The Reckoning - Jane Casey

Synopsis:
To the public, he's a hero: a killer who targets convicted paedophiles. Two men are dead already - tortured to death. Even the police don't regard the cases as a priority. Most feel that two dead paedophiles is a step in the right direction. But to DC Maeve Kerrigan, no one should be allowed to take the law into their own hands. Young and inexperienced, Kerrigan wants to believe that murder is murder no matter what the sins of the victim. Only, as the killer's violence begins to escalate, she is forced to confront exactly how far she's prepared to go to ensure justice is served.

Review:
Written in the perspective of the Detectives Maeve Kerrigan and DI Derwent and this makes it gripping, realistic and very readable. The suspense and details within the book makes the pages turn quicker, the story flow through effortlessly and with characters being realistic and easy to get along with, I very suddenly demolished the book.
Even though the main crime is the murder of the paedophiles, there are more details about kidnap, murder, and rape detailed from the previous crimes of the dead.
All the loose ends are tied up along with the on-off relationship with Rob who is the other voice in the book even though he only appears at the end in terms of his point of view.

Criticism:
Most of the book in Maeves point of view and voice, she is not present for all the chapters so maybe one of the characters could have taken over...very minor.

Marc's A-Z of Crime Fiction

Eyewitness:

An eyewitness is a critical part of a criminal investigation so getting one leads to them becoming very well looked after. No matter what the crime that has been committed, this individual(s) are crucial to the case that is built up by the Police and later the CPS.
Eyewitness are crucial and sometimes the things that people see are processed by the brain differently with different people and I have heard of cases where by the victim or eyewitness has had a really good look at the offenders and over the course of the questioning process they have remembered more details and the details begin to deviate.

The biggest case of Eyewitness Misidentification that has caused enormous consequences was JEAN CHARLES DE MENEZES.

In 2005, an eyewitness stated that they saw a male running from police, jump over a turnstile in the train station, and was wearing a bulky jacket to cover they believe a device. This was a time of major threat from the Bomb Threats in London and a high security tension across the world.

Mr Menezes DID run but only to catch the train, he WAS wearing a denim jacket and he WALKED through the barrier after collecting a newspaper.

Mr Menezes was shot and killed. Eyewitnesses are not always reliable and unfortunately this is the consequences similar to arresting and imprisonment of offenders.

Here is a website that I found whilst thinking about this topic of eyewitness misidentification:
http://www.innocenceproject.org/understand/Eyewitness-Misidentification.php

EVIDENCE

Key piece of making a crime comes true!
Evidence is the key component to proving something to be truthfully.

Evidence comes in many forms:

Physical evidence: Found at a crime scene - Weapon, mode of transport, entry/exit method through smashed windows or doors, even down to the hairs, fibres. Anything basically that can be classified as physical objects. Collected from the scene in an evidence bag and processed at the labs.



Trace Evidence: Anything that you need equipment to see - Blood traces that require Luminol to identify them, Fingerprints that need dusting or ninhydrin for using on paper.



Biological: Body fluids - sweat, tears, urine, DNA, saliva.



Statements: As with eyewitnesses, peoples account on the events that unfolded.

EXIT MUSIC - Ian Rankin

I am a huge admirer of Ian Rankin and of the Rebus Series that Rankin has created. I discovered Rankin by accident (as I believe most of us do with many of our now favourite authors!) I entered The Works and they had their 3 for £5 offer on and was looking for some new books, I picked up 'Tooth and Nail' within this deal and was totally engrossed.



Synopsis:
It's late autumn in Edinburgh and late autumn in the career of Detective Inspector Rebus. As he tries to tie up some loose ends before retirement, a murder case intrudes. A dissident Russian poet has been found dead in what looks like a mugging gone wrong. By apparent coincidence, a delegation of Russian businessmen is in town - and everyone is determined that the case should be closed quickly and clinically.

Review:
This book was allegedly the last of the Rebus series as he goes of on retirement, well I didn't think that this was the end when reading it! There were a few loose ends in terms of Rebus and with so many cult bands coming back from the dead, I knew that this rocker was not gone yet!
Lots of politics, Russian mobsters and the business underworld which leads Rebus to his 'friend' Big Ger Cafferty, one last showdown with the old foe?
Twists all over the places, guessing to the last chapters and the good old Rebus style policing, getting in trouble for doing things his way!

save the libraries

Recently, I have been going back to library for the simple reason of cost-cutting, saving 8-9 pounds per book and I found some real gems. I am lucky that in that around the area that I live in we have four libraries in pretty easy reach. Let's have a think, I have a two local library 20 minutes walk away, one approximately 30 minutes walk away and if I wanted something a bit more abstract Central Library in City Centre is 30 minutes on public transport. Personally, I do not think we need all the libraries that are open because they are not all being used to their maximum capicity and with 3 within walking distance, surely even closing one isn't going to affect things that much. Whereas getting to them is not a problem, I find that the content that is currently in them is an issue. When i first went back to the libraries, I went into my nearest one and went looking crime section, I stood there searching the stapled on sign posts for departments, no crime! Went to ask, the very helpful librarian, the answer i got "It is in the fiction department, all alphabetically sorted by author". I left the library at this point and found my salvation, the internet, luckily the Birmingham City Council have catalogued all their collection on the Web. I am reletively open with my choice of book, authors are not that big an issue for me it is the content of the book, I want a gripping, thrilling, hard hitting, original (you know what i mean, we all look for that unique one). I am into crime, true crime, horror, thrillers genre but then I am into Rome, Ancient History, good reference books that i can learn from. So I logged on using my library card and password, opened a new tab for Amazon (very useful 'people who brought this....') typed in an author I liked and i was away. Searched online catalogue, not at local library but can be transferred for pick up, made my 4 choices from my ever increasing wishlist and clicked for transfer. One Week later, email informing me that the books are ready for collection. DON'T CLOSE THEM! We need our libraries, I learnt to read from library books as have many millions of other children.

I dreamt that...

My imagination is one that can take over very quickly if I get an idea into my head. My imagination is abstract in that I can read an article and then suddenly I have gone off on a tangent to the depth I feel the emotions that are involved.


My latest dream, is a daydream and it has developed over time...

Back before Christmas, I saw a job advert for a Coroner's Investigator. I could not apply for the job no matter how much I wanted as it was ring fenced to people who jobs were under threat from being re-organised for whatever reason.






Well, the job has come up again this week on the internal job search, (not that I look frequently, I just happened to be browsing intranet!) and I really want this job but again Ring fenced.

Before I lose your interest, as you are asking what is a Coroner Investigation!!

"A coroner investigator is a law enforcement officer who works with a team of people to determine the cause of death in situations where a death is deemed suspicious. Coroner investigators work under the supervision of a coroner, also known as a medical examiner. People can enter this law enforcement profession from a number of different angles, including experience in the medical profession, experience as a law enforcement officer, or training in criminal justice." Quote from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-a-coroner-investigator-do.htm

Coroners Officers work under the direction of the Coroner and liaise with bereaved families, the emergency services, government agencies, doctors, hospitals and funeral directors.

So my dream starts....

I walk into my supervisors office and begin to explain how much I want the job, my previous qualifications of Forensic Science Degree and how I have a morbid obsession with finding out how people died and the case surrounding the death. All perfect to the role.



My supervisor calls the supervisor from HR and it is agreed after lots of percussion that I should at least have a go at the interview.

Well, I go and get the job!!!  I am cycling to jobs with my panniers on the back with all my paperwork collecting all the information I need for the cases. After sometime in the role (I can not determine this from my dream) I have completed the courses and everyone is happy with my role and the work I am doing, I get a promotion to Assistant Coroner and am sitting at the bench with the Coroner making the decisions with the Coroner.

I would like to point out that I don't think there is a role of Assistant Coroner! So this is my dream going off on tangents!!

Sweet Dreams everyone, I am going to keep dreaming about hopefully getting a chance to apply for this job. Let's hope it comes out to everyone.

Marc's A-Z of Crime Fiction

Decisions:

When writers start to write their masterpieces, the first decision that needs to be made is from all the snippets of information they have gained which idea are they going to expand into a Novel/Program.



So the BIG IDEA has been made and now the small decisions need to be made: Characters, Heroine, Plot, Setting, Names, Narrative, Signposting, Beginning, Middle, End!! Well, I could go on and make the smaller decisions and the more in depth parts of a story.

My hardest decision is pacing, pace you choose to excite or relax your readers can be very important in making your novel work. If it's nearing the climax, you better speed up your pace: make your sentences and paragraphs short to create urgency, make us breathless with anticipation, then let the literary axe fall so we can gasp for air and cheer the hero or heroine for a race well run.
But from beginning to end, your novel is likely to have several different paces. It generally won't be all fast, nor all slow. A good mix is essential.

The last Big Decision is knowing when to stop- Don't over do it, if you feel that the book is done at Novella stage or even short story...then is done!!

Death:

"Death is the permanent termination of life after the ceasing of biological function in a living organism"

Death comes in many forms: Old Age, medical conditions, accidents or trauma. From these 4 categories in  Fiction, you will not see many deaths from Old Age so we will leave that one.

Medical Conditions:

I have recently read 'Freaks' by Tess Gerritsen, a short story found on Kindle Store. A girl has died in mysterious circumstances after being found in a church, screams have been heard from the building and a homicide had already been decided until Maura Isles gets involved. Strangle marks found on neck, mouth gaping and limbs have been flaying from a struggle. Death has been determined as a bite from a Black Widow spider, medical conditions of heart attack has been diagnosed due to the weight of the body.



Accidents:

Here I have a large choice of deaths. I am going to choose Car Accidents and my choice is 'Still Life' by Joy Fielding, this is not quite a death but the story gripped me. Casey Marshall lives a happy married life and is suddenly struck by a hit and run driver. She is left comatose and after months in hospital, she is allowed to go home but still she remains unconscious. In her comatose state she can still hear the voices around her and realises her happy marriage was all about her inheritance and her husband was the driver!



Trauma:

Blunt force trauma, sharp trauma, head trauma, hangings. My choice for trauma is 'Blind Eye' by Stuart MacBride. Polish Community members are being found with their eyes gouged out and Logan McRae has Operation Oedipous to manage, the investigation takes a turn for the unexpected when a non-polish is found with his eyes gouged out.


Dan Brown:

I was going to do DA VINCI CODE for my 'D' and after some thought I knew that I was only going to talk about Dan Brown as writer.

Dan Brown has produced best selling books again and again, Da Vinci Code started off the domination of the Fiction market, Da Vinci Code is one of the biggest selling novels of all time. It started an obsession with the Early Christian History and a whole new genre was created of Historical Fiction along with people finding the lost scrolls of somewhere or the never before seen paperwork of someone.
Dan Brown has been seen as "the person keeping the publishing industry afloat" TIME Magazine stated.

So what makes Dan Brown so good:

• The debates that he creates, eg Da Vinci Code went to court in 2005 for plagiarism after it was found that some of the ideas from the book had been copied from another book and then in 2006 he went to court for similarities to HOLY BLOOD HOLY GRAIL.
• The other debate is his writing, his prose is very clumsy and the details he has put into his books are not always accurate.

At the end of the day, it does not matter. He has a winning formula and he should continue it!

Importance of Cat

Here is something that I wrote a while ago from the propsective of Bubbles (His picture below) who is one of my lovely Cats:

I sat on the garage this afternoon sunbathing as usual when I was very rudely awoken by a couple of people walking past. It wasn’t the walking past that woke me, it was the conversation that they were having and it was not loud, no shouting had occurred, they walked past and I heard a word and I thought they were talking to me. Lots of people who approach me call me CAT, as they don’t know my name but this couple said ‘catastrophe’ and this still made me look around.
This incident got me thinking, the cats of this world are very important as material objects, to families that we belong to but how important are we in the english language and I wanted to know how many words there were starting with CAT? I started my investigation on the internet, Google is a godsend, but I just found lots of words and didn’t have the patience to look at all of them, so I went to see Daddy who was busy in the study. I asked him how I could find such information and he gave me a Dictionary, Mr Collins must have been busy writing all the words and meanings in such a book.
First of all, I looked up Cat itself, feline mammal usually having thick soft fur. Purrfect description.
Then, Catastrophe, sudden acts of violence or destruction, not very cat-like I think, well not at the scale it was pointing to anyway. We just have sudden acts of excitement that leads to destruction, things get in the way you see.
More words that did relate to Cats were:

• Catcall – well this is purrfect, a loud high-pitched cry. Very cat like, but we prefer meow!
• Catch – we catch birds, fish, wuzzy things (Joey’s input!)
• Cater – to provide people with what they want. Everyone wants a stroke!
• Cat’s-eye – self explainatory
• Catty – unpleasant and spiteful, well not really only with other cats when they come onto our territory
• Catwalk – narrow pathway that people walk along. We catwalk on fences instead.

So how important are Cats in the English language, extremely important because we created lots of violent, destructive, but also helpful words.
But please remember as the people who walked past today realised (it took their mind of the conversation they were having), the word cat also defines every feline in the world and saying might mean you get some attention from us!

I still read it now and make me laugh!

Kings Norton to Stratford Upon Avon Bike Ride

Training has well and truly started now as I am trying out longer distances for size!

On Tuesday 10th, I was debating on where to go and thought: STRATFORD along the canal, very nice scenic route and it would be challenging 25.5 miles from Kings Norton to Stratford each way!

Set off from Kings Norton Junction at 9.30 and I kept a reasonable pace the whole way, and made it 3.5 hours. It would have been shorter if I would have thought ahead and NOT taken the canal route (there is another reason I wish I never took the canal but that will be revealed later on in the Blog).

Tip (and reminder to self!): Canals in the winter are very very boggy and it is a tough ride through lots of deep soft mud, the slipping and sliding and nearly falling into the canal!

I took one picture on my way to Stratford:

A reminder that I was heading to Stratford, all the locks grouped together!

So I arrived in Stratford for 1pm and I thought that I would be 12.30 at the latest but I did not think about the conditions so bit longer than expected! So my break was 30 minutes and with not taking on any food throughout the journey, I got off and nearly collaped!! My legs felt like jelly!

So after loads of Bananas, Musueli Bars and I was naughty and brought an energy drink to get my sugar level back up!! Half an hour break and I was off again but I took a few pics before leaving...



Lovely!! I forget how amazing the river and the surroundings of the RSC are!

Well off I went and what a journey this was...2nd reason for wishing I went back or both ways on the road...

BRAMBLES!!!

2 Inner tubes packed and used, thought NO WAY AM I GOING TO USE THEM BOTH!!! MISTAKE!!!!

So both inner tubes used and then as I forgot to check the inside of the tyres properly, did not get the problem out!!

2 MORE PUNCTURES and NO MORE INNER TUBES!!

I was walking from this point, I got to:

 This is about 5 miles from Stratford, oh yes only 20.5 miles to get home!!!  So, as I was not going anywhere fast, another photo opportunity of the view from the aqueduct....

Off I went and a phone call had to made as I could not walk the rest of the way...my fantastic wife agreed to pick me up but it was now 3pm and she did not finish until 5!!

Agreed to walk as far as I could until 4.30 and find a place to pick up from...thank god for GPS and my phone, I found Hockley Heath 10 miles away...quick walk started to get there...

I had some fun along the way though...GUESS THE PRICE???

 WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS WORTH?? WOULD YOU LIVE THERE IF YOU COULD??

HOW ABOUT THIS ONE???

I knew that end was approaching when the signpost finally told me that Hockley Heath was here!

We had a lovely meal in the Wharf Tavern, it was not until I got there that I realised it was the pub that I passed on the way to Stratford! Well, I was going to stop at all the pub on the way back for a relax but this was not like I planned!

RECAP: 25.5 to Stratford, 5 Miles back from Stratford (on bike) and 10 miles from Stratford (Walking)