Hello, all! Thank you for joining me for my first “limited series,” Forensic Fridays. I hope you’ll continue to check in at my blog as I share news about this Tuesday’s publication of my new Morgan Family novel, I‘LL NEVER LET YOU GO, Alex’s story, and April’s VULNERABLE, in which Georgia takes over the tale.
We know it from novels and countless television shows and true crime accounts. How a body is handled at the crime scene is hugely important. Not only is this the time when critical evidence can be lost or saved, but when chain of custody is established. If evidence leads to an arrest and trial, the detectives and technicians must prove that it was always in their control and there was no opportunity for tampering.
Here’s an excerpt from BE AFRAID with Nashville PD’s detective Rick Morgan and forensic expert Georgia Morgan taking lead on retrieving a body from a park pond emptied for maintenance–
“When can you remove the body?” Rick . . . couldn’t think of the victim as a living, breathing child. Cases like this required a step back. Distance from the victim kept the emotions in check and heads clear.
“Any minute. The medical examiner should be here any moment. I’ve all the photos and sketches I need so I’ll wade in now and pull the body free.”
. . . [They] arrived at the center of the pond . . . the sun had burned away the morning mists and heat beat down directly onto the site.
He glanced beyond the threads of pink to the small skull cradled inside. “Have you examined the skull?”
“No. I’m afraid to handle the bones too much. They could be very fragile. I want to pull it all out as one unit and let the medical examiner do her thing.”
“Fair enough.”
“Let’s see if we can dig her out. Start at least a foot away from the remains. If we can loosen the bag we might be able to get her out easily.”
. . . The two began digging a couple of feet out from the body. With the first shovelful of dirt, the muck and mire sunk in on itself, filling the hole quickly . . . Finally, they got ahead of the mud. It took them another twenty minutes to dig deep enough that the plastic bag cold be lifted out of the mire.
The medical examiner technician arrived with a body bag. While Georgia cradled the plastic bag cocooning the pink blanket and bone, Rick wen to shore and took the bag. When he returned she laid the body into the bag and he zipped it up. Georgia and Rick carried the body out together.
This is it! A week before publication date and the last of my I’LL NEVER LET YOU GOCountdown to Pub Date Giveawaysbegins. In play are my earlier Morgan Family novels, BE AFRAID and COVER YOUR EYES. And, since I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO is the third in my quartet featuring the Morgan siblings, there will be three winners. Each will receive both novels.
I’m excited about readers getting their hands on Alex and Leah Carson’s story. As usual, I’m looking forward to hearing your and others’ thoughts about my characters, especially Alex and Leah, as well as the latest mystery confronting Nashville P.D.’s Homicide Division and, this time, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
In I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO, Leah’s past holds secrets and horrors that are key to the murder of a police officer who Alex was investigating. It’s up to Alex to peel back the protective layers Leah’s built in order to find out what links her to his case. Which can only happen if she chooses to dig deeper into her past and can find the additional courage needed to trust him. First, though, she has to come to terms with the fact that a killer, once again, may be lurking, literally, right outside her door.
I hope you’ll join Alex and Leah, Deke and Rachel (COVER YOUR EYES), Rick and Jenna (BE AFRAID) and Georgia and Jake (2016’s VULNERABLE) in I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO, and that you’ll enter my new contest for a chance to win the earlier Morgan Family novels for yourself or a friend. And, while you’re waiting, you may want to grab the excerpt!
Hello, all! So happy you are joining me for my “limited series,” Forensic Fridays. I hope you’ll continue join me over the next few weeks as I share info about forensic and law enforcement procedures that have made their way into my books.
Rick Morgan, my hero in Be Afraid is a retired Canine officer who adopted his retired Canine partner, Tracker, after the dog was injured on the job. I was bound to include a Canine (a.k.a. K9) in one of my books eventually. I’ve always been especially interested in the stories and information shared at Writers Police Academy about working with dogs, their abilities and their bravery.
This surprises no one that knows me or follows me on Facebook as I’m a dog lover and always sharing updates about our three at home. No, I’m not comparing their day jobs— playing, eating, sleeping, getting belly rubs— to animals working in law enforcement. But, though they’ll never be discovered sniffing out drugs, tracking down felons or locating cadavers (thank heavens), I like to think our miniature dachshunds Buddy, Bella and Tiki will be just as heroic if the situation ever calls for it. Perhaps not as effective, but heroic nonetheless.
Anyway, the many stories told at WPA reinforced for me what an extraordinary and solid bond exists between the handler and the dog and gave me an understanding of how close a relationship exists between the partners. This really captured my imagination and influenced how I saw and wrote about Rick, not just in Be Afraid, but in Cover Your Eyes and I’ll Never Let You Go.
I was fascinated as well by some of the subtleties of the canine and human officers’ training, such as how the leash line is a big part of how they communicate with each other. Also by the types of dogs most commonly used in this work ( Belgian Malinois and German Shepherds) and the very special talents make some breeds excel at jobs like tracking missing persons and cadaver sniffing.
For some interesting facts about police dogs, you may enjoy this article in Crime Wire. For example, did you know canine dogs can differentiate between identical twins?
It’s that time again—actually “double” time. First, it’s time for a new giveaway and, second, time to celebrate the publication of a new book. Seems like a good idea to combine the two events. So here’s the first of several I’LL NEVER LET YOU GOCountdown to Pub Date Giveaways. I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO, on sale October 27th, is my latest Morgan family story and, like the others, it’s set in Nashville.
This go round, when murder strikes, it’s Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent Alex Morgan who leads the investigation. Haven’t met the family yet? Then this is the giveaway for you—the prizes are my first two Morgan family novels, the USA Today bestsellers COVER YOUR EYES and BE AFRAID. BE AFRAID was also a New York Times bestseller—my first novel to do so. Thanks to all of you who have helped me reach this milestone. Needless to say, I’m excited about the October 27th publication of I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO and the chance to share more of the Morgan family stories.
I hope you’ll take a moment and enter below for a chance to win COVER YOUR EYES and BE AFRAID and that you’ll enjoy Deke, Rick and Alex’s stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. FYI—Morgan sister Georgia is up next in VULNERABLEin March.
Hello, all! So happy you are joining me for my “limited series,” Forensic Fridays. I hope you’ll continue join me over the next few weeks as I share info about forensic and law enforcement procedures that have made their way into my books.
Among the many things I’ve learned about evidence is the importance of its preservation. It’s crucial that the crime scene is protected and secured. Proper protective gear must be worn (latex gloves, booties), and anyone entering the scene must be logged in and out. One thing I hadn’t thought about that surprised me — and may surprise you — is that, while much evidence is secured in plastic bags, DNA evidence must be kept in paper containers so it can breath. If the container can’t breath and moisture builds up, the DNA will be degraded or ruined.
Here’s an excerpt from I’ll Never Let You Go with forensic expert Georgia Morgan and her brother, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent Alex, at the scene of a violent homicide —
Alex shifted his attention to the kitchen and moved carefully past the breakfast bar. He saw his sister, Georgia, dressed in a Tyvek suit and booties, her red hair tucked into a surgical cap as she leaned over the body, snapping photos. Blood pooled around the body and under Georgia’s feet. Judging by Georgia’s equipment and grim face, she had been here several hours documenting the scene. He knew this because she would never had stepped into the blood and disturbed the evidence until it was well documented . . .
Georgia stepped out of the blood pool onto a tarp, where she rolled her head from side to side. Crime scenes like this one could take days to process.
Hello, all! So happy you are joining me for my “limited series,” Forensic Fridays. I hope you’ll continue join me over the next few weeks as I share info about forensic and law enforcement procedures that have made their way into my books.
My love affair with skeletonized bones hasn’t abated since I first started digging into the way they speak for the voiceless victims in murder cases. I use them as a major plot point in Be Afraid but very differently than I had in earlier books, such as Dying Scream . In Be Afraid I shared what I’d learned about forensic art, in particular sculpting that recreates the likeness of the deceased.
A forensic artist begins the process by stripping the skull so that it is clean of biological material. Then the artist glues small plastic markers on it. Each marker represents the dept of the skin based upon a standard table of measurements created by forensic anthropologists. Based on sex and race, the markers serve as landmarks that indicate the skin’s thickness at various facial points.
Once the markers are in place, the artist creates the muscle fibers of the face and, finally, the skin. This is as much art as it is science as all involved are relying on the artist to give the bust human qualities the person would have had in life.
Following is facial reconstructionist Jenna Thompson at work at the behest of two of Be Afraid‘s Morgan siblings, Rick and Georgis, as she struggles to identify the remains of a child buried as long as three decades ago in Nashville’s Centennial Park–
“The skull was no longer naked. It was now covered in small plastic markers. She’d spent most of yesterday cutting and gluing twenty-one markers onto the skull’s forehead, cheekbones, and chin . . .
She set down her cup and reached for a sheet of transparent paper, which she placed over the demarcated skull. Carefully, she taped the paper to her drawing board so that it would not shift.
Moving her head from side to side she reached for a drawing pencil. Her work was part science and part guesswork. She had scientific formulas that determined the sides of the eyes and bone markers to help shape the nose and lips but, as with any artist, she made judgment calls throughout the process. Her judgments would add the spark of life that made the sketch all the more real.
Pencil point at the midpoint of the eye, she began to draw the ligaments that controlled eye movement. She worked for nearly an hour just on the basic underlying structure of the eyes. And then she moved to the lids. The upper lids curved slightly more that the lower and dipped partially over the iris of the eye. Soon a set of colorless eyes stared back at her and she found herself setting down the pencil.
Someone out there knew this little girl and wondered and worried about her her. Someone had not forgotten her.
Soon she would no longer be a little lost girl . . .
‘We’ll find out who did this to you and bring you home. I promise.'”
*Shown above, Dr. Maziar Ashrafian Bonab, currently Senior Lecturer, University of Portsmouth, U.K.
We know it from novels and countless television shows and true crime accounts. How a body is handled at the crime scene is hugely important. Not only is this the time when critical evidence can be lost or saved, but when chain of custody is established. If evidence leads to an arrest and trial, the detectives and technicians must prove that it was always in their control and there was no opportunity for tampering.
Here’s an excerpt from BE AFRAID with Nashville PD’s detective Rick Morgan and forensic expert Georgia Morgan taking lead on retrieving a body from a park pond emptied for maintenance–
me reach this milestone. Needless to say, I’m excited about the October 27th publication of I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO and the chance to share more of the Morgan family stories.
I hope you’ll take a moment and enter below for a chance to win COVER YOUR EYES and BE AFRAID and that you’ll enjoy Deke, Rick and Alex’s stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. FYI—Morgan sister Georgia is up next in
Once the markers are in place, the artist creates the muscle fibers of the face and, finally, the skin. This is as much art as it is science as all involved are relying on the artist to give the bust human qualities the person would have had in life.