person. In order to put the reader into the moment, I’ve got to be in the character’s shoes. That means trying to process how he or she is feeling. One of my favorite quotes from Jensen Ackles is when he’s describing one of the best scenes in Season 4 of Supernatural. The scene involves Dean telling Sam about hell and the things he did while he was there. It’s heartbreaking, and Jensen said after the shot, he just had to walk away because he was an emotional wreck. It didn’t matter that Jensen didn’t have Dean’s forty years in hell to draw from – he still put himself at an emotional place and used that to make the scene work.

That’s not much different than what writers do. Grieving mother, sick killer, abused kid–whoever our character is, we’ve got to get into their heads. Believe me, that wears a person out.

And so the distractions come in. Now, I’m the first to admit I probably have too many distractions, but that’s another post. Sometimes, when I’ve written a particularly rough scene, I hop onto my favorite websites in search of something to make me laugh or say aww.

Here are a few of my faves:

9gag.com
Dogshaming.com
Reddit.com/aww
Huffington Post – weird/dumb criminals section
Pinterest

What do you do when you need a moment of laughter? As a reader, what scenes/books affected you so deeply you had to search for something lighthearted to pull you out of the funk?

ALL GOOD DEEDS is the January Book of the Month for Psychological Thrillers at Goodreads! This is a major honor, and the discussion is great. Stop by and join in!

Now, on to today’s confession: my favorite scenes to write are the kill scenes. That’s when Lucy Kendall eradicates her twisted form of justice. She’s got two of those scenes in SEE THEM RUN, and one in particular was a lot of fun to write.

First off, the dude she is killing is a bad guy, and the world is better off without him. But that’s just surface stuff. What made the scene truly fun was the organic evolution of her character. I’d planned on her to go darker eventually, but this happened on its own. Her mind and body reacted in ways I hadn’t anticipated, and she become more calculating. Even more, she started to enjoy killing. Only for a moment, but the seed was planted. As a plotter, I love it when a character takes off on their own tangent and surprises me!

As for the killing part, it’s not the act but the representation. Lucy Kendall can never go back from this one. She can’t convince herself she’s only doing this for the greater good and whatever lies she’s told herself. A small part of her knows she killed a man because she wanted to, and that part is looking forward to doing it all over again.

For me, moments like this one are one of the most rewarding. I stop worrying about the story and all the big picture issues and just let the writing take hold. It’s a precious gift when that happens, and I look forward to the next time.

Just for fun, this song was on repeat as I wrote the kill scene (RIP Kurt):

Authors, what scenes are you most proud of this year? Readers, do you have a favorite scene to share?

Some of you know my almost 9-year-old daughter is a swimmer. She’s in her third year of competitive swimming, so we’ve got our system for meets down pretty well. Downtime between races is usually social hour for the parents, but this weekend was different because it was our home swim meet. That means parents needed to volunteer, and yesterday morning I worked the lobby door for a few hours. I got to yell at people for trying to sneak downstairs when they weren’t allowed–you know I enjoyed that!

Anyway, after the initial rush, things got slow, and I decided to take advantage. I’m working on a NEW SERIES featuring a new character in the Delta Detectives Series (details coming soon!) and of course, there are murders to deal with. So I started taking some notes. I’ll spare you pics of my cruddy handwriting. Here’s a quick list (and these are just ideas, doesn’t mean they’ll be in future books).

• Hostage situation
• Shooting at the college where Nick works – who gets killed?
• Domestic gone bad
• Suicide by cop
• Cage has to deal with shooting/killing someone
• Sexual Assault/Murder
• Autopsy – will evidence of sexual assault show up later?  ***At this point, the 8-year-old son of the aquatic directer was chatting to me about someone throwing up downstairs. Don’t worry, I covered my notes.
• City officials acting like assholes (hey, these are my notes).
• How decayed is body at scene? What is maggot situation? ***Pretty sure someone brought me a cookie at this point. It was yummy. I hope they didn’t see the part about the maggots. 
• Kid in morgue. Signs of sex abuse. ***At this point I’m being reminded that the superintendent might be showing up, and since she’s the big boss, we want to show her around. I need to keep a lookout. I make a mental note to close the notebook if I see her. 
• Various notes about death investigation, including trace evidence exam. The words pubic hair make an appearance as several preteen boys go by. I’m pretty sure the bagels they were stuffing their faces with kept their attention.
• Dead guy in the concessions or in the freezer (my personal favorite).

During all of this, young, impressionable swimmers are going in and out of the door, my notebook likely in full view. I hoped my sloppy handwriting and their nerves kept most of them from peaking too much. But as any writer will tell you, we’re always working. Our minds very rarely slow down, and there’s always a plot bunny hopping around. If we don’t take the time to make notes, we’ll go insane.

Don’t even get me started on the things I look up at practice. Let’s just say I did a lot of research about the dark web and sex trafficking for SEE THEM RUN (Lucy Kendall #2) at my favorite table at the Aquatic Center.

So that’s my excuse for plotting murder at the swim meet. The good news is, I have a handle on the new series! You’ll meet the character in the upcoming Delta Detectives novellas, and I will be announcing the new series in February. I’m also planning some FREE novellas for my newsletter subscribers (more details to come) so if you’re not already a member of my mailing list, make sure to sign up.

What do you do to pass time at your kids practices or events when you’ve got downtime? Writers, what’s the worst thing you’ve ever Googled when surrounded by kids?

The Body Farm is actually part of the Forensic Anthropology Center at The University of Tennessee, and it is a groundbreaking place. Created by Dr. William Bass, the Knoxville location is the original body farm (there are now five facilities in the United States). Bass started the project in 1981 as a way to study the decomposition of human remains, and it’s been essential in learning how bodies decay in various weather conditions, which means making law enforcement’s job (slightly) easier.

The wooded plot is surrounded by a razor wire fence, and at any time various donated bodies are placed in different weather conditions. Over the past thirty years, the human remains at the Body Farm have been an integral part in determining time of death (think speed of decomp and maggots).

Over 100 bodies are donated to the facility every year, and you can pre-register with the facility. I have to be honest, some days that sounds a lot more appealing than moldering in a coffin or burning in a furnace. Your remains would actually benefit science. How cool is that?

Back to the field trip. When I attended the Writer’s Police Academy this fall, several of us joked at breakfast (only crime writers!) about how awesome it would be to be able to tour the body farm. Later that day, Lisa Gardner gave her presentation on research and mentioned her very own trip to the Tennessee Body Farm! Naturally I was green with envy and cornered her about it the first chance I got.

Turns out, writers and any researchers CAN tour the grounds. The trick is you must have a legitimate research project, because this is an academic facility. Now, Lisa’s trip was about seven years ago and things might have changed, but it sounds like a very worthwhile trip for the brave writer. Needless to say, my close friend and I working on research project for one of my books that will hopefully garner us entry one day.

I know, I know, it sounds freakish and maybe it is, but for a mystery/thriller/crime writer, a chance to tour the body farm and see some of the realities we write about would be an amazing opportunity.

What about you? Could you handle a tour? And would you consider donating your body to one of the five facilities in the United States?

For more about the origins of the Tennessee Body Farm (University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility), check out Dr. William Bass’s awesome book, Death’s Acre.

Most mystery and thriller writers joke about their search history, but we’re really telling the truth. In the wrong hands, every one of us would look like psychopaths plotting our next murder.

Lucy Kendall is my very own serial killer, and she doesn’t like getting her hands dirty. After all, she still believes she’s killing for the right reasons. So Lucy uses a variety of drugs to get the job done.

In today’s Confessions of a Thriller Author, I’m sharing what I know about some highly dangerous substances.

Cyanide

In All Good Deeds, Lucy’s weapon is cyanide, based on The Iceman, who used to carry around a nasal spray bottle filled with the stuff and squirt it on his unsuspecting victims. In my research, I found that his methods weren’t just the stuff of legends. Cyanide does absorb through the skin and very quickly. Death would come in minutes, and while it won’t be pretty, it often mimics a heart attack. According to Dr. DP Lyle (Howdunit Forensics), cyanide poisons the cell’s ability to use oxygen. They begin dying immediately, causing chest pains, shortness of breath, etc. And the clues that cyanide might be involved–cherry red hue to the skin and internal organs and the faint smell of almonds–aren’t always detectable. In many cases, a medical examiner will only find cyanide if they suspect a poisoning and do the necessary toxicology.

Ketamine

Known as Special K, this stuff is a recreational drug that can quickly turn nasty. In See Them Run (Lucy Kendall #2), Lucy needs a complacent victim she can easily overpower and force to give her information. Ketamine works wonderfully for this, because while the victim is on their trip (also known as “going through the K-hole by hardcore drug users), he won’t struggle or put up a fight and would be highly suggestible. The drug is perfect for Lucy to get her answers, and there’s no need for sedation or restraint. Even better, the drugs wipe out the memory.

Succinylcholine

This one is very dangerous, and Lucy hasn’t used it yet. But it’s definitely in her back pocket. Known as SUX, Succinylcholine paralyzes the muscles to the point where the person can’t breathe. When used in anesthesia the doctor gives just enough to paralyze the patient so they can pass the breathing tube. An extra dose means the person will essentially suffocate. However, it can be found during autopsy, so it’s definitely not the first drug of choice.

Insulin Overdose

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Lucy uses this one in the first 20 pages of See Them Run. An insulin injection works by causing a fast and dramatic drop in blood sugar, and low levels causes loss of consciousness and rapid brain damage. So insulin is a great weapon for Lucy.

According to Dr. Lyle, 100 units of insulin would be sufficient, but killers often use more. The dose could be placed into a syringe and injected. An insulin overdose would work within a minute or two by this method, and the victim would likely die within 10-15 minutes.

Because injection sites can be hard to see on corpse if they’re in an out-of-the-way area, the mark could be easily missed by the medical examiner. A 27 gauge needed is very small and leaves behind very little mark.

The medical examiner would most likely discover the low blood sugar and jumpstart an investigation, but if your killer is good, she can cover her tracks.

And that’s today’s confession: I know way more about drugs that can kill than I should, and I’m constantly researching more.

i’ve decided to try a new theme on the blog. I’m calling it Confessions of a Thriller Author, and every Monday, I’ll be posting about some of the darker things that go through my own twisted mind.

Confessions of a Thriller Author #1

People often ask me about my love of true crime, thrillers, and all things dark. Those who are under the impression that I am a sweet mom from Iowa are amazed at the sinister things I prefer to read and write. In my bio, I mention watching crime shows with my parents growing up, and I know that’s probably what planted the seed. The theme song from Hill Street Blues is one of my earliest memories, after all. Along with Dallas, which is probably where I got my flair for the dramatic.

But it goes much deeper than that. If I had to do it over again (and I actually understood myself when I was in college) I would have majored in criminal psychology. I am always fascinated by the WHY of things, and it is frustrating for me not to get an explanation. On one hand, I cannot fathom killing another human being, much less torturing them. But on the other, I want to crawl inside the mind of the person who would do such a thing. Are they really just a coldblooded psychopath? Are they a combination of nature and nurture? Many times, law enforcement and psychologists don’t get these answers handed to them on a silver platter. There is no reason why. And I still I want to know more.

Consider the psychopath Ted Bundy. What sort of things went on in his mind when he was seeking his next victim? Was he excited for the kill, for the control, or for the depraved acts he would do to them? Or what about coldblooded killer Gary Ridgway, better known as The Green River Killer, who is believed to have killed over 100 women, all of whom were prostitutes. What would a day in his head be like? How could someone look at another human being and so coldly judge them, let alone dispose of them so callously as Ridgway?

For me, it is the unknown about the psychopathic killer that is the most interesting. And their ability to blend into the crowd, to become Average Man, that makes them so frightening.

From a law enforcement perspective, I’d love to be able to understand what the police and other departments go through in the search for these people. Watching the crime shows on Investigation Discovery is no more than a glimpse into the criminal world.  Without being in the moment with the police, FBI, criminal profilers and psychologists, we will never truly understand what’s it’s like to be in their shoes and follow these killer’s paths.

It’s this sort of dark interest that drove me to create Lucy Kendall and to explore the idea of her being a sociopath. If I can’t find my answers in real life, I seek them through fiction. In many ways, writing Lucy has been like interviewing my own serial killer. I find myself digging deeper, wanting to know more about the choices she makes and if she will ever realize who she truly is. The fun part is that I get to provide the answers.

And that is the long version of why I like to read and write about sociopaths and psychopaths (pick your term), serial killers, criminal minds, cops, and all around bad people. It’s the thirst for understanding and the need to unravel their minds. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to do so with my fictional characters.

What about you, crime fiction lovers? Do you enjoy reading and researching about criminals and serial killers because you need to understand? What drives your dark interest?

Come back next Monday for my next confession, and have a wonderful and SAFE holiday!