Acts of Malice

Admit to someone that you’re a writer, and one of the first questions out of their mouths is usually “Where do you get your ideas?” Some people will even suggest that you should take their ideas and write them…splitting the money 50/50, of course.

I wonder why it is that there’s a public perception that the ideas are the hard part.

For me - and, I suspect, for most writers - ideas are like air. They’re all around us, and there’s far more of them than any of us can possibly use. All it takes to spark an idea in me is a newspaper article, a snatch of overheard dialogue, and the answer to the questions “why?” and “what if?”

The hard part, as any writer knows, is turning the idea into a fully-formed story.

But really, when you come right down to it, most of the ideas out there — at least in crime fiction — are variations, in one way or another, on a few basic themes. Greed, lust, wrath, envy, pride: All of these can form the kernel of a successful story.

In fact, here’s an idea, for free, as a special bonus for the readers of this blog: A woman, tired of living with her no-account spouse whose constant low-paying jobs don’t afford her the lifestyle she wants (greed, envy) takes up with an older, more affluent man. Together, they hatch a plot to kill the woman’s husband (wrath). Meanwhile, the husband has discovered his wife’s infidelity. He perceives her infidelity as an insult to his masculinity (pride) and sets out to kill both her and the man she’s cheating with (wrath).

Now, all you have to do, my faithful readers, is actually write the story. Let me know when you’re done and I’ll tell you where to send my half of the money.

Of course, maybe I should just write the thing myself. That is an awfully good idea…

CNN posted today a fascinating list of the final statements of a variety of death row inmates. What strikes me about this list is, by and large, how mundane - even insipid - some of these quotes are. I mean, you’d think that knowing you were living your final moments on earth would give you a certain sense of solemnity about the occasion. But judging from what some Death Row inmates say in those last minutes, apparently not.

Here’s a sampling, with links to information about their crimes:

When I look at this list, I can’t help but wonder what was going through these peoples’ minds, and what was going through the minds of their victims in their final moments. I’m sure it was nothing so mundane as who was going to win the Super Bowl, or what sort of pasta they’d been served the night before. And so, in these last words, I see a continued disregard - right up to the end - for the horrors they inflicted upon the world.

I think that’s part of the reason why I haven’t, thus far, based any of the stories I’ve written (or any now in the planning stages) directly on any real crime. As tempting as it might be to “borrow” a ready-made crime and set of evidence, I have a hard time imagining that anything my mind can conjure up would do justice to the real-life suffering of the real-life victims behind those crimes.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t be tempted, if the right crime came along. I’ve written newspaper articles about a local cold case from the 1960s, whose victim remains unidentified. Despite the fact that Sue Grafton did a fabulous job of creating a happy ending for Jane Doe 1969, I might consider basing a story of my own on the case someday. But I think I’d only do it if I thought that telling her story again might help send Jane home to her family.

Others, of course, may make a different choice. There’s no right or wrong answer, of course.

How about the rest of you? Do you use real crimes as jumping-off points for your stories, or do you prefer to begin in the recesses of your own imagination. Why or why not?

First of all, let me say that this isn’t a book review blog. There are plenty of other great places for that sort of thing, and I have no desire to compete with them. Then, too, there’s the fact that I am a voracious reader and - particularly since I’ve started writing my own mysteries - I have high standards. When it comes to mysteries, I’m just plain picky.

But once in a great while, a book comes along that just plain knocks my socks off. And when I find such a gem, I’m not shy about bringing it to my readers’ attention.

So it is with “The Fault Tree“, the second novel by Shamus award-winning author Louise Ure. You might recognize Louise’s name as a regular contributor to Murderati, where she blogs on a wide array of topics. Louise is somewhat of a rarity in today’s publishing world, in that she doesn’t - at least so far - write series characters. But, after reading The Fault Tree, I sorely wish she did.

The Fault Tree concerns itself with one Cadence Moran, a sassy, tough and fiercely independent woman who works as an auto mechanic. Blinded in a horrific accident eight years previously, Cadence manages not to let her lack of sight be much of a barrier to her. But when she becomes the only witness to a brutal murder, she finds herself squarely in the sights of a killer she can’t see.

Cadence’s story is engagingly told, with crisp and vivid prose. I almost imagine the vibrance of the writing as a metaphor for the acuity of Cadence’s remaining senses, an acuity which keeps her alive through the terrible ordeal that the killer inflicts on her and those close to her. The story seemed to me to move along at just the right pace - slowly enough to let you fully experience Cadence’s terror, but swiftly enough to hook you from start to finish.

Unlike some other books I’ve read, The Fault Tree doesn’t use Cadence’s blindness as a gimmick. Her lack of sight is no crude McGuffin thrown in to liven up the story. Rather, her blindness and the reason for it are an integral part of what drives Cadence; were she not blind, I believe, her motivations and actions would not have been nearly as credible. Cadence Moran is a fully-realized character, and I find myself wishing that perhaps Louise might find another of Cade’s stories worth telling someplace down the road.

Over the past year, I’ve read dozens of mysteries and thrillers. But in only three cases have I turned the final page, set the book down, said “holy crap, that was AMAZING” and picked the book back up for a second reading to work out just how the author pulled it off. The Fault Tree is one of those three.*

If you enjoy the mystery and suspense genre, you owe it to yourself not to miss this one. Louise Ure has crafted a winner, and it’s definitely a book that people will be talking about. Buy it now - you won’t be sorry.

* - For the curious, the other two were Laura Lippman’s What the Dead Know, and Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes.