On the Mike, on the Record

National Public Radio (NPR) has been on a bit of roll lately, at least as far as crime fiction coverage goes. Expanding its “Crime in the City” series, which has already highlighted such talents as John Burdett, Laura Lippman, and Michael Connelly, late last week reporter Mandalit del Barco profiled Joseph Wambaugh (Hollywood Crows), who mines a 14-year stint with the Los Angeles Police Department and his continuing contacts within the LAPD for material from which he’s built a successful career writing fiction in books and for television. Listen to the Wambaugh profile here.

In addition, NPR reporter Deborah Amos this morning interviewed Stella Rimington (Illegal Action), the first female director-general of Britain’s Security Service, better known as MI5. As Amos explains, Rimington--now retired from spy work--has created the character of Liz Carlyle, “a fictional intelligence officer in her mid 30s who works for MI5. Liz is a cool customer, who brings a combination of analytical intelligence and female intuition to a profession dominated by men. If this sounds familiar, it’s because, as the author admits, some of her fiction is inspired by reality. ‘When I first joined MI5, it was a male-dominated world,’ says Rimington. ‘I take some pleasure, I must say, in putting things in Liz’s mouth that I might quite have liked to have said--but probably never did--when I was in her position.” If you’d like to listen to the Rimington interview, it can be found here.