As a lawyer,
nothing turns me off faster than a murder mystery or thriller that gets the law
wrong—especially if the author is also a lawyer. So when writing my own murder
mystery, research is key. But how far do I need to go?
Some information
is easy to discover through the Internet or other sources. For example, I
learned that a Chicago homicide would be attended by the Cook County Medical
Examiner’s office, not by a coroner, and that most recent court records are
online, which allows my detectives to check them from the comfort of their own
desks.
Other information
is harder to find. When I wanted to know how long it would take to get DNA
results from a police lab, the Internet gave me figures ranging from 24 hours
to 6 months, and none of them were specific to Chicago or even to Illinois.
If I get something
wrong, it isn’t necessarily fatal. After all, John Grisham has a large
following even though he has either forgotten or ignored everything he learned
in law school. And if I mess up on some of the small things, it won’t be for
lack of trying to get them right.
But I’d rather
tear up the manuscript than get the big things wrong.
__________
The picture at the
top of this page shows a DNA model at the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art at Midland,
Michigan. I took the photo in 2015.
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