Keeping it Real

with Karen M. Davis

When writing a romantic crime thriller, how do you keep

it real yet entertaining? 

Having been a New South Wales police officer for twenty years before ever attempting to write anything besides police reports, one of the biggest challenges I found was keeping the story authentic but also interesting and believable.

Not all police work is exciting. Writing about all the paperwork would put a reader to sleep in seconds. But I wanted to portray what it was really like to be a cop, show what police have to deal with, give an insight into the life inside a police station. I also had to get my head around the fact that I was writing fiction – not putting a brief of evidence together that had to be factual. I had to stretch my imagination but I feared some of my real experiences would be almost too unbelievable for readers to swallow. Real life is sometimes stranger than fiction as we know.


Wanting to have a strong romantic interest between the main characters, I became confused after a freelance editor looked at my first draft of Sinister Intent and told me that it was inconceivable that two detectives could fall in love during a homicide investigation. Though to police, this is not surprising at all. That is their bread and butter. They are working long hours together; relying on each other to possibly save the other's life if those circumstances arise. So is it unbelievable to imagine a bond could form? Isn’t that the reason so many cops are married to each other – they understand the job like no one else can.


So I decided to keep the more exciting and intriguing parts of police work as close to the truth as possible, while adding a bit of suspense, drama and a strong romantic theme to spice up the story. Both Sinister Intent and Deadly Obsession, follow young detective Lexie Rogers through her investigations and her budding romance with her handsome partner, Josh Harrison.


I love writing crime because I’ve lived the life of a detective. I love writing romance because what is life without it? And I can only hope I’ve blended the two to make for an entertaining read.


Do you read or write what you know and love? Or do you like to step outside your comfort zone and escape into another world all together?

        

I “love to love” precious time with my family and friends.

I “love to laugh” at every opportunity.

I “love to learn” something new every day.