By Bette Golden Lamb & J. J. Lamb
There are two major
problems in doing research for a crime novel—too little or too much.
This becomes even more
hazardous when writing about something you believe you know everything about,
and/or are so lazy you skip over minor details that you think are trivial
and no one will notice an uh-oh here and there.
You’ve no doubt read
books where you know the author hasn’t done any research and
simply relied on hearsay, old wives’ tales, urban legends, and the like, or
includes seemingly infinite details on the specifics of a technical procedure
or piece of equipment to the point of your falling asleep, or worse, becoming
so bored that you toss the book across the room.
That’s not a place where
you want your readers to be.
Some years back, a
best-selling mystery writer had a very tense scene going when the protagonist
jumps into a Porsche 356 and is surprised by someone hiding behind the seats.
Setting aside how much of a cliché that scene has become, it’s obvious the
writer was trying to impress by using a classy automobile, but had never
actually looked behind the seats of that model Porsche—there is only enough
room for very small children or possibly legless adults. Yet, the scene
was integral to the plot.
For us, our medical
thrillers often also include significant references to art, journalism, and
automobiles—Bette is a Registered Nurse and artist; J. J. is a former
journalist and a life-long auto enthusiast/mechanic.
Yet, when using our
background knowledge, or writing about “common knowledge” stuff, we never
assume that what we put down on paper is correct. A little research (beyond
Wikipedia) cuts the number of post-publication nightmares.
In Bone Dry,
the first of the five Gina Mazzio medical thrillers, much of the story was
built around a cancer treatment known as autologous blood marrow transplant
(ABMT). This came after much reading, talking with nurses and doctors
involved in the procedure, and visiting an actual unit at the University of
California at San Francisco.
Just as Bone Dry was
going to press, ABMTs started losing favor among oncologists. So, we added an
“Authors’ Note” to the effect that oncology was a fast-moving field of medicine
and ABMT might be obsolete by the time the book was read. (At this writing,
there seems to be renewed interest in ABMT.)
Sin & Bone required deep research into the scary,
dangerous, and illicit trade in human body parts. Bone Pit made
us take a close look at Big Pharma and how drug trials are conducted; we also
discovered an investigative agency few people know about—the Federal Drug
Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation; and we threw in some
exciting mountain driving through Nevada’s isolated gold country (where we
lived for a time).
Bone of Contention is a “ripped from the headlines” kind of
story where we had to look at and try to understand both sides of the on-going
battle between pro-abortion and anti-abortion people and organizations. And our
newest, Bone Dust, gets very bloody as we unravel the
background and motivation of a twisted phlebotomist’s deadly involvement in
bloodletting.
Throughout, the trick
has been to make medical and psychological events accurate and believable
without inundating readers with pages and pages of scientific babble to the
point where they want to throw our books up against the wall.
______________________________________________________________________
Bette
Golden Lamb, a feisty ex-Bronxite,
writes crime novels and plays with clay. Her sculptures and other artistic
creations appear in exhibitions, galleries, and stores. She also hangs out with
her 50+ rose bushes, or sneaks out to movies when she should be writing. Being
an RN is a huge clue as to why she writes medical thrillers and Sci-Fi novels.
Award-winning Rx Denied, is due out from Assent Publishing
later this year. J. J. Lamb intended to become an aeronautical
engineer/pilot, but was seduced by journalism. An AP career was interrupted by
the Army, which gave him a Top Secret clearance; a locked room
with table, chair, and typewriter; and the time to write short stories. A
paperback PI series followed, the most recent of which, No
Pat Hands, a 2014 Shamus Award nominee from Private Eye Writers of
America. The Lambs, who live in Northern California, have
co-authored five medical thrillers - Bone
Dry, Sisters
in Silence, Sin
& Bone, Bone
Pit and Bone
of Contention - and a suspense-adventure-romance novel, Heir
Today. Website: www.twobacksheep.us Blog: www.bettelamb,wordpress.com
