Web yields deadly tricks for crime writers

By Gavin Haycock

LONDON (Reuters) - Thinking about killing someone and can't figure out how to finish the job and make crime pay? It's the kind of stuff that keeps crime fiction writers awake at night.

If the blood-splattered creative juices aren't flowing, the authors of crime and thriller novels are increasingly turning to the Web and digging up, often by chance, the idea for their next blockbuster.

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 (www.markbillingham.com).

"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.

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 recognizing 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 realizes 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."

DARK HEARTS AND MINDS

Web-based forums like www.crimespace.ning.com and the Crime Writers Association www.thecwa.co.uk have flourished, bringing together writers and fans around the world.

Authors I spoke with for this column rated among their favorites the crime fiction sites "Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind" at www.sarahweinman.com, www.thrillerwriters.org and www.crimespot.net.

Seasoned or aspiring writers also track blogs run by police officers where they can read tales and learn jargon -- something that was not possible a few years back.

Child said one of the great benefits of tapping into the right police blog site is that writers can learn about tension between departments, staff and bosses, personal concerns and how they balance the "banal with the extraordinary".

"It's like coming up out of a tunnel into a different world. If you are reasonably sensitive to words and nuance, like all writers ought to be, you can actually pick up a tremendous amount of good stuff almost accidentally," said Child.

Peter Robinson, the novelist behind the Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks books (www.inspectorbanks.com), is another one who finds the Web a useful resource for research.