"Behind Closed Doors"

Elizabeth Haynes is a former police intelligence analyst, a civilian role that involves determining patterns in offending and criminal behavior. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Darkest Corner, Dark Tide, Human Remains, and Under a Silent Moon, the first installment of the Briarstone crime series.

Haynes applied the Page 69 Test to Behind Closed Doors, the second novel in the Briarstone series, and reported the following:

I’m pleased to see that page 69 of Behind Closed Doors contains two intelligence reports, police source documents which are sprinkled through the book like – I hope – seasoning.

Carl McVey – a local businessman – has been found dead, the apparent victim of a robbery. DCI Lou Smith’s team are now gathering intelligence about his life to look for possible motives for his murder:

5x5x5 Intelligence Report

Date: 1 October 2013
Officer: PC 9921 EVANS
Subject: Op Trapeze – murder of Carl McVEY DOB 29/09/1970
Grading: B / 2 / 4

Following the death of Carl McVEY (Op Trapeze), the McDONNELL brothers are not happy. They believe the murder was due to McVEY falling out with an associate over a drugs debt and they are looking for someone to blame.

(Research shows: Lewis McDONNELL DOB 21/10/1953; Harry McDONNELL DOB 06/07/1956)

Date: 1 October 2013
Officer: PC 9921 EVANS
Subject: Op Trapeze – murder of Carl McVEY DOB 29/09/1970
Grading: B / 2 / 4

Carl McVEY was not thought to be a drug-user himself. He was very careful to keep the dealers away from his licensed premises as he wanted to “keep his nose clean.”

The purpose of the reports – as well as lending a note of authenticity – is to allow the reader to be as much a part of the case as the investigators are. We know just from these two reports that McVey is probably not the squeaky-clean businessman he pretended to be, that he is mixed up in organised crime. But the reports raise further questions – was his death really to do with a drugs debt? If so, who really was to blame?

When I worked for the police I often thought how it would be possible to produce an entire fictional narrative made up of these and other documents – witness statements, forensic reports, interview transcripts, for example. Part of my job as an analyst was to create sense out of this paperwork, to work out where the gaps were, to consider what might have happened while the police officers gathered evidence which would refute or support my hypothesis. As the mountain of papers grew, the evidential gaps were filled in and the nature of the events surrounding the crime became clearer until the point at which an arrest could be made, and the offender brought to justice. Some gaps would inevitably remain, but the aim was to provide sufficient evidence to enable a jury to convict.

In fiction it’s much easier – and more advisable, if you want to satisfy your readers – to tie up all the loose ends and make sure everything’s explained. After all, even if Lou and her team don’t know what really happened, thankfully I do.

Real life is, unfortunately, rarely so straightforward.

Visit the official Elizabeth Haynes website and blog.

Coffee with a Canine: Elizabeth Haynes & Bea.

The Page 69 Test: Under a Silent Moon.

--Marshal Zeringue