The Depressing Nature of True Crime

RHYS BOWEN:On Tuesdays we usually focus on true crime, and one thing that always strikes me about real crimes is how mindless, violent and random they are. We work hard to come up with clever crimes, devious motives when we know that in real life most criminals are stupid and most crimes are committed in panic and without much planning. And recently no crime was more stupid or random than the riots that swept England. As an expatriot Brit I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the images on my TV—gangs of young people randomly torching vehicles and homes, smashing windows, looting from small stores—essentially turning on their neighbors. The media says they are frustrated and bored and jobless, so don’t they realized they have damaged the very businesses that might have employed them?
And the killing blow for me in all this—the one business that was not looted? Waterstones book store. Nobody apparently thought that books are worth stealing. They’ve probably never read a book in their lives.
I find this horribly depressing and a good example of a school system where the only aim is to make students feel good, never reprimand, certainly never fail them. So they grow up feeling entitled to everything and are angry when everything is not handed to them on a plate.
End of rant. I’m supposed to be feeling full of joy today because my new book, Naughty in Nice, is in stores and I set out on tour on Friday. One thing I’d like to share is how real life stories are often the basis for our fictional crimes. This book takes place on the Riviera in 1933. During my research I wanted to find out who had really been on the Riviera that winter and found one of the people was Coco Chanel. What’s more around that time she gave a fashion show blending the masculine and feminine. Her models wore tweed jackets borrowed from her lover, the Duke of Westminster, coupled with silk and lace and jewelry borrowed from Queen Mary. When I read that it was too good not to include in my story. The connection with Queen Mary came through Chanel’s business partner, Vera Bate Lombardi, who was the queen’s illegitimate (but acknowledged) niece. Sometimes in our research we come upon a plum. And I’ll make sure my crimes remain clever and elegant and not at all true to life.