Writing (fictional) cold cases
Why I love writing about histories and mysteries
In a recent blog, I talked about my current crime fiction series and how I came to the decision to write about cold cases. My rationale was largely practical, but the truth is that Anna 1 isn’t the first book I’ve written that had a cold case in it. As a concept, it’s not even the second idea — more like the fifth or sixth — even when considering it’s the first of a series of (seven to ten) books.
So what is it about cold cases that really appeals to me and why do I keep going back into the past to write about historical crimes?
Inspiration
The inspiration to write cold cases and historical mysteries comes from many places. Most notably is other books, television series and movies; but I’m also inspired by true crime and lived experience.
Inspiration from life
My first recollection of a historical mystery comes from my own family. Omitting names and dates, my great-grandmother vanished when my grandfather was very young. There’s nothing suspicious about her disappearance, other than she left my grandfather with his grandparents one day and never returned to collect him. We believe that, since her husband had recently died, she moved to London to start afresh. But the impact was that my grandfather never saw her again and, despite significant effort, we’ve never able to trace her either. So maybe it’s not surprising that my own family history has inspired a love of mysteries as well as a desperate need to solve them.
Inspiration from movies
When I was younger I was much more into historical mysteries where objects, rather than people, were lost. For example The Goonies, which is my favourite movie of all time. In this film, many things are lost: a pirate, his boat and a whole load of treasure, but also a sense of community and hope. Of course, by the end of the movie everything has been found, the mystery has been solved, and the ragtag bunch of misfits have saved the day. Which sounds an awful lot like my series!
Inspiration from TV
From movies, I moved onto television. Over the years there have been many series about cold cases (some adapted from books, some written purely for TV) but these are the ones that — for better or worse — inspired my writing:
Waking the Dead — as gritty as you can get, I loved this series at the time, but a recent re-watch left a lot to be desired. The science and investigation still holds up, but I’d forgotten just how horrible some of the characters can be.
New Tricks — featuring a team of ex-coppers put out to pasture, this is a police procedural that plays fast and loose with the law, but it’s also the ultimate feel-good series for camaraderie among quick-witted characters.
Unforgotten — the perfect victim-centric, ‘tear your heart out’ series with real emotional depth, made all the better for having Nicola Walker in the first few series. Best viewed with tissues, chocolate and a cuppa.
And if you’re after something more modern, check out Department Q on Netflix. Based on the books by Jussi Adler-Olsen, the series has been relocated from Copenhagen to Edinburgh and is a brilliant watch.
Practicalities
Writing about cold cases can be incredibly fun if, like me, you delight in solving a dastardly mystery that has previously escaped logical deduction. Yes, the Sherlock Holmes stories were definitely another source of inspiration.
Seriously though, there are several advantages to writing about cold cases being investigated through a modern lens:
Engaging in History
I love the juxtaposition between then and now for three reasons. One: Describing contrasting social factors — economy, fashion, language, culture and attitudes — makes for engaging reading and helps bring a story to life. After all, your setting can be a character in its own right. Two: Looking back in time can be both nostalgic and eye-opening and, especially when it reveals means, motives or opportunities that you wouldn’t consider today. And three: we can use the past as a means to comment on current events. Because, my goodness, we need that.
Advancements in Science and Technology
You might learn something new every day, but new things are being invented every day too. Evidence from a cold case — which didn’t have the benefit of DNA testing, CCTV, international co-operation or social media at the time — looks completely different under today’s (literal or figurative) microscope. Not a week goes by without articles online about someone being arrested for committing a historical crime (thus closing a cold case) as a result of new scientific methods or technological innovation, but it’s often an opaque process. Writing about how cold cases can be solved makes sense of reality, even if all the cases are made up.
Whodunnit, whydunnit or howdunnit?
Many crime fiction stories are whodunnits but, as above, finding the culprit is just one part of the picture and, often, it’s only satisfying when you also know ‘why’ and ‘how’. This adds depth to your story and while a lot of crime fiction does mention these aspects (sometimes as an afterthought), cold cases allow you to use the why and how to generate suspects.
Putting the Victim First
If you have a cold case, then you have a victim but probably not a murderer. While the temptation is to make your story murderer-centric, cold cases give you a unique opportunity to show the victim as a real person (rather than just a plot device) and how crimes ripple through time: the aftermath, heartbreak and trauma that leaks through the generations.
Pitfalls
Of course, writing about cold cases can also have disadvantages and risks. Here’s the four biggest ones I’ve found so far:
Similarities to True Crime
It’s inevitable, as a writer, that I’ll get a spark of inspiration from a real event or person, but I never base a story on true crime. Whether you risk causing offence, jeopardising a conviction, or being accused of exploiting reality for your own financial benefit, it’s simply not worth it. Instead, I look for tiny details that intrigue me; small things that don’t identify particular cases, but can be used as a springboard for a completely different story.
Lack of Evidence
If your cold cases are very old, you run the risk of having very little in the way of surviving evidence and probably zero surviving witnesses. So when writing about fictional cold cases, there’s a fine line between going back far enough to take advantage of scientific developments, but not shooting yourself in the foot. Unless of course you can shoot yourself with a unique weapon that can be easily traced by modern methods 😉.
Research vs. Infodumping
AKA too much history, not enough mystery. I do a lot more research than ends up in my stories, and while it’s tempting to include everything, less really is more. I never want to info-dump, but it’s easy to get over-excited about all the lovely new details I’ve found. So I’ve learned to do *just enough* research to write my first drafts so that the are mystery-first, then fill in the historical details afterwards.
Procedure vs. Thrills and Chills
Writing about cold cases makes for a fantastic procedural that digs deep and delivers on multiple levels. You might still get an immersive reading experience, but it can be at the expenses of immediacy, close psychic distance, and chilling twists of the oft-compared thriller genre. This isn’t necessarily a pitfall, but something to note; if you write cold cases, make sure you understand the needs of the history/mystery genres so that you meet the expectations of your readers.
Top Tips
So now you know why I love writing crime with elements of history and mystery, here’s my top tips for writing about fictional cold cases:
Keep it fictional. Don’t piggyback on true crime for your crime fiction. Take inspiration only — small details that could belong to any case — and build something new around them.
Know what’s already been done. Emulate what you like, avoid what you don’t, but put your own spin on it so that your offering is unique. Agents, editors and readers really do want “the same, but different”.
Now versus then. Show the passage of time through how your characters talk, dress, live and act, making temporal settings characters in their own right. Just remember not to info-dump historical details.
And that’s it for today! I hope you’ve enjoyed this meander through what it means to write about (fictional) cold cases.