Sleuthing and snooping are skills I’ve honed from a young age. I’m nosy—there’s no denying that. Curiosity has led me on strange quests to unearth deep dark secrets. My ability to connect with people has helped me solve many domestic and criminal puzzles. I often employ the 5W+1H journalism formula to unravel mysteries by seeking answers to the who, what, when, where, why and how questions.
There are dozens of investigators in popular culture who I’ve admired and studied. Among my favorites are Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone, Thomas Magnum of Magnum PI, Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting, and the characters Mulder and Scully of the X-Files. Many people I meet are genuinely interested in the work I do and ask questions about casework and my professional lifestyle. A recent encounter with U.S. and Canadian border patrol agents turned into a conversation about tradecraft.
I love to talk about my profession.
The onset of the great Covid pandemic brought changes for most of us. For some, the changes were minor: wear a mask in public, wash your hands while whistling a tune, and have groceries delivered. But the changes I experienced were existential and career-altering. When the world shut down in March 2020, I had several open criminal defense cases, and one capital murder defendant who was slowly learning to trust me.
Initially I was stressed by my inability to work. I’d been a devoted defense investigator for decades, but jails and prisons are difficult places to visit, even without the looming threat of infection from a highly contagious and deadly virus. Courthouses closed, trials were postponed indefinitely, and queries for routine services were non-existent.
Once it became clear that the entire population of the earth was not going to die within the next few months, I knew I had to find something to do with my idle time. I turned my attention to creative writing, where I could tell the stories of nearly three decades of private investigation and criminal defense work, conducted primarily in the southern U.S.
Prior to the pandemic, I had published two true crime books and written an occasional tale and essay, but those idle days of 2020-2022 allowed me to steadily build a collection of my own stories. Several of these have appeared in publications, one was adapted and performed as a play, and another won an international journalism award. The collection, titled Southern Lies and Homicides: Tales of Betrayal and Murder will be published in January 2025, by the Level Tru imprint of Level Best Books.
At the end of 2023, I finished presenting thirty of these stories to my fellow Writers on the Brink authors. Shortly before we recessed for the winter holidays, I asked each to send me their questions, to explore a new topic that I’m developing with PI Alison R. Cain.
Here are a few of their questions:
How did you become a private investigator?
What kinds of training do you need?
Do you carry a gun?
Has your life been threatened?
Have you ever been in a car chase?
Do clients lie to you?
How does real-life PI work differ from the shows we watch on television and read about in books?
Would you choose this work again?
Stay tuned. Let us answer your questions, and many more, in upcoming posts. Send me your questions. Tell me your problems. I’ll try to solve them.
Very good introduction and set up. Covid will always be a timestamp for me…others Kennedy assasination. Challenger, 911 Sept 6th etc. Covid is a good point of reference