As many of you know I am plunging into National Novel Writing Month* this month to begin the second book in my detective trilogy, The Delphic Murders. This second book is entitled The Tainted Search. My process is not that complicated -bum in seat – so to speak, and to avoid external distractions as much as possible. This, of course, isn’t always the case, take this past weekend for example. I had a board meeting to attend and a radio interview recording to participate in on Saturday and then Sunday was family time. And as I am working full time that has a major effect on my writing time.
*National Novel Writing Month – write 50,000 words in the month of November* As I write this blog post on Sunday morning my total is 11,748 words, which is on track, thankfully.
The crime fiction genre is a new genre for me to write and I have been enjoying the research process, as well as planning a three book series. There are many sub-genres to this type of fiction as you can see from this list.
- Detective fiction
- Cozy Mystery
- Whodunit
- Historical whodunit
- Locked room whodunit
- Locked room mystery
- Police procedural
- Forensic
- Legal thriller
- Spy novel
- Caper story
- Psychological thriller
- Parody or spoof
The commonality of these sub-genres is a lot of suspense, hidden clues, a charismatic detective and an elusive criminal. I have added a ‘side-kick’ to my main protagonists, which is a fairly common duo seen in most detective TV shows and movies. The first book has a secondary romance, this second a professional conflict and the third? Well, that remains to be seen, I haven’t started writing it yet!
As a special treat, I am sharing the draft prologue from the first book. An Elusive Trail. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Prologue
September 2005
Three vehicles converge at an abandoned farm, the sun-bleached buildings collapsing and twisting into the earth. Melted snow and slush is piled up against the dilapidated structures glistening in the only illumination for miles – headlights and a full moon. Three men exit their vehicles and stand facing each other. A red glow from a single cigarette gives one man a fragmented face, his eyes watching expectedly. The smoke joins the puffs of cold night air emitting from his companions mouths. A middle aged man with a slight paunch straining against his thick coat faces his colleagues as the smoker, Allan asks.
“What’s so important you drag us out at this time of night in the cold, Craig?”
“We have a problem, Allan, Travis and his name is Detective Daniel Markum.”
Allan stamps out his cigarette before asking.
“How much of a problem is he?”
“I’d say the biggest. He’s been reviewing some of our old cases.”
“Shit! How did you find out?”
“I’d set up an alert on our contrived cases and nine have popped up in the last three weeks. We have to eliminate this threat and real soon.”
“I can set up something with Raul. Can you make sure Markum is on scene first, Travis?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem, Craig, I can patch through to a false call. It’s not like I haven’t done it before, right?”
“You meet him there soon after and Allan and I will set up the ambush. It’ll be easy to make it look like an ‘in the line of duty’ incident. I have several unmarked, untraceable handguns stashed away.”
“How soon can this be set up, Travis?”
“Is next Tuesday soon enough, Craig?”
“Sure. Then we need to consider lateral transfers. We can’t all stay in Edmonton. Raul has been asking for assistance in Red Deer and Calgary to expand his drug operations. This might be the time to do it.”
The three detectives shook hands, returned to their vehicles, and drove away from the remote meeting place. Their plan set in motion, their victim unaware of his fate.
Do you read crime fiction? What do you like about the genre? Who are your favorite authors in the genre?
Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 