BritCrime is where to find crime writers

Fergus McNeill, writer of Bristol-based books featuring troubled detective Graham Harland, joins writers such as Alexander Sokoloff and CL Taylor who are taking part in crime-writing festival BritCrime. The exclusively online festival takes on the weekend of  July 11 and 12. Panels include discussions on what it’s like to be a police officer and how to turn a teenage diary into a mystery story.

In honour of the festival, McNeill has provided the following special crime writing feature on researching police procedures for his novels.

Although they’re called “police procedurals”, I start out by focusing on the crime, and all my novels give around half of the narrative from the villain’s point-of-view, which is unusual for the genre.

In the beginning, I approach each murder just as the killer would, putting myself in their shoes, pondering exactly how to do it… and how to get away with it! This part of the process can be unsettling, and I remember feeling deeply uncomfortable when a real-life murder detective admitted to me that one of the characters I’d written would have been “extremely difficult for the police to catch”.

But the crimes do have to be difficult, because I need to challenge my fictional detectives with truly daunting tasks. I don’t write traditional whodunits, so the game I play with my readers isn’t so much “Who’s the killer?” but more “How will this killer ever be stopped?”

That’s when it’s time to switch over and start thinking like a detective. However, when it comes to writing that detective, it’s important to have a good understanding of real police procedures, and watching a few episodes of Midsomer Murders may not be enough!

Depending on where (and when) your story is set, there are books that can help, such as The Crime Writer’s Guide to Police Practice and Procedure. These are useful for reference, but be warned – there is a lot to learn if you want an exhaustive knowledge of the subject. Perhaps that’s why some of the most detailed police procedural novels are written by former police officers!

A good alternative is to get in touch with someone who’s still in the job. I’ve been extremely fortunate with the support I’ve had from serving police officers. Initially, it was all through friends-of-friends, mostly in Hampshire Constabulary. I did approach Avon & Somerset, who seemed a bit wary at first (understandable, given the terrible way they were treated by some of the national media during the Jo Yeates investigation) but they subsequently put me in touch with officers who helped a lot on my third book.

In my experience, serving officers are always quick to warn you that they can’t discuss specific cases – and rightly so. However, if you ask them to be too general, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with a mass of detailed procedural information – real police-work is meticulous and thorough, full of complex processes that don’t always lend themselves to a fast-moving story.

Over the years, I’ve found that the best approach is to plan everything out – particularly the details of the crime – then present my fictional case to different police officers. They can immediately see how they and their colleagues would investigate the crime, and can explain the relevant procedural details to me, and correct any errors I’ve made.

Working this way always highlights a wealth of unexpected details – things that can really add authenticity. My first book involves the discovery of a dead woman on Severn Beach, and I was lucky enough to speak with an officer who had first-hand experience of finding a body on a coastal shore. He explained that the one of the first things he did was radio in to the control room and ask what the tide was doing… because he needed to know how long he had before the crime scene might be under water. I’d never considered that, but it was second nature to him.

As a crime writer, I have more reasons than most to appreciate the police – not just because they work to keep us safe, but also because sharing their experiences can make all the difference to a good story!

Fergus McNeill is the author of Bristol-based crime novels Eye Contact, Knife Edge and Cut it Out.