Web of Criminality

Gavin Haycock, a Reuters reporter in London, provided some interesting insight this week in a piece on how the Web is becoming essential to crime-fiction writers.

Writers can find out about street layouts, building locations, or the latest in guns, poisons and nuclear bombs. They can also learn how victims would react to acid or bullets or being pushed from a helicopter.

“I needed to find out what a body would look like if dug up from a shallow grave after three months,” said London-based crime writer Mark Billingham, who pens novels featuring detective Tom Thorne.

“Within about 10 minutes of searching, I was in touch with a forensic anthropologist news group in the States and got all manner of helpful stuff,” he said.

Billingham is far from the only fan of the Web, Reuters reports:

Lee Child, the British-born thriller writer based in New York whose novels follow the adventures of former U.S. military policeman Jack Reacher, found inspiration for his next book, due in 2009, while dabbling on the Internet.

“I was just surfing the Web and came across some law enforcement sites where there was a list of visual indicators for recognising a suicide bomber,” said Child.

“I started this new book with the idea that my hero is on the subway in New York late at night and gazing at this person and realises that this hits 11 out of 11 on this list and what is he going to do about it,” he said. “It started just purely from some idle browsing on the Web.”

As valuable as Web-based resources can be, however, a little one-on-one time with experts in their field remains indispensable, says Billingham:

Established writers often like to get new ideas from face-to-face meetings with police and legal contacts, but that can be impossible for a writer who has yet to make it big.

Billingham says it was not until he had two published crime fiction books behind him that doors began opening to detectives, many of whom have become friends.

“For the first couple of books I was just ringing the press office and having to use the Internet. None of it can take the place of sitting down with a cop for half an hour,” he adds.

Read the full Reuters piece here.