The Things We Do for Writing: Writer's Police Academy

The Things We Do for Writing: Writer's Police Academy

By Margaret Daley

This month I went to the Writer's Police Academy in Greensboro, NC and had a ball learning what law enforcement officers do. Actually not just law enforcement but firefighters and EMTs. This conference will enrich my writing when I write a romantic suspense. The instructors were great and informative. (Below a picture of the K-9 officer I talked with.)

The very first day I was able to speak to a K-9 officer with his German Shepard in the demonstration area. Since I'd written a book about a K-9 officer (Detection Mission), it was a thrill to be able to ask the officer some questions. I'm going to write a Search and Rescue series for LIS placed in Alaska, and I will be using dogs in some of the stories. (Below a weapon used in a sexual assault case I worked--blood is on the tip of it.)

Some of my other favorite classes were about arson investigations, the SWAT team and following a case from the crime scene to going to court. Getting firsthand information was invaluable, not to mention some of the instructors were willing for us to email them any questions we had later. (Below is Lisa Gardner and me in front of the fire training tower.)

To top it all off, I met Lisa Gardner, a fantastic suspense writer, and Kathy Reichs, the woman who has written all the Bones books and is a producer of Bones on Fox TV. Also there were many friends attending, and we got to spend some quality time together. A great conference I hope I can go back to. (Below is a picture of Vickie McDonough and me at the banquet on Saturday night.)

My next book out (October release) is Severed Trust, the fourth book in The Men of the Texas Rangers Series from Abingdon Press.

Blurb for Severed Trust:

The day Sadie Thompson finds her high school student, Lexie, asleep in class and can't wake her is the day she realizes how entrenched a prescription drug ring is in her school. As Sadie is pulled into doing something about the growing problem, she becomes involved with Ethan Stone—a Texas Ranger who suspects the drug ring reaches far beyond the high school. Helping Lexie recover from the overdose, Sadie feels she is making a difference—until the 16-year-old's best friend dies from the apparent mixing of various prescription drugs. Lexie doesn't think her friend took her own life, but her relationship with her Uncle Ethan is precarious and she doesn’t know if either he or Sadie will help her discover the truth.