Sometimes, K.B.S seems like an altar ego.
He said:
>>Whatever sense of "reality" Gores (or Hammett
or
whomever) bestows on their fiction could just as easily be
done by any good writer with a bit of research, a dash of
imagination and empathy in spades.
>>Yep, those are all the qualities a good detective
should
have too ...<<
I think he is correct. Ed McBain was never a cop, but managed
to create the police procedural by doing the research. Jeff
Lindsay was probably never a serial killer, but he and Dexter
creep out a lot of people--me, very recently.
What bothers me more is when lawyer X comes up with a gotcha
with some point of law, or Cop Y comes up with a gotcha and
says "cops would never act like that." Maybe cop Y would
never act like that in his particular jurisdiction. In fact,
maybe another cop in cop Y's jurisdiction wouldn't act like
that.
The greater truth, I think, is the emotional truth. Does it
feel right to the reader. Maybe not to lawyer X or cop Y, but
if the writer is good it feels right to the greatest majority
of her or his readers.
As to PI's ... Isn't there a famous quote from an 87th
precinct, paraphrased, "The last time I had a PI involved in
a murder was never." Accurate for the cop speaking, yet you
read in high-profile cases all the time where PIs are
involved.
Most of the PIs I know, and I only know a few, hardly ever
leave their offices.
Jack Bludis
http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JackBludis
http://jackbludis.com/
http://thrillingdetective.com/fiction/03_06.html
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