On the PI Trail

Did you ever have a character that suddenly decided she wasn't going to stay in the occupation you gave her? A few months back I wrote a short story using a character from two previous stories. Rachael Reilly was a cop, until I wrote this last story. She was a great cop, even if she was a little unethical, but something happened in this last story that has twisted her life to the point that being a cop won't be an option for her. At the end of the story she's considering becoming a Private Investigator.

Now for someone who's only PI reading has been Parker's Spencer, and Christie's Poirot, with a bit of Kinsey Milhone and VI Warshawski tossed in for good measure, I was flabbergasted at this change in occupation. I was also left scrambling to find as many of the old PI books that I could find.

Why, you ask? Because you can't write in a genre you know nothing about. Most of the PI knowledge I have comes from TV and the movies. Not a good base to grow a character on. So I've been dabbling back and forth in history.

Chandler's "Red Wind" was so absolutely amazing that I wanted to kick myself in the butt for even considering writing PI stories. My God, how do you even begin to come close to a story like that? But still I'll read.

I tried Spillane's "I, The Jury" and for some reason I just couldn't get into the book. Too much Stacy Keach in the back of my mind. But I picked up his "Black Alley" and was sucked right in. Maybe because this was ground not covered in the TV series? I don't know. But this was a Hammer that I didn't know so my imagination was free to walk down Hammer's black alley and enjoy the stroll.

Discovering new characters is always a plus when doing reading research and I've found many to enjoy. Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone, Robert Randisi's Nick Delvecchio, and Robert Fate's Baby Shark to name a few. This morning I started Loren Estleman's "Sugar-Town" and fell in love with Amos Walker.

Walking in the footprints of these greats isn't going to be easy.

And today's quote comes from Patrica Highsmith:
"The first person you should think of pleasing, in writing a book, is yourself. If you can amuse yourself for the length of time it takes to write a book, the publisher and the readers can and will come later."