Ross Macdonald - Crime Fiction Writer

There are many crime fiction writers who have become famous than their original names and Kenneth Millar is one of them. His original name was Ross Macdonald, famously known for his crime fiction novels mainly settled in the areas of Southern California and his creation of the famous detective, Lew Archer.

Kenneth Millar was born on the last month of the year of 1915 on 12th in Los Gatos, California. He mainly lived with his relatives in Ontario during the initial stages of his life as his father and mother separated due to differences. His stories on crime fiction mainly focused on broken homes and domestic problems which were drawn from the early phases of his life. Although many critics accused him of his novels' central theme being the secrets of the past, family histories hidden in the mind, he wrote them with numerous variations that readers and his loyal fans could not differentiate and decipher.

In the year 1938, Kenneth Millar married Margaret Sturm and they had a daughter Linda. His wife became famous as Margaret Millar, a mystery writer. During World War II, he enrolled in the American Navy as a communications officer in an escort carrier on the Pacific Ocean.

He began his life, writing stories for magazines. Although he wrote his first novel, The Dark Tunnel in 1944, while he was doing graduation in the University of Michigan, he changed a series of pen names such as John Macdonald before settling for Ross Macdonald. He also obtained his Ph.D. in literature. After settling in Santa Barbara in the 1950s, he wrote a series of crime fiction bestsellers, namely "The Goodbye Look, The Underground Man and Sleeping Beauty." In his books, he took crime fiction to various levels and directions that the reader could seldom dream about.

In the 1960s, though he was famous as a crime fiction writer, he and his wife became interested in environmental causes and articles on environment were published on San Francisco and Sports Illustrated. Kenneth Millar actively participated in the protests where massive oil spill near the coast of Santa Barbara caused environmental pollution.

His famous character, Lew Archer, the hero of his crime fiction stories has been portrayed in films such as Harper (1966) and The Drowning Pool (1975).

Many honor titles and responsibilities were bestowed upon him in his lifetime, such as President of the Mystery Writers of America, Silver Dagger and Gold Dagger from the British Crime Writers Association.

Kenneth Millar left for his heavenly abode on 1983, but not before firmly entrenching his name in golden words in the area of detective fiction. The world today hails him as a writer who began his career initially as an honest crime fiction writer but ended along with other literary greats such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

Some of his other famous crime fiction books were: The Galton Case, The Ivory Grin, The Chill, The Instant Enemy and The Name is Archer.

Sathyanarayana has done Post-Graduation in Applied Geology and is mainly interested in writing articles on medicine and health.

5 Tips for Writing Authentic Crime and Legal Fiction

Writing about a highly technical topic, like crime or law, can be intimidating. In the world of criminal law, there are innumerable rules, practices and procedures. Criminal lawyers speak their own language. To write a good crime or legal story, a writer needs to have credibility.

Credibility comes from working within the rules of criminal law and speaking the criminal law language. But you don't have to be a cop or lawyer to write about crime or criminal law with authenticity. Here are some tips to get started:

1. Brainstorm: As in any genre, a good story with interesting characters and plot twists must be the starting point. Physically write out brainstorming ideas without regard to order, quality or completeness. Just start writing, and let the ideas flow.

2. Get Inspired: Inspiration often comes from outside sources, often unexpectedly. Read great books, and watch great movies, especially crime and legal drama. Read about crime in the news. Follow interesting trials. Watch true crime stories on television and read true crime books. You never know when some small tidbit will spark a story in you.

3. Outline: Everyone has their own methods of and opinions about outlining. Whether organized by chapter, act, scene, character or plot point, outlining is a critical tool to organize a story. The more complex the story, the more important an outline can be. Outlining can be especially important in a crime novel or legal drama because your story needs to fit within the rules of the criminal law world.

For example, if you want to have a piece of exculpatory evidence discovered at the end of act two, you will have to know what stage of the legal proceedings the case is in to help determine how the evidence could realistically come to light.

4. Educate Yourself: Read up about real criminal law on the internet and in books. Look for information specifically targeted to the non-lawyer. Watch real trials when they are televised. Watch true crime shows. Although they often cut out a lot of detail, especially the procedural stuff, they usually get things right. Read news stories and true crime books. The same warning goes for these sources: they are usually accurate but often leave out details you might want to know.

Do not rely on talking head lawyer commentators on television. They usually speak off the tops of their heads and often get things wrong. They also often have an agenda that they are pushing and speak of things from that point-of-view. Finally, do not rely on other criminal law fiction. Crime fiction in television, movies and books are often completely, eye-rollingly off the mark.

5. Consult an Expert: When in doubt, ask a question. As you brainstorm, outline and draft, keep notes of questions that come up. Consulting an expert, usually a criminal lawyer, can be costly, so try to know what you want guidance on before you contact someone. Also, be sure to speak to someone who is able to explain things simply and clearly, and who is willing to admit when they do not know something.

Following these tips will give a writer confidence to create within the world of criminal law and to begin writing crime and legal stories with authenticity.

By: Blythe J. Leszkay CriminalLawConsulting@gmail.com
Blythe is an experienced and successful criminal attorney and expert consultant with Criminal Law Consulting. She consults with and educates writers and filmmakers about criminal law issues in their projects. She provides simple criminal law information at http://www.CriminalLawConsulting.com.

New crime fiction by Penny, Woodrell and Mayor

The traditional mystery, when steeped in intelligence, sympathy, rich characters and lucid prose, has a stalwart champion in Louise Penny.

Penny's last book, "Bury Your Dead," won the prestigious Anthony Award for Best Novel, and this year "A Trick of the Light" (Minotaur,352pp.,$25.99) is up for the same honor.

Montréal's perceptive Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, haunted by a raid that went wrong, is brought back to the present by a new case. In the deceptively bucolic village of Three Pines, an artist is implicated in the death of a childhood friend turned enemy. The body's found just in time to ruin the triumphant opening of the artist's breakthrough exhibit.

As in earlier books, plot takes a back seat to subtle character study here. The interplay of opposites — light and dark, friendship and bitterness — is an insistent and powerful motif in this heartbreaker.

"Once Boshell finally killed his neighbor he couldn't seem to quit killing him." The first sentence of the first story in "The Outlaw Album" (Little,Brown,176pp.,$27.99) tells us we're in Daniel Woodrell territory: violence and revenge simmering just below the surface of spare, vivid, Ozark-style storytelling.

Woodrell calls his books "country noirs." (They include "Winter's Bone," which became a stunning movie.) "The Outlaw Album" maintains his earlier work's ominous feel. As with many story collections, however, it's a mixed bag. Some pieces seem like just sketches, but the more substantial ones get under your skin. Standouts include "The Echo of Neighborly Bones," about a newcomer overstepping a boundary, and "Uncle," a wicked tale about a woman caring for an unusual baby.

Daniel Woodrell will read from and sign "The Outlaw Album" at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Capitol Hill Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 425 Harvard Ave. E. (206-684-4715,www.spl.org). HewillsignbooksatnoonTuesdayatSeattleMysteryBookshop,117CherrySt.,Seattle(206-587-5737,www.seattlemystery.com).Archer Mayor's sturdy body of work about Vermont lawman Joe Gunther just gets better. In "Tag Man" (Minotaur,290pp.,$25.99), Joe's on leave while grieving the death of his girlfriend. But he can't stay away from a case involving the Tag Man, who sneaks into upscale houses and leaves stickies reading "You're it."

We learn the Tag Man's identity early on, and about the shabby secrets he finds on his nocturnal break-ins. He steals only inexpensive mementos, and it's all relatively harmless — until he stumbles on two big secrets: scrapbooks indicating the work of a serial killer and evidence linking a repulsive rich guy with Boston mobsters.

Like Ed Gorman's other shrewdly plotted books about lawyer Sam McCain, "Bad Moon Rising" (Pegasus, 208 pp., $25) takes its title from a pop song. It's the summer of 1968, the Chicago Seven are frolicking at the Democratic Convention, and hippies — still exotic creatures — have settled near McCain's small Iowa town.

When a girl is murdered at the hippies' commune, her rich-guy father hires McCain to investigate. It seems like an open-and-shut case, but McCain thinks otherwise. (BTW, by my reckoning the timeframe's off a bit — the titular song didn't come out until early '69. But who's counting?)

Seattleite Charles Philipp Martin nicely evokes the fizzy chaos of modern Hong Kong in his engrossing debut, "Neon Panic" (Van-

tagepoint, 394 pp., $14.95 paperback). As police investigate a body washed up on shore, a symphony bassist hunts for a missing friend. There's also turmoil within the orchestra (which bears a suspicious resemblance to one the author, also a bassist, once played for). The bassist's ally in the search: a female reporter who rejoices in the name of Twinkie Choi.

Adam Woog's column on crime and mystery fiction appears on the second Sunday of the month in The Seattle Times.

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Crime fiction: zillionaire's story, serial mystery and more

Crime fiction |

Seattle-area writer Gary Alexander's "Zillionaire" (Gale/Five Star Press, 256 pp., $25.95) is a riot, despite (or because of) its star, Buster Hightower, a not-very-funny stand-up comedian who returns after his lead role in Alexander's 2010 book "Disappeared."

This time out, Buster's girlfriend's distant relative shows up on their doorstep. He's got a line on something strange: a mysterious series of numbers that might lead to a fabulous legacy left by a Japanese — wait for it — zillion-aire.

Throw in a sleazy dentist with money problems and a brain-freezingly complex code needed to crack the secret. Then add a crisis with Buster's classic Cadillac: It's been kidnapped and held for ransom. (Bits and pieces are being mailed back until Buster does the right thing.) Needless to say, high jinks ensue.

Gary Alexander will sign "Zillionaire" at noon Oct. 8 at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St. (206-587-5737 or www.seattlemystery.com).

Run out right now and buy "No Rest for the Dead" (Simon & Schuster, 256 pp., $24.99), not just because it's a terrific book but because it's for a good cause: Brother-and-sister editors Andrew and Lamia Gulli are donating all profits to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

The book is a group effort: Starting with a simple premise (a nasty art curator's murdered body turns up in a Berlin museum), 26 writers contribute a chapter each. And there are some heavy hitters here, including David Baldacci, Jeffery Deaver, Lisa Scottoline, Kathy Reichs, Alexander McCall Smith and our own J.A. Jance. Big fun and good deeds at the same time. What more do you need?

Stella Rimington — that's Dame Stella Rimington to us — was the first woman director general of the British Security Service (MI5), so she knows what she's talking about when it comes to espionage fiction. In retirement, she's published a string of books about agent Liz Carlyle, the latest and most accomplished being "Rip Tide" (Bloomsbury, 384 pp., $25).

Told in unadorned and unfussy prose, "Rip Tide" mixes piracy on the high seas with hot-button political and religious issues. It appears that someone is giving pirate groups off the coast of Somalia inside knowledge about which containerships are loaded with valuable medical supplies. And what's with the British-born Muslim man discovered with some pirates when British troops intercept them in the Indian Ocean?

One cautionary note: The book makes frequent and possibly confusing use of the term "Asian," which in England means people of Pakistani or Indian descent.

Medieval Japan, with its strict moral codes, threats of sudden violence and highly structured feudal loyalties, is rich ground for mystery fiction. Laura Joh Rowland's excellent series about an imperial spy, Sano Ichiro, makes full use of this setting.

Rowland skillfully avoids the slightly patronizing tone of other novelists who have written about that time and place (I'm looking at you, James Clavell). Rowland also makes sure that her extensive research blends unobtrusively into her stories.

"The Ronin's Mistress" (Minotaur, 336 pp., $24.99) takes as its inspiration a true-life revenge tale that has become an icon of Japanese literature: the carefully plotted murder by 47 ronin (masterless samurai) of the aristocrat who caused their master's death. Sano, beset by rivals and court intrigue, is assigned to see if the defiant samurai should be forced to commit ritual suicide.

Finally: Best of luck to Seattleite Michael Gruber, whose espionage novel "The Good Son" has been shortlisted for the prestigious Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers' Association. The winner will be announced Oct. 11.

Adam Woog's column on crime and mystery fiction appears on the second Sunday of the month in The Seattle Times.

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